The legend of the Bald-tailed Dragon
In folklore, there are many stories about the Bald-tailed Dragon, all of which are related to Shandong people and Heilongjiang.
1. The legend of "Bald-tailed Old Li" in Wendeng County, Shandong Province
Compared with the bald-tailed dragon legends spread in other places in Shandong Province, the bald-tailed dragon legend in Wendeng County is the most popular. The representative significance can be seen in "Zi Buyu" written by Yuan Mei in the Qing Dynasty.
Bald-tailed Dragon
Bi's wife in Wendeng County, Shandong Province, saw plums on the trees in the wet clothes pond in March, as big as chicken eggs. There should be plums. If you pick them and eat them, they will be extremely sweet. From then on, she felt a fist in her belly and became pregnant. In the fourteenth month, a little dragon is born, about two feet long. It falls to the ground and flies away. In the morning, it will come to drink its mother's milk. The father was evil and chased him away with a knife, and cut off his tail. The little dragon never came back.
A few years later, his mother died and was buried in the village. One night, there was thunder, lightning, wind and rain, and there seemed to be something whirling in the darkness. Looking at it the next day, I found that the coffin had been buried, and it suddenly became a large tomb. A few years later, his father died and his neighbors buried him together. On the evening of the same day, thunder and lightning struck again. The next day, I saw his father's coffin lifted out of the hole. If he was not allowed to be buried together, he would be buried together. Later, the villagers called it the "Tomb of the Bald-tailed Dragon Mother" and prayed for sunshine and rain.
Fang Bo Tao Huixuan had more to say about this matter, and said: "I once read "Qunfang Pu" and said: "Heaven punishes the obedient dragon by cutting off its ears, and the ears will fall to the ground, and they will often turn into plums. "The plums Bifu eats are dragon ears, so they feel the qi and give birth to little dragons."
"Zi Buyu" (also known as "Xin Qi Xie")
Edition:
Based on Suiyuan's thirty-eight editions, refer to other editions. Twenty-four volumes and seven hundred and ten chapters.
Author:
Yuan Mei, a native of Qiantang, was given the courtesy name Zicai and the nickname Jianzhai. He had little reputation for talent, but after the first examination of the Qianlong Emperor, he became a Jinshi, changed to a commoner, and went to Lishui, Jiangpu, Shuyang, Jiangning and other counties. He was born in Neng Sheng. When he was forty years old, he returned home and built a garden at the foot of Xiaocang Mountain in Jiangning. He called it Suiyuan. He enjoyed reciting his works and was known as Mr. Suiyuan in the world. As the poet's nature and spirit, he should follow his talents; the parallel style of ancient prose also has ups and downs, and has its own style. The surname is Tongtun, he is quite indulgent in sensuality, and he is especially fond of guests and people from all over the world. He writes poems and articles without any fuss. Those who enjoy great fame live for fifty years, and two of them die at the age of eighty. He is the author of "Xiaocang Shanfang Collection", "Suiyuan Poetry", "Suiyuan Essays" and other books.
Content:
It describes the strange things about ghosts and gods that the author has heard about, with the intention of teasing, ridiculing and criticizing the hypocrisy, evil and ugliness in human nature. The writing style is natural and smooth, the composition is varied, and the reading is endlessly memorable.
The detailed address of "Wendeng County, Shandong" mentioned in Yuan Mei's article is Shandong Village in the northeast of Songcun Town, Wendeng County, Shandong Province. Next to the village is Huilong Mountain, and in the mountain is the grave of Bald-tailed Dragon Lao Li's mother. Since ancient times, people from dozens of miles around have come to the mountains to offer incense and pray for wishes during the Qingming Festival.
2. The legend of "Bald-tailed Old Li" in Laiwu County, Shandong Province
Legend has it that in the Jade Emperor's plan, natural disasters such as wind, flooding, and hail will occur every year. Different regions take turns. This year, it is the turn of the flooded vegetables. The Jade Emperor issued a decree to hand over the task to the sinful dragon who was punished for violating the laws of heaven, so that it could atone for its sins.
Besides, there is a family named Li in Baligou Village, southwest of Laiwu City. The man works the fields and the woman weaves. They respect each other and love each other. Although they are not rich, they are harmonious. It was only in the tenth year after marriage that my wife became pregnant. She was really overjoyed. October was over but no child was born, so the couple had to wait anxiously. It was not until twelve months before the wife gave birth that she gave birth to a snake-like monster instead of a child. The couple were frightened and angry, and were discussing how to throw it away, when they saw the little snake crying and couldn't bear it, so they fed it like a child.
This little snake is the guilty dragon who was punished by the Jade Emperor and sent to heaven.
Now the little snake has grown into a big snake.
