Yu Gong Removed The Mountain
愚公移山 （神話故事）
Long, long ago, there lived in
the North Mountain an old man called Yu Gong (Foolish Old Man), who was over
ninety years old. In front of his house stood two high
mountains: Tai Hang Mountain and Wang Wu Mountain,
blocking their way and bringing them great inconvenience to their coming and
going.
One day, he called together the
whole family, young and old, for a discussion, saying, These
two mountains have caused a lot of trouble to our family for generations. Im thinking of fulfilling my wish to remove them while Im still alive. Do you think it ok? The younger generation
agreed to the idea, saying with one voice, Right, right, right. So started the great project of removing the mountains.
Some hewed the stone, some dug
the earth, some binned mud. Very soon, the stone and
earth they dug already piled up into a mountain which they carried to the
waterfront by the Bohai Sea.
Their neighbor, a widow of the Jing Cheng family, had a posthumous child who had just
changed his milk teeth. Seeing every one work very energetically, he also came
to give a hand. Lively and cheerful, he helped to do the odds and ends,
bringing to Yu Gongs family lots of delight and pleasure.
As summer went and winter came,
another year began. These people, who were carrying what they dug to Bohai Sea, had changed into undershirts for their
cotton-padded clothes, but had completed only one round trip.
Zhi Shou (Wise Old
Man) of He Qu(river bend) laughed at Yu Gong when he saw them doing such
an arduous work. He tried to persuade Yu Gong to stop doing such foolish thing.
Yu Gong firmly rebuked him for his wrong idea, saying, When I die, my son will
continue it, my grandson will keep on digging after him, and generation after
generation of my descendants will go on digging. Who can say the mountains can
not be removed? Zhi Shou
was rendered speechless.
A deity of Heaven happened to
hear their argument. Grasping firmly the giant serpent in his hand, he quickly
went to report this to the Emperor of Heaven.
The Emperor of Heaven was moved
by Yu Gongs faith and tenacity and sent the two sons of Kua
Er family to Earth to carry away these two mountains,
one to Shuo Dong, the other to Yong Nan.
Ever since, the once standing
together mountains were now separated poles apart. Now, in front of Yu Gongs
house was a wide expanse of fertile soil. His dream finally came true. Yu Gong
who dared to remove the mountains and at the same time earnestly worked on it
himself was an inspiration to people for generations to come and was warmly
acclaimed.
Chinese Legend
[ Small Wander -
Chinese ]