Princess Kavalan
故事全文
After the Eastern Sea Dragon King lost his wife, he showered a lot of love on his only daughter, Princess Kavalan. He frequently told everyone,“Kavalan is my precious and beloved. I will pick her a husband of noble dragon blood to befit her status.”However, the princess had already fallen in love with someone. He was none other than the brave and mighty ‘General Guishan’.
One day, when the lovebirds met in secret, the princess told the general,“My father is going to betroth me to my cousin, Dragon. What should we do?”Though General Guishan loved the princess very much, and worried that the princess might suffer a life of hardship with him, he wanted to be with his beloved very much. So, he mustered his courage and asked the princess,“Princess, I would like to be with you forever, will you leave with me?”The princess nodded her head in consent, and the pair eloped late at night while everyone was fast asleep, and started a new life on land. The princess and the general led a simple life and gave birth to a baby boy, whom they named “Heping”.
A few years later, something terrible happened. The Dragon King learned of their whereabouts, and sent his army of shrimps and crabs to capture the princess. Then, the Dragon King angrily issued a command to his army,“Flood this plain now.” Immediately, the skies turned dark, and the floodwaters ruined the princess and the general’s beautiful home. The Dragon King held his scepter aloft, and addressed the general and Heping sternly,“I will transform the both of you into islands, so that you will forever be apart.”A ray of golden light appeared and transformed the father and son into two islands. One landed in the waters off Yilan, and the other landed in the waters off Keelung, and they became what we now call Guishan Island (“Tortoise Hill Island”) and “Heping Island”.
Princess Kavalan was heartbroken at losing her beloved husband and son. So, she took out a Magic Green Pearl that her mother had left her, and told the pearl,“Please transform me into a grassy plain, so that I may forever look after my family!”The princess disappeared after uttering the words, and was transformed into the evergreen Lanyang Plain. The Dragon King was overcome with remorse for what he did. So, he cast away his scepter sorrowfully, and turned himself into Jinmian Mountain next to Taipei-Yilan Highway, a mountain forest surrounding the Lanyang Plain.
