The King of Spinning Tops
故事全文
Once upon a time in Daxi Township of Taoyuan City, there was a stone shop owner named Jian Wu-shiung. One summer, he saw children playing spinning tops outside his shop. Spinning tops was Jian Wu-shiung"s favorite pastime as a child, but he feared being laughed at for playing with a children's toy. So, he thought to himself, "Perhaps people would not laugh at me if I played with a large spinning top."
Still young at heart, Jian Wu-shiung ran to find his carpenter friend, Hu-dou, and asked him, "Can you make a three-kilogram spinning top?" Hu-dou replied, "Yes, but I need a huge nail for the top to spin on." Jian Wu-shiung said, "Here, try using this chisel." In a few hours' time, Hu-dou made a large spinning top using quality Formosan michelia wood. News of Jian Wu-shiung's large spinning top started to spread in the township.
Everyone came to see him spin the large spinning top. Jian Wu-shiung wound a rope around his spinning top. The rope was as thick as his finger. He tried all the traditional methods he knew, but he could not get the top to spin. The rope either became loose, or the spinning top nearly hit his leg. Eventually, Jian Wu-shiung gave up and told his audience, "If anyone here can make this spinning top spin, I will treat him to a bowl of noodles." Everyone took turns to make the top spin, but everyone failed.
Suddenly, the sound of a spinning top caught everyone's attention. A junior high school student named A-Xing had succeeded in spinning the top. He placed his arms around the top, and flung it diagonally upwards before pulling the rope. Everyone tried A-Xing's technique and succeeded too. So, Chien Wu-Hsiung treated everyone to noodles. Slowly, the spinning tops grew larger in size. The largest spinning top was made from rosewood and weighed about 72kg. It was named "The King of Spinning Tops", and regarded as a township treasure.
In 2002, Daxi Township Office organized a spinning top contest, and hosted the "Daxi Spinning Top Festival"in October of the following year.
