When the greedy emperor hears about Shen’s magic brush, all he can think about is gold. How can a little village girl stand up to him?
![Magic-Paintbrush](https://www.juliadonaldson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Magic-Paintbrush.jpg)
![](https://www.juliadonaldson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/illustration-magic-brush.png)
![Magic-Paintbrush](https://www.juliadonaldson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Magic-Paintbrush.jpg)
I order you to paint a tree
And make it very big.
Instead of leaves, paint golden coins -
A hundred on each twig.”
“A beautiful book” The Observer
“The best recent picture book” The Daily Telegraph
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Julia says ... |
This was one of the stories included my show “The Gruffalo, the Witch and the Warthog” which we performed at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2018 and took to a few other theatres. Here is a picture from that show, of Joanna Hutt acting Shen and Malcolm as the Emperor.
![](/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/magic-paintbrush.png)
Shen painting the dragon
Click here to watch a performance of this story on “Julia Donaldson and Friends”.