The dragon mother

Once upon a time, thousands of years ago, in China there lived a girl named Wen Shi. Her family lived near the Xi River in Guangxi Province. She had two sisters. Wen Shi often went to the river to catch fish and wash clothes for her family.

One day on the river bank Wen Shi found a large smooth white stone. The stone was very beautiful so she took it home and kept it. Every day she polished the stone until one day it cracked. Out of the stone came five baby snakes. Wen Shi was not frightened. She found some food and gave it to the snakes.

Wen Shi's family was very poor. They had hardly enough food for themselves but Wen Shi saved the best food and fed it from her hand to the five baby snakes. When the snakes grew Wen Shi took them to the river. They were naturally good swimmers and they helped Wen Shi to catch fish.

After many years the snakes began to change their form and Wen Shi realized that they were not snakes after all but dragons. To Chinese people, dragons are spirits of the water. They have the power to control the weather.





One year there was a terrible drought. Without rain the people could not grow rice and many would starve. Wen Shi asked her dragon children to make it rain. The dragons used their power and the rain started to fall on the farms of the villagers. The people were so grateful. They gave Wen Shi the name 'Mother of the dragons.'

At this time, Qin Shihuang was the emperor. He heard the story of Wen Shi's dragons breaking the drought. He sent gifts of gold and jade to Wen Shi and asked her to bring her dragons to Xianyang which was the capital of China at that time.

Xianyang was a long way from Wen Shi's village and by now she was an old woman. She was not well enough to make such a long journey. Her dragons realized this and did not want her to make the trip. But Wen Shi knew she could not refuse the emperor. She boarded a boat to start the journey.

The boat started off towards the capital but instead of going forwards it began to go backwards. The dragons had hidden under the boat and were pulling it backwards.

When the emperor heard what had happened he relented and allowed Wen Shi to stay in her village.

Wen Shi never left her village again until she died. When she did the dragons were filled with sadness. The took human form and were known as the five scholars. They buried Wen Shi on the northern side of Zhu Mountain.

The End

When I was walking around Wuzhou in Guangxi Province, at the top of a hill I saw a huge statue. I walked to the top of the hill. It was quite a climb for an old grandfather. At the top was a statue of Wen Shi, the Dragon Mother. It is 30 metres tall. There were also many dragons. I took these photos at the top of the hill.

love from your Grandpa