女娲补天　(nǚ wā bǔ tiān)

Nuwa Mends the Sky

After being created by the Goddess Nuwa, human beings led a peaceful life around the world for a long time until one day the four corners of the sky suddenly collapsed.

The sky began to crack and the water falling through the developing holes and gaps turned into fierce floods sweeping across all lands. Separately, great fires broke out and raged in all directions and would not die out.

To make things worse, all sorts of savage beasts and vicious birds came out to prey on the helpless human beings.

After Nuwa learned about the cataclysm, the goddess turned her attention back to earth and looked for ways to help the innocent people.

First, she piled up a mountain of firewood and found rocks of five different colors. She lit the wood with a big tree and melted the rocks into igneous magma and used it to mend the cracks and holes in the sky. Later, the magma became bright and colorful clouds.

Then, she tried to find something that could be used to elevate the four corners of the sky. When she was at a loss, a giant turtle swam to the shore and offered its own four legs to the goddess.

Nuwa was moved to tears. She thanked the kind-hearted creature and bid farewell to the turtle as it gradually sank to the bottom of the sea.

Using the four legs of the giant turtle, Nuwa propped up the four corners of the sky so that it could once again cover the whole earth.

The goddess also taught people to throw the ashes of burned reeds into the flood. They soon grew into high reeds and formed strong dams to block the water.

After the sky was mended, the flood tamed and the fire stamped out, Nuwa began to hunt down all devil beasts and harmful birds.

She first chased down the vicious Black Dragon which had brutally devoured hundreds of people and stirred up great fear among all the other creatures. The goddess fought for several days with the savage monster and eventually killed the beast.

After the fall of the Black Dragon, other harmful animals and birds either surrendered or retreated.

Once again, people were able to go back to their homes and work in the fields and raise their children.

However, it seems that the four legs of the giant turtle were not of the same length. The leg used to uphold the northwest corner of the sky appeared to be the longest of the four and the leg supporting the southeast was obviously the shortest.

Since Nuwa mended the sky, the sun, moon and stars have been constantly moving from the east to the west, but all rivers flowing into the sea in the south and east as the whole terrain inclines from the northwest to the southeast.