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"But you are so beautiful," said Kum-choi. "In all of my father's catches I have never seen a fish like you. You must be a Magic Fish."

"Thank you for the compliment," said the fish. And his crimson patches darkened. "It is true that I am a Magic Fish. I live in a marble kingdom at the bottom of the sea. When a good-hearted child strokes the tail of a fish three times, if the fish is a magic one, it will begin to speak. You must be a very good girl, for the third time you stepped on my tail, I felt myself able to speak."

"I hope I didn't hurt you," said Kum-choi. "I leap across wooden decks all day long, and I'm afraid my feet are rather tough. What is your name?"

"I have never been given a human name," said the fish.

"My name is Kum-choi," said the little girl. "It means 'Gold and Wealth."

The fish looked surprised. "But I have heard your father and brothers many times call you Dai-Tai," said the fish.

Kum-choi laughed. "That is only my nickname. It means 'bring-along-a-younger-brother.' All fishing boats need men to work them and since I was not a man I was named in hopes of bringing along another brother. Is it the same where you live?"

"I don't think so," said the fish. "I have never heard of a family of fish hoping for a boy instead of a girl."

"But what shall I do with you?" asked Kum-choi. "Soon my fathers and brothers will come to help me sort the fish and you shall be taken to a fishmarket on land and sold."

"You have every right to keep me," said the fish. "You may sell me at a market and I shall make a fine meal for a family on land. But, like you, I am still very young, and, if you would let me go, I should enjoy many more days and nights of swimming and jumping about."

"But if I let you go will you visit me sometime?" asked Kum-choi.

"Of course I will," promised the fish. "I promise that whenever you are unhappy I will swim to you from wherever I am."

The little boat girl was puzzled. "But how will you know that I am unhappy?" She asked.

"By your tears," answered the fish. "Whenever you are so unhappy that you begin to cry, let your tears fall into the sea. Then I shall know and I shall come to you." The fish flapped his tail three times. "When you are in your poop deck compartment, I shall flap my tail against the stern of your junk like this. That way only you will know that I am here."

The little boat girl laughed with glee and carefully picked up the fish with both hands. "Then I shall throw you back into the water and set you free." And with that, the fish sailed out over the ship's hull into the sea. For a few moments the fish flapped its tail in answer to Kum-choi's shouts of goodbye, and then it disappeared into the water.

As Kum-choi knew that adults don't often believe a great deal of what children tell them, she decided not to tell her parents and her brothers (who were all older than she) about her meeting with the Magic Fish.

HE days became weeks and the weeks months, and Kum-choi was kept very busy with her chores. Every day at 5 a.m., when the sea was calm, her father's junk would spread its sail and head out to sea. Kum-choi would fill the water tanks at the stern, and help her mother clean the entire junk, including the hull and poop deck cubicles. She would then eat her lunch of rice and fish with a bit of pork.

After lunch she washed clothes in red plastic buckets and hung them out on bamboo poles. In the evening, while her parents played mahjong, Kum-choi would often go to her small and tidy sleeping compartment and play with her dog, Lucky.

Kum-choi's life was not all work, however. For the fishermen hold colorful festivals and celebrations in honor of the many gods and goddesses who look after them and insure that their nets are always full of fish. The many fishing junks are scenes of great excitement on the day when the dragon boats race, and when food is left for the spirits who return to Earth during the Festival of Hungry Ghosts. And Kum-choi and her parents did not forget to burn incense on the birthday of Tam Kung, the god who controls the winds, and on the birthday of Hung Shing, the deity who predicts the weather.

Kum-choi was by nature a good girl, but she had heard the stories told by fisherfolk of the sea monster that rises from the sea and devours bad children. She didn't know if the stories about the sea monster were true but she was quite certain her father would never allow any sea monster to eat her.

NE day, while their fishing junk was moored in the harbor, Kum-choi's father dressed up in his best clothes and went to meet with a government official of the land. It was many hours before her father returned, and when he did, he went to the bow of the junk and looked out upon the water without speaking for a long time. Later that evenng he assembled his family around him on deck. As he spoke, his words were emphasized by his hands, which moved through the air like a pair of frolicking crabs.

"Those of us who live and work aboard a junk and make a living from the sea know the closeness of family life that people of the land may never know. I wish I could continue to have all of you with us. But times are changing and the officials believe the children of the boat people must also learn the ways of those who live on land. We shall continue to live and fish aboard our junk, but Kum-choi will go to school."

