Small Wander. Chinese Small Wander: Legend.
Hou Ji Taught People To Sow And Reap
Hou Ji was the forefather of the Zhou nation. His mother was Jiang Yuan. One day when Jiang Yuan went on an outing to the field, she happened to find very, very big footprints on the ground. In curiosity, she stepped on these footprints and instantly felt change occurring within her body.
Back home, she found herself already pregnant and right away gave birth to a weird embryo: a spherical fleshy mass. She was so terrified that she abandoned it on the cold ice in the wilderness.
A giant bird flew from afar and alighted beside the fleshy ball, laying one wing under it and using the other to cover it, just like a mother holding a baby in her bosom. Being warmed up, the ball split open, lo and behold, within it was a lovely little boy.
Jiang Yuan had no peace of mind after abandoning the embryo. So she went back, found her son and took it into her arms with heartaching tears. Because Hou Ji was abandoned after birth, he got another name Qi (abandoned).
As a boy, Hou Ji liked very much to play games and often gathered the seeds of wild wheat, cereal, soybean, sorghum and melons and fruits.
He used his tiny hands to bury the seeds in the ground. The crops, melons and fruits were soon ripe and more thriving than those in the wild.
When he grew up, Hou Ji wanted to get more and better strains. Having known of his desire, Nu Wa (Nu-Kua, Kua the Woman) gave him five colored sacks with a suite of five to collect various strains of seed throughout the country.
One day, they came to a place where the mountains are green and the waters are fair. On the top of the mountains there stood a Chinese sorghum with dazzling red. Hou Ji picked the seeds from it, and on the spot opened up farmlands for cultivation. He then sent his five attendants to sow the seeds they gathered in the five valleys at the foot of the mountain. Soon on the top and in the valleys there appeared a grand sight of luxuriant crops.
Hou Ji returned to his native place and shared with his fellow men the crops harvested. He used stone and wood to make some simple farm tools.
Hou Ji taught his fellow men farming, who then said farewell to the days when they had to hunt for food and live on wild fruits.
When the monarch Yao knew about Hou Jis achievement, he engaged him as agriculturist, to instruct the entire nation to raise crops and grow vegetables and fruits.
Hou Ji heard that in Heaven varieties of food crops were also grown. So he flew there and brought back different strains. From then on, Man had a life without worries about food and clothing.