An old lady
lived with her only son, Yen Chong, at the foot of Mount Ali in central Taiwan.
He was good boy but very ugly.
One day, he
passed by the house of a rich man. The rich man's daughter, who was very
beautiful, was washing her face near a
window upstairs. Without looking, she threw some water out of the window. It fell on Yen Chong as he
was walking on the road outside. Yen
Chong looked up and saw the girl. She smiled at him and said,
"Please excuse me. I did not mean to throw water on you."
Yen Chong fell
in love with her at once.
That night, he
told his mother that he wanted to marry the girl.
"You must be mad," his mother said. "We are very poor and she is very rich. Also she is beautiful and
you are ugly. She will never marry you."
Yen Chong was
very unhappy to hear this. He stopped eating and could not sleep. He became
ill and his mother was very worried. She
then went to the rich man. "My son is ill because he wants to marry
your daughter," she said. "But he is afraid you will not give him
permission."
The
rich man laughed. "How can he marry my
daughter?" he said. "Anyway, you can tell him that if he can
give me four things, I shall let him marry her. They are: a golden bird, the skin of a dragon, a precious jewel, and a man's
hair, which must be more than the
height of a man in length."
The old lady
returned home and told her son what the rich man had said. Yen Chong
immediately felt better. He packed some food and left home to search for the
four things that the girl's father wanted.
"I will find the Goddess of Mercy (Kuan Yin) and ask her to help
me," he said.
After some
time, he met a farmer who was growing melons. He told him that he was looking
for Kuan Yin. "If you find Kuan Yin,
please ask her to make my melons bigger. They are so small." Yen
Chong promised to do so.
Later he came
to an inn where he stayed. He was the only one staying there. He told the
innkeeper his story. "Please ask Kuan
Yin to help me. I have no customers. I don't know why no one stays here," the innkeeper said. Yen Chong
promised to help him.
The next day,
he met a very old man who said he was one thousand years old. He had a white
beard that was longer than his own height.
Yen Chong told him where he was going. The old man said, "Please
tell Kuan Yin that I want to become an immortal.
I have lived for a thousand years and I
am still a man." Yen Chong
promised to help him, too.
Kuan Yin then
built a house in his path. When Yen Chong came to the house, he saw there was
an old lady inside, with a very kind face. "I am Kuan Yin," she said.
"Because you are a good boy, I shall help you."
Yen Chong told her about the four things he was looking for.
Kuan Yin asked him, "Is there anything, else?" He then asked
her if she would also help the farmer, the innkeeper and the old man.
Kuan
Yin replied, "Sleep now and tomorrow go
to the old man and tell him to cut off his beard. He will
become an immortal and you will get
your long hair. Afterwards, go to the inn.
There is a dragon living underneath it. It is the dragon which is keeping customers away. Kill the dragon
and you will help the innkeeper and also be able to obtain its skin. You will
find a large melon in the house of the farmer. Underneath it is a precious
jewel. Take the jewel, and tell the farmer to plant the melon in his fields.
All his melons will grow to be the same size."
Yen Chong thanked
Kuan Yin. He then remembered the golden bird. "Can you please help me get
a golden bird?" he asked.
"Return
to Mount Ali," Kuan Yin said, "and climb to the top. There you will
find a stone lion. In its mouth lives a golden bird. Now go to sleep."
When Yen Chong
woke up the next morning, there was no trace of
the house or the kind old lady. However, he did what she had told him to do. He
then returned home with the four things which the rich man wanted. He had been
away three years.
He married the
rich man's daughter and lived happily ever after.