Minli approaches the dragon and takes in his appearance: “He was brilliant red, the color of a lucky lantern, with emerald-green whiskers, horns, and a dull, stone-colored ball like a moon on his head” (46). Minli notices Dragon is tied up in ropes. Dragon tells her the monkeys who live in the peach grove nearby tied him up in his sleep to prevent him from entering their territory. They don’t want anyone stealing their peaches, he says, or even laying eyes on them. When Minli asks why the dragon doesn’t just fly over that part of the forest, he weeps and admits he can’t fly. She offers to bring him to the Old Man of the Moon so that the dragon may ask him how to fly.

As Minli works to free Dragon from his ropes, he launches into his origin story.

Long ago, Painter Chen painted a picture of a dragon with ink from a special stone to give to Magistrate Tiger in exchange for lifting taxes on his village for one year. Painter Chen, feeling that Magistrate Tiger was a greedy and self-centered man, painted the dragon on the ground instead of in the sky in order to teach Magistrate Tiger a lesson: “‘Perhaps the magistrate will see how his wealth weighs him down” (52).