The story of the Princess and the Nine-headed Dragon

A princess was once walking down a garden when a huge storm swept her off her feet. 

The storm was so fierce that it was not easily visible that the storm had actually been created by a nine headed dragon.

When the people in the kingdom were taking care to stay away from the  effects of the storm created by the nine headed dragon, the dragon picked up the princess and flew away from there.

When the storm abated the king of the land was horrified to find that his daughter was missing. He looked everywhere but did not know what had happened to the princess. So he announced that whoever found the princess would have her as his wife. 

A young man from the kingdom had seen the nine headed dragon take the princess away. 

But he did not know how to save the Princess. 

When he heard the proclamation of the king he approached his friend for help. 

His friend asked the other people around the kingdom and they realized that the nine headed dragon lived in a cave which was surrounded by a huge wall of rock. The wall of rock was so high that it could not be climbed nor could they go under it. 

That the best way to save the princess was to lower a casket over the wall of rocks and get the princess out of the dragon's cave.

The young man wanted to save the princess and he got himself inside the casket and asked his friend to lower the casket over the wall of rock.

The friend agreed to this.

Then the young man reached the other side of the wall. He was shocked to see a huge nine headed dragon lying on the floor.

The princess was beside the dragon and attending to it. 

That was when the youth realized that one of the dragon's heads had been cut off and the dragon was bleeding. The princess was bandaging the area where the dragon had been hurt. 

After this the dragon felt so comfortable that all its nine heads slowly drooped into a sleep.

Once the dragon had fallen asleep the young man tried to convince the princess to get inside the casket so that she could be saved from this place. 

The princess did not want to go first. She wanted the young man to go on the other side and that she would follow later. However a young man refused to listen to her and finally convinced the princess to go inside the casket first.

Before she got inside the casket the princess took a long hairpin from her hair and broke it into two. 

She gave half of the pin to the young man. She then tore her silk handkerchief in two and kept one half of the cloth and gave the other half to the young man.

The princess inside the casket. 

The young man tugged on the rope so that the friend could pull up the princess.

The young man naturally pulled the princess up. 

But the young man is betrayed by his friend as the friend walked away from the place with the princess leaving the young man stuck inside the cave of the dragon.

Inside the cave the young man looked around trying to find another means of escape. That was when he was shocked to find that the dragon had kidnapped many young women before this who had perished in the case because of hunger. The young man unhappily looked around some more and that was when he saw a fish caged in the place.

The young man removed the fish from the cave and he was shocked when it became an actual human being. 

The fish was in reality a prince and the prince was under an enchantment. 

The touch of the young man had freed the prince from the enchantment. The Prince and the young man decided to consider each other as brothers. 

The young man was now hungry and he was looking out of the cave and that was when he saw another dragon which had flown here. 

With the help of the other dragon, the young man was able to fly across the wall of rock around the cave of the nine-headed dragon and come to the other side. 

As soon as the young man got off the dragon and thanked it, the dragon vanished. 

Just near the place the young man saw a tortoise shell with beautiful coloured stones.

In reality the twinkling beautiful stones were magical stones. If one of the stones was thrown in fire, the stone would consume all the fire and if the stone was thrown in any body of water, the water would part ways for whoever has to cross through.

The young man did not know this and he put the stones in his pocket and walked through. He came across the sea shore and was wondering what to do when he threw the precious stone inside the water. 

The young man was shocked when the water parted way for him making a path through the entire sea.

In the water, was a sea dragon. 

The sea dragon did not know what had happened but he could not move as he usually could move underwater. 

He called out loudly about who was changing the water. 

The young man realized what he had done and told the sea dragon what had happened. 

At this time the young man saw the Prince whom he had saved in the nine-headed dragon's cave in the water right next to the sea dragon.

The Prince was the same dragon's son.

The young man put the sea back the way it had been and the sea dragon was very hospitable and kind to the young man after that.

The prince finally took the young man aside. "My father shall offer you plenty of jewels and money for saving my life. Refuse all that and ask only for the gourd flask that my father has. 

The young man was confused. "Why should I do that?" 

"Because the gourd flask shall give you whatever you want."

It happened exactly as the way the prince had predicted. 

At first the sea dragon had been unwilling to part with the gourd flask but because the young man was determined the sea dragon gave the gourd flask to the young man.

The sea dragon finally brought the young man on land. 

Without knowing about it, the young man used the power of the gourd flask and could create whatever he wanted. The young man could either summon food to eat or animals which could transport him.

Meanwhile the princess was also having troubles. 

The king wanted her to marry the friend who had brought her to the kingdom. 

But the princess knew that he was not the one who had saved her from the dragon. 

But because she could not prove it she agreed to marry the friend but asked her for some more time.

Finally the young man learned to use the gourd flask better and he was able to transport himself directly to the kingdom of the princess just a day before the wedding.

The friend was punished for his deeds and the wedding of the princess and the young man was celebrated with great pomp and show.

Adapted from folk stories from China