Chinese Traditional Story: Emperor Yu Tames the Flood

Yu the Great was born and lived more than four thousand years ago; he was a descendant of the Yellow Emperor. Yu's birth was miraculous. Before he was born, one day his mother saw a meteor streaking across the sky, and at night, she had the meteor in her hands, and she communicated with it by means of her thoughts. Next, she swallowed it, and not long after, Yu was born. According to the legend, four thousand years ago, the water god was angry and opened such a big hole in the sky that the rain poured straight down like a river, submerging the earth for many years. Floodwaters were everywhere, submerging farmland and destroying houses; and a lot people became homeless. Gun, Yu's father, was summoned by Emperor Shun to control the flood.