Rain Dragons
An old Fable as retold by Ryu Darragh
The old blue dragon lay on the still sun warmed rock ledge above his cave home and watched the sun going down with sleepy contentment. All was well with his family and with the community of dragons here.
As he was about no nod off he heard a small sound and sensed his grand nephew coming up to see him. The older dragon smiled at his determination as the little aqua colored hatchling climbed the rocks awkwardly.
"Grand Uncle, would you tell me a bedtime story ?" said the little hatchling sleepily as he crawled onto the older dragons forelegs and settled against his chest. "Can't sleep, Nephew ? Alright.. one bedtime story, then off to sleep. Ok ?" said his grand uncle.
"'Kay." the hatchling replied. Spying some distant thunder clouds gave the old dragon an idea for a story his grand nephew had not heard before. "This is the story of the Four Rain Dragons.." began the old blue dragon.
"Long, long ago, in a land the humans called China, the rains had stopped one day. It did not rain for many days. Then, the days became weeks,.. and months. The monthts turned into a year and the people despaired.
They prayed to the Jade Emperor, the being who controlled the heavens and the earth then, for rain. They prayed he would send rain to keep the crops from drying up. But, no matter how long and how hard they prayed, nothing happened.
The Jade Emperor was paying no attention. He was more concerned with intrigues in his courts than with the plight of the humans who lived on his lands. People had begun to burn incense. Some had just given up hope.
In those days there were no rivers in China, but, in the east was a great fresh water ocean. In that ocean lived four large and beautiful dragons. They were Long Dragon (who was blue), Yellow Dragon, Pearl Dragon and Black Dragon.
The dragons watched the people suffering and praying and, being the compassionate kind, were moved to do something to end the suffereing. They gathered together to see if there were something they could do. "We must do something,", said Long Dragon to the others.
"Yes, we must.", replied Black Dragon, "But, what ?" he asked. "Let us go and see what is happening to the people." suggested Yellow Dragon. "Perhaps that will give us an idea of what we can do for them."
So, the dragons swam to the edge of the sea and land and saw the people pulling dried grasses from the caked and dried soil as that was all that was left to eat for man or beast. "Oh, no!" wailed Pearl Dragon.
"We must help them ourselves as the Jade Emperor is paying no attention." said Long Dragon. "Yes, we must find a way to help them. But, what can we do ?" asked Pearl Dragon. Long Dragon looked up at the sky and then said, "Look around." to the others.
They looked around at the great fresh water ocean and suddenly understood. They lived in a great and wonderous fresh water ocean. "We can use the waters to bring rain to the people!", said Yellow Dragon. "Come, let us work!"
They swam about and, with great effort, scooped up all the water they could carry. They scooped up water with their scales, with their mouths and even their tails. They then flew up into the air and carried water to all corners of the land.
Black Dragon flew to the North, Long Dragon flew to the West, Pearl Dragon flew to the South and Yellow Dragon flew into the center of China. Then the dragons let the water fall from their mouths, their scales and arms and legs and even their tails.
The people down below looked up and rejoiced, but did not see the dragons. They saw only rain falling from the sky, more beautiful than all the jewels in the world. "Rain!" they cried joyfully. They danced and gave thanks to the Jade Emperor, for they could not see the dragons who had really saved them.
The dragons were pleased as they had worked hars to save the people and did not care that the Jade Emperor was being praised in their stead. When the Jade Emperor saw the rain falling, he was furious. "Who dares to meddle with my land ?!?"
When the Jade Emperor saw the four dragons he cried out, "Aha! You will not escape my wrath!". Which the dragons promptly did. For a while. The Jade Emperor summoned Mountain God and commanded he stop the dragons at once.
Fearful of the Jade Emperor, who was very stubborn and would not forgive the dragons for doing what *he* should have done, Mountain God hurled four mountains at the dragons who had nearly gotten away. Those great and terrible weights reached their targets.
When the mountains landed on them, the dragons were trapped. But, an odd thing happened then. From the four mountains spread four rivers of water that meandered all over the land and became the four mightiest rivers in China.
The rivers offered up their waters to the people of china and the people named them for the four dragons they honor to this day. The Yellow, the Pearl, the Long and the Black."
When his tale was done, the hatchling asked "Did the dragons ever get out, Grand uncle ?". "Yes," his uncle replied as he carefully settled his head on his forlegs so as to not knock the hatchling off. "They were very damp and smelled like old dirt and I was glad to be out." he finished.
The old dragon restrained a chuckle as he watched his grand nephews eyes first open wide, then narrow in suspicion and finnaly close accompanied by a disbelieving little snort. "You old fibber," said the hatchling, "Thanks for the story, Grand Uncle. Love you." he whispered as he drifted off to sleep.
