The Little Weaver of Thai-Yen Village

That night, Hiền had a dream. She saw herself picking some wild greens in the fields. Suddenly, a huge bird flew down from the mountaintop. Its flapping wings covered the entire sky, and it cried out with the force of ten thousand voices.
Hien woke up trembling with excitement. Had she dreamed of the spirit bird Mê-Linh? Long, long ago one of her ancestors had seen the bird. It was a sacred creature, very strong and courageous, quick as a flash. The bird lived on the top of Linh-Son Mountain and came down only in time of war. The sight of the bird had always inspired her people to resist the foreign invaders. In ancient times, her people
had called themselves and their country by the bird’s name: the Mê-Linh people. The land of Mê-Linh.
Hien felt comforted by her dream. The image of the bird gave her courage. “I will be as brave as the Mê-Linh bird,” she resolved.
After a few days, a foreign woman came to Hiền’s bedside. In Vietnamese, she explained that Hiền needed a special operation that could not be performed in Viet-Nam. Hiền would have to come to the United States to have the operation.
Hiền stared at the woman. She had kind eyes, but Hiền was afraid. “After all,” she thought, “wasn’t it these foreigners who killed my mother and grandmother
and bombed our villages?” Hiền looked questioningly at Aunt Châu. “If you stay here, they won’t be able to cure you and you will surely die,” said Aunt Châu.
Hiền thought of the Mê-Linh bird. “I must survive if I want to help my people,” she thought. Turning toward the foreign woman, she nodded her head in
agreement.
Hiền was carried on a stretcher to a huge airplane. The people on the airplane all wore foreign military uniforms. Hiền wanted to jump up and run away, but
her body could not move.