Her father took her in his arms and Kum-choi saw that the wind and the sun had furrowed and tanned his handsome face, and his eyes, so accustomed to searching across the wide expanse of the South China Sea, had become the color of the ocean. "You will live with your mother on shore," he said. "But Lucky will stay with you and keep you company wherever you go and you will stay with us whenever we return to sell our fish, mend our nets and buy our provisions."

Kum-choi could not believe her father's words. She loved the sea and her life aboard the junk. She had never envied other children who lived on the land. But now her father had said she would live among those children and go to school.

FTER dinner, she went to her compartment and sat with Lucky, looking out at the sea through her small window. As she thought of what her father had said, she began to cry. Many of her tears fell into the sea. Soon after, when she was almost asleep, she heard three loud thumps upon the stern. Kum-choi slid open the wooden shutter of her small compartment window and there below was the Magic Fish.

"Hello, Kum-choi," said the fish, waving his beautiful tail. "I was swimming far out to sea when I first saw your tears. Why are you crying?"

Kum-choi looked at the Magic Fish in astonishment. "How big you are now," she said. "You are more than twice the size you were before. And you are even more beautiful!"

Again, the crimson patches on the Magic Fish darkened. "I am now fully grown," said the fish. "And I shall take you for a ride. But first you must tell me why you are crying."

Kum-choi told the Magic Fish what her father had said and asked if he could help her. But the fish assured her that her father loved her very much and was sending her to school because it was the best thing for her future. And the next morning Kum-choi went riding with Lucky in her small sampan while the Magic Fish pulled the boat to and fro across the harbor. And, in a cove where no one would see them, the Magic Fish gave Kum-choi and Lucky many rides on his back. And, in no time at all, Kum-choi's tears turned to luaghter. For several days, the Magic Fish played games with the little boat girl and together they swam and explored the coastline near the small fishing village.

Soon it was time for the many celebrations in honor of Tin Hau, Queen of Heaven, and patroness of seafarers. Kum-choi helped decorate her father's junk with brightly colored flags, streamers and floral screens. On the day of the festival, she climbed on the back of the Magic Fish and went out beyond the harbor to watch hundreds of junks sailing to the temple dedicated to the Queen of Heaven.

From the back of the Magic Fish, Kum-choi watched the Chinese opera and lion dances held on the shore and even aboard some of the junks. She saw the many sacrificial roast pigs covered with banners and flowers as they were brought into the temple and placed before the goddess. The boat girl and the Magic Fish listened to the elderly men playing traditional Chinese musical instruments beside the temple thick with incense smoke.

"The Goddess of Heaven is a wonderful goddess," said the Magic Fish. "She receives so much attention."

"Yes," said Kum-choi, "she sits gazing out across the water to watch over the fisherfolk. That is why her temple is placed near the shore. When I was very young my grandmother carried me into the temple to introduce me to the goddess. She promised the goddess one hundred eggs if her next grandchild would be a boy."

Kum-choi and the Magic Fish watched the villagers and the boat people place platters of pink buns and baskets of red eggs before Tin Hau and her assistants. Many years before Kum-choi was born, her father's junk was long overdue and other fishermen burned incense before the goddess known as 'Thousand Miles Eyes' and asked her to help in the search. The next day the junk appeared and everyone was safe. From that time forth, her mother paid special attention to this goddess. And whenever the sky darkened and there was bad weather ahead, she prayed before the goddess known as 'Fair Wind Ears,' and the sky became clear.

Finally, the Magic Fish told Kum-choi that he must return to his marble kingdom in the depths of the sea. Kum-choi promised not to cry again about moving to shore and, in turn, the Magic Fish promised to return again to see her whenever Kum-choi needed him.

HEN the day came for Kum-choi to go to school, she dressed in her best clothes and waved goodbye to her mother and to Lucky. As she entered her classroom, she realized that she had never seen children of the land so closely before. Their faces were not the copperbrown of the boat people, nor did they have the same bearing of those born and brought up on board junks. But, like all children, they were laughing and shouting, being very excited about returning to school.

But to the children of the land, the little boat girl was very strange. Her life at sea had not prepared her for lessons in a schoolroom, and the children laughed at her backwardness in learning their ways. Kum-choi overheard one of the children saying that boat people have six toes on each foot. And other children said that Kum-choi's eyes could see the ferocious creatures lurking in the sea's murky depths and that she could swim beneath the surface for miles without air and without rest.