Play CannonTales

Palace Gong

GONG

Loading audio…

Press play to listen along. The line being read lights up as you go.

Show full transcript

Loading transcript…

01 Opening
Palace Gong beat 1 of 5

02 Palace Gong
Palace Gong beat 2 of 5

At the CannonTales academy, at the back of each side, there stood a small square fortress of nine squares, criss-crossed with diagonal lines, named Palace Gong — and inside her walls lived the most important piece on the board.

Palace Gong never moved. She was a place: a 3×3 home with an X drawn across her, where the General and his advisors stayed, always, never stepping out. "I'm Palace Gong," she said, her voice steady as old stone. "The palace — gōng 宮. I'm the home square. The General can't leave me. The advisors can't leave me. Some pieces think I'm a cage, holding them in. But I'm not a cage. I'm a shelter. I keep the heart of the side close, and walled, and safe — so the bold pieces can go win the game knowing home is held."

03 Palace Gong
Palace Gong beat 3 of 5

A young player grumbled, sliding the General around inside Gong's nine squares. "He's trapped in there. Why won't the rules let him out?" General Mei the mentor smiled. "Imagine he could wander the open board," she said. "How long would he last?" The student pictured the General alone among enemy chariots and winced. "Oh. Not long." "The palace isn't keeping him from freedom," Mei said. "It's keeping him from danger. Walls can be love." Palace Gong's diagonals seemed to glow a little. "Inside me, the General and advisors guard each other on the diagonal lines. Out there, they'd be lost. Home is where the heart of the side stays whole."

The academy instructor asked Palace Gong to teach a class on safe places. "Our students leave the palace undefended and act surprised when the General falls," the instructor said. "Will you teach them to honor home?" Palace Gong was glad to.

04 Palace Gong
Palace Gong beat 4 of 5

When she teaches, she gives one rule: "Keep the home strong. Picture my nine squares and my diagonals. Keep the advisors crossing inside me, keep an escape square open, keep the General able to slide to safety. A strong palace wins quiet games — the enemy throws everything at the home and it simply holds." A student built a snug palace, advisors crossed, every lane covered, and watched an enemy attack break against it like a wave on a wall. "Nothing got in," the student said, amazed. Palace Gong rumbled warmly. "That's a home that holds. The bravest attack means nothing against a well-kept home."

After class, Palace Gong stood quiet in the dusk, her small lamps lit, the General resting safe inside her walls.

05 Closing
Palace Gong beat 5 of 5

For a long while, a heaviness had settled in her foundations. The lively pieces called her a cage. They felt sorry for the General, "stuck" inside her, while they roamed free. And she'd wondered, in her stone-still way, whether that was true — whether keeping someone in was a kind of unkindness, whether walls were always a sadness.

But standing there in the lamplight, holding the General safe while an enemy storm spent itself against her and failed, the heaviness eased into a deep, sheltering warmth. Her walls didn't trap. They held. They were made of care, not punishment — a home that kept the most precious piece whole so the whole side could be brave. Keeping someone safe inside was not a cage when the inside was love. A grounded, glowing contentment filled Palace Gong from her foundations to her little lamps, the quiet pride of being a true home base, and she stood steady through the night, glad to hold what mattered most.

Hear it as an audio drama

A short play starring Palace Gong, from CannonTales. Different voices, same idea. Listen any time after you read.

Loading audio…

Read the drama script
  1. Narrator: From Spark and Anvil and CannonTales — this is Palace Gong, in chapter 1 of the CannonTales cast.
  2. Narrator: This drama uses an AI-generated voice. Voiced via Gemini 2.5.
  3. Narrator: Palace Gong is not a piece that moves — Gong is the place, a calm nine-point fortress marked with a great diagonal cross.
  4. Palace Gong: I am Palace Gong — the gōng. What I teach is the home square: the three-by-three fortress that keeps the General and advisors safely inside.
  5. Narrator: The palace is a three-by-three region at each side's back, crossed by diagonal lines. The General and his advisors may never step outside it.
  6. Palace Gong: I do not attack. I do not chase. I simply hold a boundary — and a boundary, held, is its own kind of strength.
  7. Narrator: Enemy pieces circle, looking for a way in. The advisors move along Gong's diagonals; the General shelters at Gong's heart.
  8. Palace Gong: Some strength is motion. Some strength is a wall that stays exactly where it promised to stay.
  9. Palace Gong: A safe place is not empty of danger — it is a shape the danger cannot enter. That is what I am.
  10. Narrator: Gong never moves, and because Gong never moves, the General has somewhere to be safe.
  11. Palace Gong: Nine points, crossed by diagonals, holding the General within. That is the gōng.
  12. Narrator: You've been listening to a Spark and Anvil chapter, written by the Spark and Anvil writing team for ages 9 to 14.
  13. Narrator: Apps stay free forever.
  14. Narrator: Curriculum aligned to Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards.
  15. Narrator: Released under Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0 for educational reuse. Visit Spark and Anvil for the full transcript.

The CannonTales ensemble

Palace Gong is one of the friends in CannonTales. Each friend shows you one idea by how they act; meet them all and you have the whole subject.