Once upon a time, on an is land in the East China Sea, there lived a fish ing fam ily named Lin. They were popu lar among their fel low vil lag ers be cause they were al ways will ing to help any one in need. Although the Lin cou ple had six chil dren, only one was a son. They were wor ried that if some -thing should hap pen to the only male heir, the fam ily line would break. Keep ing a fam ily line un bro -ken was a se ri ous mat ter to the Chi nese. They prayed to Guanyin, God dess of Mercy, for an other boy.

One night the wife dreamed that Guanyin gave her a pill and said to her,

“I know you are a good couple, and you de serve some one to carry on your good deeds when you are not able to do so. Here is