The Four Dragons

In the days of old there were no rivers or lakes on the land. 

There was one Eastern sea. Four dragons lived in the Eastern sea. 

They were the Long dragon, Yellow dragon, Black dragon and Pearl dragon. The four dragons played in the water there. 

Once the four dragons flew over they sea into the land. 

At that time Pearl Dragon looked down at something and cried to his friends. “Come here immediately.” 

The other three dragons came around Pearl dragon. 

On Earth they saw many people putting out fruits and the people were burning incense sticks. A second later the Dragons realized that the people were praying for rain. The lands were parched and there were no crops and the people did not have enough to eat. They were praying to the Jade Emperor of the skies to send down rain.

The kind Dragons decided to help the people of Earth. 

They decided to go to the sky to speak to the Jade Emperor themselves about the problems of the people of Earth.

When the four dragons reached the palace of the Jade emperor he was busy listening to the songs of the fairies. 

The emperor was angry at being disturbed and he studied the four dragons. “I asked you to look after the Eastern sea. What are you doing here?” 

Long dragon came forward. “The crops of Earth are withering and dying, your majesty. Please send rain or the people of Earth will not be able to survive.” 

Jade Emperor looked at the faces of the 4 dragons and realized why they were here. However the Jade emperor was more anxious to complete listening to the sound of the fairy's song. So he just nodded. “Alright I should do what you asked. I shall send the rains down.” 

The four dragons happily went back to their place in the Eastern sea.

However many days later there was still no rain on Earth. 

The people of Earth suffered some more and they even started eating the bark of trees.

The four dragons saw this and they were even more unhappy. They did not know what to do because they were sure that the Jade emperor had forgotten to send down the rains.

Long dragon looked at the Eastern sea and he had an idea. “I think we may be able to help the humans." Long dragon said quietly. 

The other dragons looked at Long dragon expectantly. “What is it?” 

Long dragon pointed at the sea. “There is plenty of water in the sea. Using these waters, we shall recreate the same mechanism for creating the rains. We will take all the water from the sea and pour it in the clouds. Then the clouds would pour the water like rain drops to the lands of the people and help their crops. 

The other three dragons agreed to the plan. However, Long dragon still had a sad face. 

“What is it?”

“Please remember that when the Jade emperor learns of what we have done we will be blamed for it.” 

“It is our duty to help humans.” Yellow dragon looked at his three friends. 

The other dragons agreed with Yellow dragon and so the dragons scooped up the water from the sea and loaded the clouds with water which poured on the Earth. 

Before long the sea water had become rain pouring down on the lands. 

The people on Earth were overjoyed. 

However the God of the Sea could immediately see what the four dragons were doing and they went and reported to the Jade emperor immediately.

The Jade emperor was angry and he had the four dragons imprisoned.

The four dragons were put under four heavy mountains so that they could not escape from it. 

Though the four dragons were imprisoned they still wanted to help the people. 

That was when the four dragons turned themselves into rivers which flowed past high mountains across the lands from the west and the east and finally emptied into the sea. 

That was how China's four great rivers were formed: the Black River, the Yellow River, the Long River and the Pearl River.

Adapted from Chinese folktales