Here be Dragons Day 6. A young god, a tortoise, and an emerald dragon.

A tale where the dragon helps the good guy is a delight. My last few posts have been full of the cruelty and greedy eating habits of dragons. There will be more of that to come I’m afraid as dragon legends are full of such things, but today I want to share a story from the East, where dragons have a different reputation.

An ancient Chinese legend tells of the time that Tien Ti, Emperor of Heaven, looked down upon the world and found the wickedness of the human race too much to countenance. Determined to put the situation to rights Tien Ti sent a great flood to cover the world and punish the wretched humans.
At his order the pillars supporting the world cracked, rice fields were submerged in endless rain, tiled buildings collapsed, and rivers overflowed their banks sweeping all away. Soon much of the earth lay submerged.
The few humans left clung on where they could and pleaded for help, beseeching the gods to save them. One young god named Yu heard the cries and they moved him to great pity. He pleaded with Tien Ti to end the flood and save the poor humans.
Tien Ti took a fresh look at what was left of the earth and agreed the flood had done all it should. He relented his anger and set the youthful god Yu a task. To help the young god in his work, Tien Ti sent a gigantic black tortoise to earth. On its back the tortoise carried a magic kind of soil which when scattered would soak up the floodwater and form new land. Along with the tortoise, Tien Ti summoned a dragon, one with emerald scales and wings, who he commanded to help the youthful god Yu in his work to sculpt the new land.
Yu and the dragon descended to the watery world. For thirty years they travelled with the tortoise all across the globe working tirelessly to distribute the magical earth and create new lands for the humans to inhabit. Yu worked so hard it is said “the wind alone was his comb and the soft rains his bath.”

With the help and power of his emerald green dragon Yu made mountains, carved great gorges, and spread wide and fertile plains using earth from the tortoise’s back. Yu’s flying dragon dragged his glistening tail through the new land to etch the path of rivers and scooped out valleys to create a glistening and beautiful world.

I have to say it is lovely to see a dragon in such a positive light. Tomorrow is Tuesday Treat and I’ll be offering you a short snippet from my new story Serving the Serpent. You can read Chapter 1 for free now, up on the my books section. You can also pre order a copy of this sweet, fantasy tale if you wish and get a generous 20% early bird discount too.

Click to pre-order.

Thanks for reading.
Daisy Banks