A scholar named Liu Yi was on his way to take a na tional im pe rial ex am i na tion. If he passed it, he would be able to get a job as a high-rank ing of fi cial, which many of the in tel lec tu als of the day as -pired to be.

Af ter a long and ardu ous jour ney, Liu Yi ar rived at Mt. Shishan on the coast of the East Sea, tired and thirsty. Soon he caught sight of a spring at the foot of the moun tain. Its still, dark wa ter seemed bot tom less. An in scrip tion on a mon u ment ded i cated to the spring said that it led to the longgong (the Pal ace of the Dragon King) of the East Sea. Liu Yi quenched his thirst with the spring wa ter and went on his jour ney, doubt ful of the inscrip tion’s cred i bil ity.

Liu Yi plodded a few miles on a moun tain path with out com ing across a single soul. Just as he was be ginning to feel very lonely, he heard the faint mel ody of a flute in the dis tance. As he walked on, it be came in creas ingly dis tinct. Soon he saw the player of the mu sic, a teen age girl herd ing a flock of sheep along the road side. She was hold ing a bam boo flute to her mouth, her hands sticking out from the holes of a jia (cangue), a heavy wooden yoke borne on her shoul ders and en clos ing her neck and arms. Cu rious, Liu Yi ap proached her and asked sym pa thet i cally, “Who are you? How come you’re locked in a cangue?”

“Well,” the girl sighed, but did not con tinue.

“Don’t be afraid. I am a scholar on my way to the im pe rial ex am i na tion,” Liu Yi said, try ing to gain her trust. “Tell me what happened to you. See if I can help.”

At this, the girl raised her head, the torn and shabby cloth gown she was wear ing and the muddy smear on her face not con cealing her youth and beauty. Blushed, she ven tured, “Are you sure you can help me?”

“Yes!” Liu Yi re plied with de ter mi na tion.

“You have to be lieve me, and don’t be scared if I tell you who I am, and why I am in such a mis -er a ble con di tion.”

“I trust you,” Liu Yi re plied, though un cer tain what she would say. “Please tell me what hap -pened to you. I will help you no mat ter what.”

“Thank you so much,” the girl be gan tear fully. “I am the third daugh ter of the Dragon King of the East Sea. He ban ished me here be cause I helped the peo ple in the re gion.” The dragon prin cess then recounted her or deal. It turned out that the Dragon King of the East Sea had held a grudge against the res i dents of the re gion for not show ing him enough re spect.

“What respect did your fa ther com mand of them?” Liu Yi could not help cut ting in.

“I re ally don’t know why my fa ther sud denly de veloped an av a ri cious ap pe tite for cat tle and sheep. He demanded that the peo ple send him a buf falo and a sheep ev ery other day as sac ri fices.” The dragon prin cess paused a lit tle and went on, “People re luc tantly gave up their beasts of burden, be cause once they lose them, they have to do all the hard work in the fields them selves. For that rea -son, they missed a few of their of ferings. Worst of all, in a mat ter of a year, their live stock sim ply ran out.”

“What hap pened next?” Liu Yi asked anx iously.

The dragon prin cess told him that her dragon fa ther had then punished the peo ple with years of drought, which re sulted in a great fam ine. A large num ber of peo ple died of star va tion, and those who did n’t want to sit still wait ing for death left their homes to go beg ging elsewhere. The com pas sion ate princess could not bear see ing the peo ple suf fer. She de cided to help them. To do so, she had to take

pos ses sion of the care fully guarded longzhu that gave her fa ther all his pow ers. The prin cess man -aged to win the sym pa thy of her mother, who re vealed to her the se cret hide out of the Dragon King’s pre cious pearl.

One night the dragon prin cess waited un til the Dragon King was fast asleep, then tip toed to the hide away, took the longzhu, and stole out of the palace. She dashed to the sur face of the sea, splashed out, and soared into the sky in her dragon form. Then she be gan to fly here and there, hold ing the magic longzhu in her mouth, which gave her the power to bring about rainfall. Overnight she re lieved people of their di sas trous drought. Peo ple rushed out into the rain, be side them selves with joy. The dragon prin cess was so happy to hear them laugh ing again.

