Treasury of Chinese Folk Tales. Shelley Fu

to him, “You and the God of Water are both mankind’s good friends. When you aren’t fighting with each other, all is well for man. However, when you fight, mankind suffers horribly. Just look at all the damage you’ve caused!” The God of Fire was ashamed of his behavior. Embarrassed, he lowered his head and agreed not to fight with the God of Water anymore.

      Nu Wo next visited the God of Water and also berated him. The God of Water was also repentant. “I don’t even remember why we were mad at each other in the first place,” he admitted with chagrin. “But what can I do? The sky is already broken,” he shrugged noncommittally.

      Nu Wo saw that neither god would help her repair the damage, but at least they agreed not to battle anymore. She returned to her children. Her first concern was to slay the ferocious black dragon. She armed herself and her children, and together they went to find the dragon. He was dozing at the foot of a mountain after a particularly satisfying day of hunting for humans. Leading the attack, Nu Wo charged at the dragon with her sword.

      The dragon saw the angry mob advancing with Nu Wo in the lead, a determined frown on her face. Frightened, it turned tail to run, but it had eaten so many people that it was sluggish and could hardly move. Together, Nu Wo and her children slew the enormous beast. But still the waters from the Celestial River rained down upon the world unceasingly from the hole in the sky. There was no other solution than to mend the hole.

      NU WO FIXES THE SKY

      At first, Nu Wo tried to use clay to mend the hole, but it was unreliable when it dried. One little quake, and it would collapse again. Also, its muddy color made unsightly blotches against the beautiful blue background of the sky. Nu Wo tried to use wood logs next, but the water still leaked through the gaps between them. Then she attempted to nail brass plates over the holes. This method was also unstable and leaky, and the plates clanged deafeningly when the wind blew.

      “How can I fix the sky so that it is as strong and beautiful as before the catastrophe?” she wondered. She wanted a substance that was strong enough to hold the Celestial River in and yet that matched the clear radiance of the rest of the sky.

      Nu Wo thought and thought. Eventually, she decided to melt down five-colored stones and use the liquid ore to mend the sky. These stones were dazzlingly beautiful and sparkled red, yellow, blue, white, and black — the primary colors from which all other colors on earth are derived. They were rarer than the finest diamonds. Some were buried deep under the ground, some were located under the sea, and some were at the tops of high mountains.

      Because men and women everywhere were busy trying to put out the raging fires, Nu Wo decided to mine for the precious five-colored stones by herself. She dug deep under the ground. After she had found all of the buried five-colored stones, she dived again and again to the bottom of the sea for them. Soon she had gathered all the five-colored stones that lay underwater. Next, Nu Wo climbed all the tall mountains she could find to search for the stones.

      At last, after a thousand hardships and much suffering, Nu Wo found all the five-colored stones in the world. She transported them all to a rocky peninsula near the sea. Soon she had a huge pile. Then, she and her children went to harvest straw. They gathered many thousands of bundles and carried them to a depression in the rock near the pile of stones.

      Nu Wo then lit the enormous pile of straw, and she and her children began shoveling the five-colored stones into this fiery furnace. They melted slowly into an opalescent liquid. The heat was so intense that Nu Wo told her children, “Step back! You’ll get burned if you stay too close. I will take care of everything.”

      The children moved away and gathered on the shore nearby. Nu Wo then took a long-handled ladle and began applying the liquid ore to a small hole in the sky. After the liquid cooled, Nu Wo patted the mended spot. It was as sound and as lovely as the rest of the sky.

      Nu Wo was overjoyed. “Look!” she cried to her children, “it worked!” The children clapped and shouted and danced. They were saved!

      Nu Wo began to work in earnest and poured ladle after ladle of the liquid into the holes.

      The heat made her sweat pour, and she was soon blinded by perspiration and soaked to the skin. The flames from the furnace seared her skin, and her throat became parched. It was unbearable. She longed for a drink of water. But Nu Wo looked toward her children, who were still celebrating and singing. She saw them all watching, encouraging her, smiling and waving. She smiled back and bravely kept on working.

      Thanks to Nu Wo’s hard work, the sky was eventually mended and made as beautiful as always. It was impossible to tell where the holes had been, and the waters of the Celestial River ceased to rain down upon the earth.

      Nu Wo’s entire body was scorched and achy, and she was dead tired. She felt that if she didn’t sit down and rest, she would collapse. As she sat on the ground, her children came up to her. They had tears of joy in their eyes and thanked her for her miraculous work.

      However, one man didn’t thank her or clap and sing with the others. In fact, he had a thoughtful frown on his face.

      “Child, what are you thinking about? Why do you look so concerned?” Nu Wo asked the man.

      “Mother, is it true that because a pillar that held up the sky got knocked down, the whole sky collapsed?”

      “Yes, that is so.”

      “Well, I’m worried that with no pillar to hold up the sky as before, all your hard work will have been in vain. What if the dome of heaven collapses again? The original support is gone. Can we trust that the sky is as firmly in place as before?”

      Nu Wo realized that the man was right. If she didn’t think of a solution to this problem, her children were doomed to suffer the same disaster as before. She saw that she still could not rest.

      With a deep sigh, she heaved herself up from the ground, saying, “He is right. Farewell, children. My work is still not done. I must leave you now, but I’ll be back when I have discovered some way to avert future disasters like the one we have suffered. Meanwhile, rebuild your houses. Replant the crops. You must carry on with your lives as before the disaster.”

      She waved to them sadly and walked away.

      THE PILLARS THAT HOLD UP THE SKY

      Nu Wo’s first thought was to use mountains to replace the collapsed pillar, but this solution was not as simple as it first seemed. Exactly how does one go about moving a mountain? Nu Wo wandered thoughtfully toward the sea. Far off shore, a giant turtle spirit was playing in the waves.

      The huge turtle was a supernatural being. It possessed great wisdom from having lived so long, and it could read minds. It swam up to Nu Wo and said, “Mother of mankind, don’t worry. I will let you chop off my four legs to use as pillars to hold up the dome of heaven.” Gentle Nu Wo felt horrible about harming another creature, especially a spirit of the Celestial Realm. She was unwilling to hurt the turtle. When the spirit saw Nu Wo hesitate, it chewed off its own legs.

      Nu Wo’s kind heart broke to see this mighty being so helpless. She asked it, “Creature, how will you be able to swim without your legs?” So saying, she took her outer robe off and tore it into four pieces. She tucked the pieces into the places where the turtle’s legs had been. Now the noble turtle had four flippers instead of four legs. That is why some turtles have legs, and some have only flippers.

      When Nu Wo went to place the turtle’s legs as four pillars to support the sky, she saw that the two front legs were shorter than the hind legs. This caused the sky to dip down at a slant. From that day on, all the stars, the sun, and the moon rotate in the sky, constantly sliding down toward the earth.

      Now the dome of heaven was firmly supported. In fact, you can only see the places where it was mended at sunrise or sunset. They shimmer at these times because of the five-colored stones, and they look even more beautiful than the original sky because of their