Mei’s Rabbit Lantern

Every autumn, Mei’s town has a Lantern Night. When the sky turns dark, everybody walks along the river carrying glowing paper lanterns. There are fish lanterns, star lanterns and even a huge dragon lantern carried by ten people.

This year, Mei made her own lantern at school. It was a white rabbit with long ears and pink paper eyes. Mei had worked on it for a whole week.

But just before the parade started, a few drops of rain fell. One drop landed on the rabbit’s ear, and the thin paper tore. Mei’s eyes filled with tears. “Now my rabbit is broken,” she said.

Her neighbour, old Mr Lee, was standing nearby. “Let me see,” he said. He took a roll of clear tape from his pocket and gently fixed the ear. Mei’s friend Bao lent her a little umbrella to keep the lantern dry.

Soon the rain stopped. Mei walked along the river with her rabbit glowing softly. The fixed ear was a little crooked, so the rabbit looked like it was listening. “I think it likes the music,” Mr Lee said with a wink.