The couple said to it: "Now that you have grown up, it's time to make a living for yourself." The big snake nodded. Then he meandered out the door. Mr. and Mrs. Li followed behind to see where it went. The big snake crawled to the bank of Wen River, nodded to the couple, and got into the waves of Wen River.
The Jade Emperor’s envoys came to Wenhe River to find Sin Dragon and conveyed the Jade Emperor’s will to it: the water flooded a thousand villages in Laiwu and all of them were leveled! If the task is completed well, you can return to the Heavenly Palace and resume your official position.
Sin Long is in a very difficult position. If the order is followed, the entire Laiwu will turn into a vast ocean, the people will suffer disaster, and the lives of the people will be in ruins! How could it bear to be so cruel to Laiwu, which it had the grace to rebuild? However, the Jade Emperor's will cannot be disobeyed. After thinking about it, I was in a dilemma. Finally, it finally came up with a solution: Wasn't the Jade Emperor called Yan Xiao Qian Zhuang? There happen to be Dazhuang, Xiaozhuang and Shibaizhuang on the south bank of Wenhe River, and ten hundred is equal to one thousand; as for "all Gongping", because "Gongqing" and "Gongping" have the same sound, then only the village of "Yiliu Gongqing" will be flooded . After having a good idea, it went up to the sky and caused the rain to only lightly flood Dazhuang, Xiaozhuang, Shibaizhuang and Gongqing, and then went to deliver the order to the Jade Emperor. The Jade Emperor was furious upon hearing this, thinking that he was deliberately disobeying the order, so he grabbed the inkstone on the case and threw it at him. The inkstone smashed off the dragon's tail, then flew out of the Tianmen and fell down. It landed in front of Zhang Gongqing Village, making a big pit. The inkstone fell into the ground, and black water emerged from the pit, turning it into a black water bay. This bay still exists today. The water from this bay is used to grind ink, and the writing is particularly bright and beautiful.
Besides, the Jade Emperor was still angry after smashing the dragon's tail, so he sent heavenly soldiers and generals to follow and capture him. It couldn't hide in Shandong, so it left Shanhaiguan and traveled to Guandong. It lived in seclusion in Heilongjiang and did a lot of good things for the people. People affectionately called it "Bald-tailed Old Li".
3. The legend of "Bald Tailed Old Li" in Songhuajiang River
I lived in Shuangcheng, Heilongjiang Province for about 20 years when I was very young. There is a custom that has been continued there. Whenever dark clouds roll in the sky, lightning thunders, or hail falls, the villagers will pick up their own kitchen knives and throw them into the yard. They say that every year when there is hail, the bald-tailed old Li comes back, and he is most afraid of kitchen knives.
There is also a long-standing legend about bald-tailed Lao Li. A long time ago, there lived a Li family on the banks of the Songhua River. They made a living by opening a tofu shop, and the common people nicknamed them Tofu Li. The couple were honest and kind, and that year their daughter-in-law gave birth to a boy named Li Long. This child is so strange that as soon as she drinks her mother's milk, her mother faints. One day Doufu Li went out to take out tofu, and when the child was breastfeeding, he frightened the mother and fainted again. Li Long was seen with his head plunged into his mother's arms and his tail pulled to the ground of the outhouse. Just then Tofu Li came back and walked into the house, which shocked him greatly. I thought, what is this? In desperation, he picked up the kitchen knife and stabbed his tail. The thing with a tail roared and ran away. From then on, Li Long also disappeared, and neither his son nor the thing with a long tail came back. Someone saw Li Long running to Heilongjiang, getting into the water, and never came back.
It is said that from now on, Li Long would go home once a year to visit his mother's grave. It was raining and hailing all the way back, but just throwing a kitchen knife scared him away. Since Li Long had no tail, people called him Bald-tailed Old Li. Some people also say that this is the origin of Heilongjiang.
4. The legend of Heilongjiang
Heilongjiang was not called Heilongjiang earlier. Ever since Bald-tailed Old Li took over this river, he did everything he could to do good things for the people, and that’s why he was called Heilongjiang. Before this, there lived a white dragon in Heilongjiang. This white dragon always sprayed water and hurt people. Everyone hates this white dragon and hopes that someone will drive it away.
At this time, Bald-tailed Lao Li was born. Bald-tailed Lao Li is from Shandong. It was cloudy early that morning, with east wind, west wind, south wind, and north wind, and then it started pouring rain. Bald-tailed Lao Li was born, black and big, like a human with a big tail, like a dragon but with a human body. His mother was so frightened that he fainted. His father let the heavy rain come back from the fields. He was too poor to survive. His father was worried that he would be more miserable after giving birth to a child. He was worried when he saw that a black monster had been born. He became even more angry. He picked up a kitchen knife and He went up and cut off a section of his tail with a kitchen knife. After being stabbed, he rushed off the roof and traveled all the way to Heilongjiang. From then on, he became a bald-tailed old man.
