There once lived a tiny beetle spirit in the blossoming courtyard of the imperial palace in Plum Blossom City. When he took the form of a human he was no larger than a healthy young man’s thumb, and each flower petal was his fragrant little bedchamber at night.

In spring he slept in the petals of the dainty cherry blossoms; in the summer he rested in the hearts of the lavish peonies and lotus flowers. When the chilly winds of autumn arrived, he nestled in the sweet-smelling chrysanthemums, and in winter he slept in the bushes of the flowering wintersweet – so as you can guess, the imperial courtyard which blossomed all year round was a haven to this little manikin.

Now, although the beetle spirit loved this lush garden very much, there was something else he loved much more, above all. This was the emperor’s son, the crown prince who lived in the imperial palace with his father and mother, the emperor and the empress.

The crown prince was a sturdy and gallant young man, full of energy. He was well-read and well-learned in the art of war, and had won many skirmishes and battles to protect the borders of his kingdom. Handsome was his face and tall was his build, so it was no wonder that he was famed far and wide.

Still, even though he was renowned and had many servants around at his disposal, he would still spend time tending to the pretty garden himself, particularly this courtyard where the beetle spirit lived. In turn, beetle spirit saw him quite often and cherished the prince’s hard work. They lived in peace and harmony with each other as man and nature did, one not knowing of the existence of the other and the other always keeping himself hidden, and the days passed peacefully.

One day, the emperor called for his son. When the prince entered the main hall, he bowed in reverence and his father smiled at him.

“My son,” said the emperor, “I have news to share with you. It is time for your father, the son of a dragon, to ascend to heaven to join your grandfather and his forefathers. In time it shall be your turn too, but for now, you must tend to our kingdom and protect our people in my stead. I shall crown you in three days’ time.”

The crown prince bowed low and thanked his father. Happily, he went to the blossoming courtyard and declared, “In three days I will be the emperor!”

Two people heard him when he said these words. One was the beetle spirit, who was overjoyed and proud that his dear friend was about to become the emperor.

The other one who heard these words, however, was the prince’s jealous uncle. He had hoped and hoped that his elder brother, the emperor, would one day make him the emperor before ascending to heaven, but alas, the empress had given birth to a healthy child and this child had grown up into a fine young man, every bit worthy to rule a nation.

When the prince left the courtyard, the angry and resentful man stood up. Flicking his sleeves forward, he said to himself, “How dare my brother ignore me! I’ll teach him a lesson – see if I don’t waylay his son and finish him off tomorrow when he goes riding! Pah! First I’ll have my men shoot an arrow at his heart from the treetops of Peng Lai forest; when he falls he will be finished!”

With that, he fuming man left. Alarmed and upset, the beetle spirit flew to the window of the prince’s room and waited till nightfall.

When the crown prince returned to his room to sleep, the beetle spirit crept up to his pillow. He whispered into his ear, “Tomorrow, your uncle plans to kill you when you’re riding your horse. He’ll get his men to shoot an arrow at your heart and finish you off when you fall down. To prove that this is real and not a dream, you’ll find a flower petal by your pillow when you wake up.”

The prince woke up with a jump after he heard this – it was outrageous as his uncle had always doted on him in the past. However, there was a flower petal by his pillow to prove that this wasn’t a lie.

At daybreak, the prince took his stallion out of the stable and rode towards the hills where Peng Lai forest began. As he reached the red birch tree that marked the entry to the forest, an arrow shot out from amid the trees.

The prince, who was prompted by the strange voice the night before and was expecting this to happen, caught the arrow just before it struck his heart. With a smile that wasn’t a smile, he called to his men to apprehend the assassins hidden in the treetops.

When the dispatchers were caught and questioned, they refused to divulge who had hired them and committed suicide on the spot. Although the prince knew that this was his uncle’s doing, he had too little proof to convict him and therefore had to let the incident go.

In the afternoon, the empress invited her brother-in-law to the imperial courtyard for tea to celebrate her son’s upcoming coronation. As usual, her brother-in-law was all smiles and sang praises about his favourite nephew as they drank tea and ate the auspicious red turtle cakes together. After the empress left, the man’s face turned murderous as he flicked his sleeves in anger.

“Pah! What coronation? Tomorrow I’ll have him killed when he goes to the tailors’ shop to try the imperial robes on! See if I don’t have them laced with poison!”

Alarmed and just as scared as before, the beetle spirit who was hidden in the flowers heard this and ran off towards the crown prince’s room. There he waited till nightfall again to whisper in the young man’s ear.

“Your highness, your uncle is again trying to kill you! Please be aware that he plans to put poison in the robes that you will be trying on. And again, to prove that this is not a dream, I’ll leave a petal by your pillow so that you will know who your true enemy is!”

Again, the crown price woke up after hearing the warning, and just like before, he discovered a flower petal by his pillow. He thought about the gentle voice and the affectionate tone it had. Picking up the fragrant petal, he brought it to his mouth and kissed it.

“Thank you for saving me,” said the prince with a sigh. “I wish you’d appear and show yourself instead of hiding.”

But the beetle spirit didn’t appear. He hid by the window, poking his tiny head out from the peony he was resting in to watch the prince now and then as the young man had breakfast before setting off to the tailors’.

