Brocade of the Moon Palace

A mother and son living in the Asian countryside, content in their simple life of rice paddies and evening stories by the fire, find their world transformed when the mother purchases a painting of a grand palace at the local market. The painting stirs something in her—a longing to see such a place, which feels as distant as the harvest moon. Her son suggests she weave the palace into a brocade, bringing it to life through her own art. She spends months at her loom, working each night by moonlight, weaving white walls, golden towers, garden flowers, and a clear river, even adding a silver moon above the palace. When she finally finishes, the brocade is the finest she has ever made. But a gust of wind sweeps it out the window and into the night.

The son's journey to recover the brocade

The mother accepts the loss with resignation, but her son cannot bear to see her hard work go to waste. He lights a torch and sets out into the darkness. After searching through fields and past the village market, he encounters an old woman sitting before a mountain path. She tells him the fairies have taken the brocade to the Moon Palace, a long journey requiring passage through the Flame Mountain and across the Icy Sea. She offers him her horse, asking only that he return it on his way back.