Daily in April will be posted a written story: 'How Dragons Shaped China'; the Hindu Ramayana from SITA's point of view; and from Korea, 'Taming of Tiger'; from my days of telling verbal stories at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. These tradi...
Many centuries from ancient times, the pearl shards laid buried in the ground in the mountains. In a village lived a poor boy by the name of Min. By cutting grasses in the valley, he brought rice and tea for his blind mother. This year was exceedingly hot and extremely dry; the grasses died. Min had to travel up the West Mountains to find grass and where he discovers a magic pearl shard from the Pearl created by the Jade Dragon and Golden Phoenix.
For centuries River Kingdoms were in power and used the DRAGONS to fight over for the control of China. Such is the story of Dragon Min, a boy who became a River Dragon and helped the villagers. While becoming a Dragon, Min made mud banks around the river to hold shrimps, crabs, eels, and fish and the river irrigated the crops and vegetables. Thus, Dragon Min, like many other river dragons, is honored and respected for bringing change, good fortune, and wealth to the river, the villagers, and the farmers. And, thus dynasties grew.
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Once upon a time in China many centuries ago was a boy named Min lived in a small village by a river. He wandered the valley to cut grass to sell to the villagers for animal fodder, fires or weaving so his sick, almost blind mother could have tea and rice.
Min heard a story told many times by his mother. "We live near the West Lake, where the Jade Dragon and the Golden Phoenix grew into mountains beside the lake guarding the chips of pearl that scattered during the fight with the Queen Mother of the West, the Celestial Dragon, who demanded the Pearl belong to her. The Pearl holds magic."
This summer was long, hot and dry Min could find no grass to cut and sell for his mother's tea and rice. So Min decided to hike up the tall and cut grass on the mountains of the Dragon and the Phoenix who guarded West Lake. His walk was long, and he was hot. Then at a small creek, Min found a large patch of luscious green grass, which was tall and strong, even during the hot days. The whole patch of grass Min chopped, hoisted onto his back, and carried to the village. The grass was dense and thick, heavy. He sold the grass for more money than he usually received.
The next day, his wanderings took him to the same spot on the hill by the creek. To his astonishment, the grass had grown back even thicker and more luscious than the day before, even in the hot, dry weather. He cut the whole patch again and took the grass down to the village. On the third day, the grass was bigger and more luscious; Min chopped the grass again and carried it back to the village. Min was happy with the marvelous patch of grass.
Although the long, tough journey he walked from his house to cut the grass, Min did not like. Min thought, "If this is magical, it should grow beside my house. I can use the river to water the plants."
