THE LEGEND OF THE CHINESE DRAGON
This is an amazing Chinese dragon story.
Long long ago, a little boy lived in a small village in China. His name
was Chi Yu. Chi Yu lived in a small cottage with his mother. The cottage was surrounded by large meadows. During the monsoon seasons, the meadows looked the most beautiful. Green, fresh grass grew in those meadows. Everyday in the morning, Chi Yu went into the meadows and played. After playing for some time, he would cut some grass and put it in a basket every day. Then, he would take the basket full of fresh-cut grass and take it to a farmer called Hieun Tse. The farmer would take the basket of grass, and in return would give a jar of rice to Chi Yu. Hieun Tse fed the
grass to his cows.
All of a sudden, the village did not receive any rains for two years. A single drop of water didn't fall from the sky. As a result, the grass dried out. The fresh green grass didn't grow in the meadows. Chi Yu searched for green grass, so he could give a basket to the farmer, but he found none.
One day, while Chi Yu was searching for the grass, he noticed a green
patch behind some tall hills. He quickly ran to the patch and cut some
of the grass. Putting it in a basket, he happily returned and gave the
basket to the farmer. In return, he got the rice.
Every day, he would go to the same spot, behind the tall hills, and he
would find a green fresh patch of grass. Chi Yu would cut it and bring
it back. Chi Yu was surprised to see that every day the grass would grow
back. Days passed like that.
One day, when Chi Yu was cutting the last of the grass with his sickle to
take to the farmer, a shiny object caught his eyes. The object was lying
somewhere under the grass. Fascinated, Chi Yu picked it up. It was a small
golden bead. It was the most beautiful thing the boy had ever seen. So, he
decided to take it home. Upon approaching home, Chi Yu hid the
golden bead in a rice jar and went to sleep. The next morning, Chi Yu found the rice jar was full to the top. He kept taking the rice out of the jar.
And every time, the jar would fill up to the brim. Finally, the boy
understood that the bead was the reason for this miracle. The golden
bead he had found behind the hills was filling the jar up again and again.
The little boy was so happy with the miracle that he shared the rice with
everyone in the village. Everyone was happy, except the farmer. Not only
were the farmer's cows starving, no one came to him for rice anymore.
Somehow, the farmer came to know of the miracle performing bead and he wanted it for himself.
The farmer came up with an idea to acquire the golden bead for himself.
He went to Chi Yu and told him that Chi Yu could have the farmer's house,
the farmer's farm and all of the money the farmer had. In exchange,
all he wanted was Chi Yu's golden bead. Chi Yu refused the farmer and
said that the farmer could not have the bead.
Soon, Hieu Tse decided he would steal Chi Yu's golden bead. One day, when the night sky was still dark, Hieun Tse crept into Chi Yu's house. He was about to steal the bead hidden in the rice jar. The farmer had been
searching for the bead noisily and without realizing he had woken up
Chi Yu.
Chi Yu knew why the farmer was in his house and quickly rushed to the
jar. He took the golden bead and swallowed it. The moment Chi Yu
swallowed the bead, he realized he made a mistake. It started burning
inside him, the golden bead grew hotter and hotter. Chi Yu drank some
water, but it had no effect on the burning bead. Even after drinking all
the water in his house, the burning did not stop. Chi Yu drank the
entire village's water. Yet, the bead grew hotter and hotter. Then Chi Yu
started becoming hot. He grew hotter and hotter just like the bead.
He then ran to the river. Even that didn't help. Soon, the boy started changing. Chi Yu turned into a fire breathing creature. Long flames came out of his mouth. He blew orange flames, some
yellow and some red flames. Upon seeing the change, he knew nobody
could recognize Chi Yu anymore. Chi Yu ran away from his house.
He ran far away, even beyond the tall hills.
29 дек 2023
