CHAPTER 15: ITINERANT TRADESMEN

I was in Xiamen, China when I came upon a hawker making rice dough figurine. That brought back memories of all the itinerant tradesmen who came to our village to ply their wares. Unlike today where doors were slammed against salesmen, those itinerant tradesmen were often well received. My favourite was the rice dough figurine peddler. He came only once or twice in a year. With a dab of colour here and a pinch of dough there, he could turn a lump of rice dough to fantastic figurines from the Chinese classics. Dogs, fish, cockerel all seem to come alive in his skillful hands. I could only afford a small goldfish ( costs 10 cents). My richer neighbours would get the classical figurine (50 cents). But that was not an issue for we all would play together with our figurines.

These figurines paled in comparison to the ones in my days

Making an Angry Bird 

Itinerant tradesmen or peddlers came only once or twice a year. There was the knife sharpening peddler. He usually stayed for two days. The tailors and housewives would all bring out their scissors to be sharpened. I watched him unscrewed the bolt and nut and then sharpened the scissors. All done in a matter of 15 minutes.

Once a salesman came plying 'special soap'. He demonstrated the specialty of his soap by volunteering to wash some clothes. Lo and behold, as soon as the soap was immersed in the water, lots of bubbles appeared and indeed the clothes were washed squeaky clean.Mum was impressed.More bubbles meant more power and less arduous scrubbing. Grandfather bought a whole carton - containing 12 long blocks of the soap. After the transaction was made, mum immediately set to was the rest of the laundry. Alas! The 'soap' yielded hardly any bubbles. Mum was dismayed. They had been cheated. Grandfather quickly made chase, but the salesman had disappeared. Poor mum, she had an earful of berating from grandmother....

On another occasion, a young salesman came peddling pots and pans. When he came to the house, he must have observed the altar table. Prominently displayed in the living room was the Chinese character "god" . So he began by praising my grandmother for her piety.  They talked about the different 'gods' and their special powers. Then he brought out his wares. "God asked me to sell you these, he said. Grandmother was amused.. "You mean god talked to you ?" she asked. "Yes," was the brazen reply, "God said I must sell these to you." There was a bit of bantering. grandmother examined the pots and pans critically. "We already have many pots and pans.' she told the salesman. "But these are very special. Made of aluminium. See, very light " and on and on he tried to persuade grandmother. Finally he said "Because god asked me to sell you these, even if I die, I must sell you." "Grandmother was shocked to hear that " What? Even when you die?" The salesman, thinking he had made a killing continued "Ya, even when I am a ghost, I will come and sell you." Now grandmother was a very superstitious person. The word ' ghost' was taboo in our house. Death was a feared word - an unlucky word. Grandmother was furious. "How dare you want to come back as a ghost and sell me thing..!!" She gave him an earful. There was no sales that day.....