At that time, Heilongjiang was purely the Great Northern Wilderness. Because Bailong always sent water to hurt people, it was even more uninhabited. On a river bank, there lived an old man who made a living by clearing wasteland.
Bald-tailed Lao Li came here and turned into a dark and thick young man. He asked the old man to stay for the night, and the old man let him stay. The next day, the bald-tailed old Li fell in love with this place and didn't want to leave. He said to the old man: "Old man, I don't have a home either, so I just want to be your companion and live together, okay?" Upon hearing this, the old man said, It was quite fun to have a companion, so he said: "Okay, you can live here. If you are willing to work, you can do some work. If you don't want to, just play!" The old man started to open up wasteland, and he stayed at home to do some work. Doing odd jobs and cooking, the two of them talk about the past and the present when they are free, and they get along quite well.
When the old man came back that night, the young man asked him: "Uncle, how much land do you plow in a day?" The old man said: "It's not easy to plow, the turf and tree roots are difficult to get rid of." The bald-tailed old Li said: "Tomorrow I will go to open up wasteland. I am more energetic than you. You can just cook at home." The old man was tired and wanted to take a rest, so he agreed. After breakfast the next day, Bald-tailed Lao Li went to open up wasteland. At noon, the old man saw that the bald-tailed old Li hadn't come back to eat, so he went out to look for him, thinking that the young man was busy working and forgot to eat. Before the old man reached the land reclamation site, he heard the wind blowing loudly and the big trees were uprooted one by one. The old man was frightened, there was no young man, it was obviously a black dragon working! The uprooted trees have piled up as high as a hill! The old man came back without daring to say a word.
Bald-tailed Lao Li came back as a young man after finishing his work. The old man said, "Are you exhausted?" The bald-tailed old Li said, "No, I'm tired of staying around these days. I used a little energy today." The old man said, "This little energy you have is amazing!" Bald-tailed Lao Li said. Old Li with a bald tail said, "So, you saw me working?" The old man said, "I looked at it from afar." Old Li with a bald tail laughed and said, "If you saw it, you know what I am doing." Come on, let’s be friends. I want to live here.” The old man said, “Just stay here.” Bald-tailed Old Li said, “I don’t want to live on land, I want to live in the river.” "The old man said, "You can live there if you can!" The bald-tailed old Li said, "There is a white dragon in the river. If you want to live there, you have to fight with the white dragon." The old man said, "You must be able to drive the white dragon away." If you run, you will do a lot of harm to the people. Go quickly!" Bald-tailed Lao Li said, "You have to help me!" The old man felt worried when he heard this: "How can I help you?" Taili Lao Li said: "You don't need to go into the water. Just prepare some steamed buns and stones and pile them on the bank. On the day I go into the water, when there is black foam in the river, you will throw the steamed buns; when there is white foam in the river, you will throw the stones. That's it. You helped me." The old man felt relieved and said, "Okay, I'll take care of it." The two of them steamed buns, picked stones, and placed them in piles on the river bank.
After getting ready, Bald-tailed Old Li went down to the river. As soon as they got down, the black dragon and the white dragon started fighting. One wave after another in the river lifted the river higher than the house. The old man stared without blinking. After a while, black foam appeared in the river. A big black hand stretched out. The old man grabbed the steamed bun and threw it into the river. After a while, foam appeared in the river again. A big white hand stretched out, and the old man grabbed the stone and threw it into the river. In this way, the old man threw the steamed buns with black foam and stones with white foam. The old man tossed them over and over for a day, and the black dragon and the white dragon fought for a day. In the end, Bald-tailed Lao Li defeated Bai Long. From then on, Bald-tailed Old Li lived in this river and did a lot of good things for the people here. People liked Bald-tailed Old Li, so they called this river Heilongjiang.
In addition to the above stories, the folk legend about this place and "Bald-tailed Old Li" is also spread in Jimo and other counties in Shandong Province. The content and plot are also similar, roughly as follows:
1 ."Bald-tailed Dragon" is from Shandong;
2. His tail was chopped off by his father (or uncle);
3. He works in Heilongjiang. When the boatman is afraid of wind and waves and dare not sail, as long as there are Shandong people on board, he will feel at ease and be safe.
Since there were many Shandong Han people who traveled to Guandong in ancient times, the characters in the Bald-tailed Dragon stories spread in Shandong and Northeastern provinces also have an indissoluble bond with Shandong people. Our country has legends since ancient times that dragons can make waves, thunder and rain. Therefore, not only Shandong and the three eastern provinces, including the Yellow River Basin and even other provinces, the story of the "bald-tailed dragon" is also spread.