Jingwei Fills the Sea – Excerpt From: Guideways through Mountains and Seas
故事全文
Nüwa was the Yan Emperor’s favorite and youngest daughter. She loved to play near the sea. One day, as Nüwa flew over the East China Sea, the sea became rough all of a sudden. The waves came one after another. Each wave was taller than the previous one. Suddenly, a whirlpool appeared in the sea. Nüwa could not escape in time, and was sucked into the vortex. Yan Emperor kept calling his daughter’s name,“Nüwa! Nüwa ~”But she was never seen again.
One day, a little bird appeared over the East China Sea. It had a beautiful pattern on its head, a white beak, and a pair of red feet. It vaguely resembled a raven, and kept calling its own name,“Jingwei, Jingwei…”Nüwa’s spirit had turned into this bird.
Jingwei lived on Fajiu Mountain, which was covered in Chinese Mulberry trees. Every day, she picked small stones or twigs, flew to the East China Sea, and threw them into the sea. Day after day, rain or shine, the little bird carried on, and determined to fill the sea.
The deity of the East China Sea heard about the little bird, and asked the bird angrily,“Why do you want to fill the East China Sea? Why do you hate me so much?”The bird replied,“Because you took my life while I was still so young, and you will continue to take many more lives.”The deity laughed loudly and said,“Give up, little bird! Even if you keep throwing stones and twigs for a thousand years or ten thousand years, you won’t fill me up!”Jingwei uttered a plaintive cry and said,“I won’t give up! Be it a thousand years or ten thousand years, I will never stop trying to fill the East China Sea!”
Since then, the Jingwei bird kept carrying stones from Fajiu Mountain to fill the East China Sea, and continues to do so today.
