The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane

The novel opens with 10-year-old Li-yan listening as her three older brothers talk about the dreams they had the night prior. Her First Brother tells a different version of the dream Li-yan has heard many times before. His dream does not have any bad omens, and their mother, A-ma, who interprets the dreams, is pleased. Li-yan’s family belongs to the Akha hill tribe, and they believe that “every story, every dream, every waking minute of [their] lives is filled with one fateful coincidence after another” (3).

After Li-yan’s Second and Third Brothers finish telling their dreams, her father, A-ba, urges the girl to share hers as well. She is surprised because this is the first time her parents acknowledge her during this morning ritual. In Li-yan’s dream, she saw a dog on the roof, which is a bad omen because “dreaming of a dog on the roof means [...] that a spirit has sneaked past the protection of the village’s spirit gate and is now roaming among [them]” (5). Fearing to disappoint and alarm her parents, Li-yan lies and tells her family that in her dream, the dog scared an evil spirit away and “A-poe-mi-yeh rewarded him by giving everyone in [their] family a chicken to eat” (5).

Although the First Brother accuses Li-yan of fabrication, A-ba urges her to go on. Li-yan realizes that “the more pressure [she] feel[s] to continue [her] story, the easier it becomes to lie” (5). She tells them that in her dream she saw a bird with newborn babies in a nest. Her mother studies her face for a while as if to make sure Li-yan is telling the truth. Then A-ma smiles and announces there are no bad omens in the dream, declaring that “all is good” (5). Although Li-yan is surprised she got away with her lies, she consoles herself with the thought that she prevented her family from worrying about the bad omen in her dream.

After breakfast, the family members take their baskets and leave the house to go pick tea leaves. They walk along their settlement, Spring Well Village, “which has about forty households and nestles in one of the many saddles in Nannuo Mountain” (6).

Li-yan’s family members join their neighbors, whose youngest daughter, Ci-teh, is Li-yan’s peer and best friend. Although Ci-teh’s family is much wealthier, the two girls are like sisters. On their way to the tea terraces, the girls chatter and joke. After Ci-teh turns to another path, Li-yan continues walking up the mountain with her family. Once they reach her First Brother’s tea terraces, they pick tea leaves there all day. Afterward, they begin the two-hour walk to the tea collection center, carrying the tea in burlap sacks on their backs.

Once the family reaches its destination, Li-yan is so tired and hungry that she wants to cry. They find out that the tea collection center has already bought its quota for the day, so Li-yan’s family must sell its tea at half-price. Everyone is upset because after working so hard all day, their earnings are meager. Li-yan can’t find her friend anywhere and instead spots a boy about her age holding a hot scallion pancake. She walks towards him, and the two begin to talk. The boy offers her a bite of his pancake, and Li-yan is so hungry she can’t resist. The boy tells her his name, San-pa, and begins naming all his male ancestors back 50 generations, as is traditional for the Akha tribe. An angry pancake seller interrupts the children and accuses them of stealing the pancake. Li-yan tries to convince her parents and the pancake seller that she’s innocent, but the oily residue around her mouth proves she ate the pancake. San-pa admits that he stole the pancake, and Li-yan explains that she was unaware of this when he offered her a bite.

According to Akha Law, the community must perform a cleaning ceremony for the two children, their families, and the village. The ceremonies will occur separately because the Akha culture considers Li-yan, who was born on Pig Day, and San-pa, who was born on Tiger day, as incompatible. When Li-yan’s father pays the pancake seller before departing, the family finds itself with even less money.

When Li-yan’s family arrives in the village well past dark, the ruma—“[their] intermediary between the spirit world” (14)—and all the neighbors gather for the ceremony. Li-yan is afraid that the ruma will punish her, not just for the pancake incident, but also for lying to her parents in the morning. However, he shows her forgiveness, calling her “just a hungry little girl” (18). To perform the ritual that will finish her purification, the ruma takes one of the family’s chickens and cuts off its head. Li-yan feels terrible because her family only has a few chickens. After the ritual, A-ma takes the slain chicken and puts it into boiling water. As the family feasts on a rich chicken broth, Li-yan no longer torments herself and feels happy that, at least for the evening, her siblings and parents have enough food to eat.