The four dragons
A tradition tale from China
Long ago, there were no rivers and lakes on earth, but only the Eastern Sea. Four
dragons lived there the Long Dragon, the Yellow Dragon, the Black Dragon and
the Pearl Dragon. One day the four dragons flew into the sky. They soared and
dived, playing at hide-and-seek in the clouds.
Suddenly, the Pearl Dragon shouted to the other dragons ‘come and see this.
"What is it?" asked the other dragons, coming over to see what the Pearl Dragon
had found.
Down below on earth they saw many people putting out fruits and cakes, and
burning incense sticks. They were praying! An old woman was kneeling on the
ground with a thin boy on her back.
"Please send rain quickly to give our children rice to eat." she said
There had been no rain on earth for many years. The plants had died, the grass
had turned yellow and fields cracked under the hot sun.
"Look at those poor people” said the Yellow Dragon, "they will die if it doesn't
rain soon."
The Long Dragon nodded. "Let's go and ask the Jade Emperor for rain."
The four dragons turned and flew towards the Heavenly Palace. The Jade
Emperor was very powerful, he was in charge of the earth and sea and he wasn’t
very pleased to see the dragons rushing in.
"Why do you come here instead of staying in the sea?” He asked.
The Long Dragon said, "All of the plants on earth are dying, Your Majesty. Please
can you send some rain?"
©StoryPhones 2012 www.storyphones.co.uk
The Jade Emperor pretended to agree to this “All right, you go back to the sea
and I will send the rain tomorrow.”
"Thank you, Your Majesty!" said the four dragons.
The four dragons flew back but ten days later and not a drop of rain had fallen.
The people became hungrier and hungrier. And the four dragons felt very sorry
for them. They realised that the Jade Emperor didn’t care about the people and
wasn’t going to help.
“I have an idea” said The Long dragon "What is it?" the other three demanded.
"There is plenty of water in the sea where we live” he said. “We should scoop it
up and spray it up into the sky. The water will fall like rain drops and come down
to save the people and their plants," said Long Dragon.
"Good idea!" said the others". “But," said the Long Dragon after thinking for a
while, “if the Jade Emperor hears about this he will be very cross”.
"But the people need our help” said the yellow dragon. “We must do this”, they
all agreed.
The dragons flew to the sea, scooped up water in their mouths, and then flew
back into the sky, where they sprayed the water out over the earth. The four
dragons flew backwards and forwards all day, and before long the sea water
became rain pouring from the sky.
"It's raining! It's raining! We will be saved!" the people shouted and they leapt up
and down for joy.
On the ground the plants grew straight and tall under the rain.
When the Jade Emperor found out, he was very, very angry, and ordered his
soldiers to arrest the four dragons.
He ordered the four dragons to be imprisoned under four mountains. The dragons
remained underneath these mountains forever, but they were never sorry that
they had helped the people on earth and were determined to carry on helping
them.
So they turned themselves into four rivers, which flowed past high mountains and
deep valleys, crossing the land and emptying into the sea and they became
China’s four great rivers, and the still flow to this very day!
©StoryPhones 2012 www.storyphones.co.uk