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Story 63: Pearl of the West Lake – Jade Dragon and Golden Phoenix
Pearl of the West Lake – Jade Dragon and Golden Phoenix
Author: Anonymous
There have been many beautiful mythical legends about the origin of West Lake since ancient times. The story of the Golden Phoenix, the Jade Dragon and the Pearl is one of the most popular among them.
Legend has it that in ancient times, there lived a jade dragon in a stone kiln on the east side of the Tianhe River, and a golden phoenix living in the woods on the west side of the Tianhe River. They once found a piece of uncut jade on the Fairy Island in the Milky Way, so they worked together on it for many years. Finally the rough jade became a bright pearl. Wherever this pearl shines, trees will be evergreen and flowers will bloom.
The news later spread to the Heavenly Palace, and the greedy Queen Mother sent heavenly soldiers to steal the pearl in order to obtain it. Jade Dragon and Jinfeng found that the pearl was missing and searched everywhere. Later, I learned that the pearl was in the hands of the Queen Mother, so I rushed to the Heavenly Palace to ask for it from the Queen Mother. The Queen Mother refused and guarded the pearl to the death.
The jade dragon and the golden phoenix stepped forward to grab it, so you fought for it, and you pulled me. The pearl rolled down from the steps of the heavenly palace to the earth. In order to prevent the pearl from falling to pieces, the jade dragon and golden phoenix also followed the pearl and flew downwards. As soon as this pearl landed, it immediately turned into the crystal green West Lake.
The Jade Dragon and the Golden Phoenix were reluctant to leave the pearl they had worked so hard to create, so they turned into two mountains to protect it. These two mountains are the majestic Yulong Mountain (today named Yuhuang Mountain) and the other is the verdant Jinfeng Mountain (today named Phoenix Mountain).
From then on, they will always guard the shores of the West Lake. The people of Hangzhou still recite the song “The pearl of the West Lake falls from the sky, and the dragons and phoenixes dance to Qiantang”.