“You are so kind,” ex claimed Liu Yi, who had al ready fallen in love with the dragon prin cess.

“Thank you, but my fa ther did not think so,” said the prin cess mel an choly. “He would not for -give any one who dared to touch his longzhu, not to men tion steal ing it. He once had a guards man put to death just be cause he was so cu ri ous that he took a peep at the pearl in the trea sure box without his per mis sion. My fa ther would have killed me if it were not for my mother’s plea for le niency.”

“Tell me how I can help,” Liu Yi said, seething with in dig na tion at the in jus tice that the prin -cess’s cruel fa ther had in flicted upon her.

“But you are going to take the im pe rial exam! I don’t want you to give up this op por tu nity to better your life.”

“If I miss this exam, I can al ways take an other.” Liu Yi said ear nestly, “But I can’t stand your suf fer ing like this one more day. I want you to get your life back.”

Liu Yi’s sin cer ity and deter mina tion deeply touched the dragon prin cess. She also fell in love with him. She handed him a let ter she had writ ten and asked him to de liver it to her un cle, the Dragon King of the Dongting Lake, which was a thou sand miles from where they stood.

“I really don’t want you to go. Who knows what will hap pen on the long journey ahead,” said the dragon princess, her moist eyes full of love and ap pre hension.

“Don’t worry about me. Take good care of your self while I am away. I will get the let ter to your un cle as soon as I can.” Liu Yi turned and em barked on the long jour ney. He had to leave im me di -ately, be fore his will could be so soft ened that he would not be able to tear him self away from the dragon prin cess.

“Wait!” The dragon prin cess called out be hind him. “Take this bracelet with you.” See ing Liu Yi puz zled, she ex plained, “This will help you get in touch with my un cle. When you ar rive at the lakeshore, cast the brace let into the wa ter. Then my un cle will emerge from his palace to pick you up.”

Liu Yi thanked the thought ful and re source ful dragon prin cess and set out. Day af ter day, month af ter month, he crossed nu mer ous rivers and climbed sev eral moun tains. He forged on cou ra -geously de spite many dif ficulties. As he trav eled, Liu Yi lived on the ex pense money that his par ents had given him for tak ing the im pe rial ex am i na tion. How ever, miles be fore he reached his des ti na -tion, the money ran out, even though he did all he could not to waste a sin gle penny. For the last leg of the jour ney, he had to trade ev ery thing he had with him for food, but he held on to the brace let. He needed it to see the prin cess’s un cle so that he could help de liver her from her mis ery.

When Liu Yi left the dragon prin cess, it was early summer. As he approached the Dongting Lake, it was al ready mid win ter. He would have frozen to death if it were not for the mod er ate South -ern cli mate in the lake re gion.

At the lakeshore, Liu Yi cast the brace let into the wa ter. Soon a dragon burst from the sur face. When it landed, the dragon as sumed the form of a mid dle-aged scholar, lest he might frighten the young man. It was the prin cess’s un cle, the Dragon King of the Dongting Lake. Liu Yi handed him the prin cess’s let ter, in which the prin cess told her un cle about her mis hap and asked him to talk her fa ther into re lenting.

With out hes i ta tion, the Dragon King of the Dongting Lake rushed off to meet his brother, the Dragon King of the East Sea, bring ing Liu Yi along with him. It took them less than a day to ar rive at the East Sea. There, the un cle dragon per suaded his brother to for give his daughter as well as the peo -ple in the re gion of Mt. Shishan.

Liu Yi’s self less ness, cour age, and faith ful ness won not only the heart of the dragon prin cess, but also the favor of the dragon par ents and rel a tives. They held a grand wedding for Liu Yi and the dragon prin cess.

The next morning the dragon prin cess took Liu Yi to see her royal par ents. Af ter brief, for mal greet ings, she made a re quest that they allow her and her hus band to re lo cate to the spring at the foot of Mt. Shishan. Knowing how much she loved the peo ple she had helped, Liu Yi ex pressed his sup -port for her choice. The dragon par ents readily con sented, and before their de par ture, the Dragon King gave the longzhu to his daugh ter. The new lyweds lived a happy life, and so did the peo ple of the re gion, pro tected by their guard ing dragon prin cess.