When the prince arrived at the shop, he sent out his men to inspect the garments. True enough, there was indeed poison laced around the sleeves and collar! The tailors were apprehended and questioned, but they all looked bewildered and shook their heads.

“Your highness, believe me when I say that no one except for you and your uncle have been here today,” said the head tailor, cowering and bowing low. “He had come in to inspect the clothing before you arrived to make sure all was in order before you tried it on.”

The crown prince lifted his brows and looked at his most trusted guard. The burly man nodded back at him and spoke in low tones so that they couldn’t be heard by others.

“So it is as your highness had suspected,” said the guard, frowning in disgust. “This truly is your uncle’s work. To think he can smile so pleasantly and say such good things in front of the person he’s trying to kill himself!”

“I wouldn’t have suspected him either if it weren’t for someone telling me,” replied the prince, cupping his chin as if in deep in thought.

“Oh?” The guard was surprised. Smiling, the crown prince told him about the voice and the flower petals left by his pillow.

“This is indeed strange,” said the man, also cupping his chin thoughtfully. “Then again, my cousin works as a royal maid and she has mentioned before that there was a tiny little man living in the courtyard of the imperial palace, dressed in red with fair and fine features. A few other maids had also apparently seen him before, but he’d always disappeared before they could get a better look, so it was simply passed on in a pleasant palace rumour.”

“What’s the rumour?” asked the prince, looking mildly curious.

“That he likes hardworking maids,” replied the guard, unable to hide his smile. At this, both men burst out laughing, startling the tailors.

After pardoning the tailors and making sure that the poison was thoroughly removed from the garment, the prince tried on the robes and returned to the imperial palace to have dinner with his parents. They had invited his uncle, who was, just as before, all smiles and politeness and graceful sweeps of the sleeves. After they finished eating all the dishes, the emperor stood up and patted his son on his back.

“Son, tomorrow you will be the new emperor,” said the man, smiling proudly. He turned to his younger brother. “I’ll be ascending to heaven soon with the empress when the phoenix carriage arrives the day after. My brother, please help me look after him.”

The prince’s uncle agreed and the four parted ways; the prince and his parents to the main hall and the uncle left standing in the garden alone. Once they were out of sight, he flicked his sleeves angrily and spat at the bushes.

“Pah! I’ll look after him, alright! See if I don’t drug his wine tonight! Once he’s deep asleep, I’ll cut his head off myself!”

What a to-do there was in the little beetle’s heart! The beetle spirit had heard it all, of course, but as the prince’s uncle was planning to commit this evil deed before the end of the night, there was no way the beetle spirit knew of which he could use to tell the prince. His tiny little heart ached and ached, but as the moon began to rise, he made up his mind and flew towards the prince’s room.

The crown prince was sitting at a small stone table by the window of his room, gazing at the full moon. On the table was a cup of wine. A maid had brought him a cupful and he had set it aside to reminisce before drinking it.

He was to become the emperor the next day – all his battles and all his hard work had not gone to waste. His uncle was his enemy and there was apparently a tiny young man who was living in his courtyard. With so many things in his mind, the prince absent-mindedly brought the cup to his mouth—

And drank in nothing.

There was nothing! Not a drop of wine in the cup! The prince stared down at it in bewilderment and found that it was completely empty.

When he moved his eyes upwards, he spotted the figure of a young man, no larger than his thumb, slumped on the stone surface of the table unmoving. Startled, the prince stood up. He shook the young man gently, but no matter what he did, the young man would not wake up.

Frightened and angry, the prince looked around and caught sight of his uncle, who was hiding nearby with a knife! As quick as lightning he apprehended the man and shook him until his teeth almost rattled. He shouted for the imperial guards, and the emperor, who chanced to be nearby, also arrived at the scene.

When the emperor saw the knife, he went pale.

“Brother, what is the meaning of this?” asked the emperor, shocked and trembling. “Were you trying to kill your own nephew?”

“You!” snarled the man, “How dare you overlook me for the position of emperor! That’s right, I tried to kill your son. I’ve tried so three times!”

Hearing this, the emperor was shocked and aggrieved. To think that his own younger brother, his own flesh and blood, would be evil enough to kill his own nephew over the throne! Well, well, well!

He waved his sleeves and the guards brought the snarling man to the dungeon. After he was taken away, the crown prince prostrated in front of his father anxiously.

“Please do something to help the young man who’s lying on the table right now,” pleaded the prince. “He has saved my life three times and I fear the worst has happened to him.”

The emperor patted his son’s back and smiled. “I’ll summon the imperial physicians to look after him. Rest assured, son, there’s nothing this emperor won’t do for the person who saved his own son’s life, not just once or twice, but three times!”

The emperor kept his word and summoned the imperial physicians. They found out that the beetle spirit had simply fallen asleep after drinking the drugged wine and would wake up the next day.

When the prince heard this, he brought the beetle spirit to his bedroom and placed him by his very own pillow, which he slept on at night. When the tiny young man awoke the next morning, he found himself lying right next to the crown prince, who was grinning affectionately at him.

“Good morning,” said the prince. The beetle spirit smiled back.

“Good morning, your highness,” he replied, and this is the story of how a humble little insect managed to save the life of an emperor and become his most trusted subject for many decades, ascending to heaven on a phoenix carriage together.