Imagine a time, long, long ago, in a city famous for its beautiful temples. In this city lived a painter named Zhang Sengyou, and oh, he was no ordinary painter! His paintings were so real, you'd think the birds in them might sing or the flowers might smell sweet.

One day, the monks from the grand Anle Temple came to Zhang. "Master Zhang," they said, "we would love for you to paint dragons on our temple walls. Four mighty dragons, please!"

Zhang smiled, picked up his brushes, and began to paint. Swish, swoosh, flick! Soon, four amazing dragons appeared on the temple wall. They had shiny scales, strong claws, and long, winding bodies. They looked ready to pounce!

But wait a minute! Something was missing. Zhang had painted everything perfectly... except for the eyes. The dragons had no pupils, those little black dots in the middle of their eyes.

"Why haven't you finished the eyes, Master Zhang?" someone asked, puzzled.
Zhang looked at his magnificent dragons and said calmly, "If I paint the pupils in their eyes, these dragons will come to life and fly away."

The people who heard this chuckled. "Fly away? That's silly!" one person whispered. "He's probably just making an excuse because he can't paint eyes very well," said another. They didn't believe him at all.

Day after day, people would come to the temple, look at the dragons, and then ask Zhang, "Please, Master Zhang, just paint the eyes! We want to see the finished dragons!"

Finally, Zhang sighed. "Alright," he said. "Since you insist, I will paint the eyes for two of them. But don't say I didn't warn you!"

He dipped his finest brush in black ink. Carefully, he dotted the pupils into the eyes of the first dragon. Then, he did the same for the second dragon.

The moment he finished the second dragon's eyes, a great rumble shook the temple! CRACK! BOOM! Lightning flashed outside, and thunder roared like a giant beast!

And then, believe it or not, the two dragons whose eyes Zhang had painted blinked! Their painted bodies wiggled and stretched. With a mighty ROAR that echoed through the city, they leaped off the wall! They soared up into the stormy sky, twisting and turning, and then disappeared into the clouds!

Everyone who was watching stood with their mouths wide open. They couldn't believe what they had just seen! And what about the other two dragons? They were still on the wall, magnificent but quiet and still, because their eyes were still blank, without pupils.

From that day on, everyone understood. Sometimes, that one tiny, last detail – like the dot in a dragon's eye – is the most important part of all. It can bring the whole thing to life!

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