The Strange Book

Outside my bedroom at the shophouse where I lived decades ago was a wooden altar which housed the ancestral shrine. This altar was about 4 feet high and occupied by a myriad of austere idols, urns and religious paraphernalia. Two colossal drawers occupied the side of this structure while the front piece was a curved wood carving featuring two 5-clawed dragons converging on a central pearl.

On the walls perpendicular to this altar was a large mural of a dragon and phoenix. The artist was Aunt Z's eldest son, since deceased. (So we had some artistic talent in the family.)

It was at this altar, inside one of the colossal drawers, the one on the left, that I discovered way down at the bottom, The Strange Book.  It was a book unlike any I had seen. The covers were white and unadorned. It was about an inch and a half thick, probably measuring ten by eight.  Its pages were filled with large texts and colourful illustrated images of winged men, mystifying and kindly in expression.  I could not read at the time so I searched the pictures for a story but could not discern any.

It was bound to happen. My Ma walked in on me one fine day and caught me pouring rapturously over the pictures. The book was confiscated and never seen or heard of again.

Adults can be ignorant. They never discern that children have ears which hears. (That rhymes, did you notice?) They spoke amongst themselves in conspiratorial tones which were picked up just as conspiratorially. (i.e. from the next room ~~~  *coughs*) From their whispers, I came to know that the book was found floating upon the sea at the harbour. It was picked up by my uncle (Aunt Z's husband) who handed it over to my Ma. 

The forbidden fruit always taste the sweetest.

My curiosity was stirred. What could have been hidden in that book to make it perilous enough to be confiscated? It seemed singularly important to seek answers. I began with the book shelves at school and discovered a whole new world of books telling stories I've never heard of before. They stimulated my sense of imagination and made my life a little less lonely.

Twenty two years later, I walked into a book store to browse for children fairy tales. It was then that I made a pleasant discovery.  The book which so piqued my interest way back when, was a children's bible.