Chihshanyan
故事全文
There was a hill called Chishang near Tainan that was made of red soil. To its east, in Wujia Village, there was a young man named Hu De-chang. He had a strong bull and a frail cow. He made his living by transporting goods with his bull cart. One day, as he arrived at Anping Harbor, he heard talk of a large stone that was washed up upon the beach. The stone was rumored to be very beautiful, but it was too heavy for anyone to carry home. After making his delivery, he went to the beach to see the beautiful stone for himself. He really liked the stone and wanted to bring it home with him.
So, he tied the stone with a length of rope and tried using his bull to pull it. But the stone did not budge. The bull pulled so hard that its shoulder bled, but Hu De-chang did not want to give up. He knelt and prayed to the heavens for help so that he could bring the stone back home.
As the prayer left his lips, a white bearded old man appeared and told him,“You should use the cow to pull this stone!”Hu De-chang laughed and said,“Don’t kid me! Even my strong bull could not make it move. My cow is so frail, how could she move the stone?”The old man smiled and said,“How would you know if you don’t try?”Surprisingly, the cow made the stone move easily. Hu De-chang turned his head to thank the old man, but found that he had disappeared. He realized that the old man was a deity who had come to help him, so he knelt and bowed to the heavens thrice to show his gratitude. Then, he loaded the stone onto his cart and brought it home.
When he arrived at Chishang, the cow suddenly stopped and refused to move even when Hu De-chang whipped her with his whip. The old man appeared again and said,“The stone likes it here. You should unload it here!”Hu De-chang had no choice but to unload the stone. When the villagers heard about the stone’s mystical origin, they flocked to Chishang to see it for themselves. Some days later, a highly skilled stone artisan who happened to pass by Chishang carved the stone into a graceful statue of the Buddhist goddess Guanyin (Goddess of Mercy).
