The Origin of Roosters
故事全文
Once upon a time, the phoenix had to fly to the sun’s home every morning, to wake the sun up. The phoenix had magnificent plumage, a melodious voice, and strong wings. Everyone who saw it was captivated by its beauty. Every day, the phoenix loved to admire its beautiful reflection by the lake. It sighed and said, “It feels wrong to be this pretty! How can there be feathers as lovely as mine in this world? Oh~ how can I look so beautiful!”
One day, the phoenix was so busy arranging its feathers that it forgot to wake the sun, causing the sun to oversleep. As the earth was still dark, the god of heaven felt puzzled, and thought to himself, “Why is it still so dark when it is time for the sun to be out?” When he found out what had happened, he became very angry and told the phoenix, “You were so busy admiring your beautiful feathers, that you forgot to do your important job. This is unforgivable. As punishment, I will take away your beautiful feathers, melodious voice, and your ability to fly. From now on, you will only be able to walk on the ground.”
With this, the god of heaven pointed his finger at the phoenix, and the phoenix lost its colorful feathers, melodious voice, and became flightless. Additionally, to help the phoenix to understand how tough life is on the ground, the god of heaven sent the phoenix to live on earth. From then on, to make sure the sun did not oversleep again, the phoenix had to crow each morning: “Sun! It is time to wake up! Wake up! Wake up!” People called the bird that crowed each morning “rooster”.
