Darla, the Chinese Phoenix

Once upon a time, a phoenix named Darla lived in a palace in China with her owners, King Chang and Queen Jiao. Chang and Jiao loved Darla’s fiery-toned feathers, yellow shimmery eyes, red beak, and sharp claws, but a kind heart was their favorite part of Darla. The phoenix enjoyed watching sunsets and playing in the palace park with her owners.

Jiao passed away after giving birth to a baby boy named Yong. Yong had black hair, light skin, and brown eyes, similar to his dad, Chang. Chang loved Yong but still decided to marry another woman.

The woman looked very beautiful. This witch woman’s name was Shi, meaning she had a stone heart. She always acted as a mom in front of Chang but was planning to kill Yong. Yong was in great danger because Si already had five plans up her sleeves.

Darla would try her best to protect two-year-old Yong from Shi’s plan.

One morning as Chang was still sleeping, Shi poured poisonous juice in a china cup and woke up Yong. Just as Yong was about to drink the juice, Darla knocked the juice over and it spilled all over Yong’s clothes and the floor.

Shi was very angry, but then Chang came for breakfast. When Chang saw the juice all over the floor, he asked Shi, “What happened?”

Shi replied, “The phoenix knocked the juice over.”

Darla used her body language to try to tell Chang what happened. Darla tugged on Yong’s outfit and pointed at the cup that spilled all over the floor and pretended to die. But Chang didn’t get it.

A few days later, Yong learned to run all over the palace, so there were more assigned maids and servants taking care of him. Once when Yong was running around, Yong suddenly pushed a wall and spun. The maids, servants, and Darla followed him to make sure he was safe. There they saw Shi making a potion. They immediately ran to report to Chang. Chang then realized that all along Darla wanted to tell him that Shi was trying to hurt Yong.