The Bridge of Birds

This humorous, book-length adaptation of an ancient Chinese legend won a 1985 World Fantasy Award. When the children of Number Ten Ox's village fall mysteriously ill, only Master Li, a brilliant scholar with an extremely dubious and eccentric reputation, will agree to help. Their quest for a miraculous cure leads this brains-and-brawn duo through many bizarrely improbable adventures, until they are dragged straight into an ancient legend concerning an evil duke, a sacred plant, and a pair of (literally) star-crossed lovers. BRIDGE OF BIRDS was one of the first contemporary fantasies to draw upon Asian traditions. The book is loaded with nuggets of Chinese myth and history, as well as some extremely amusing anachronisms (e.g. in one adventure, the heroes escape in a helicopter constructed of bamboo). The unique, hilarious partnership of Li Kao and Number Ten Ox continued in two other books, THE STORY OF THE STONE and EIGHT SKILLED GENTLEMEN, but BRIDGE OF BIRDS was the first and best. Copyright (C) Muze Inc. 2005. For personal use only. All rights reserved.