Today I am going to tell you a very interesting Chinese mythological story called “The Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea”. The story is about eight immortals who, on the spur of the moment, wanted to compete with each other in the East China Sea, but ended up getting into serious trouble and being punished by the Jade Emperor in the sky.
This is not only a wonderful story, but also hides a very important truth in it, especially suitable for children to listen to. Next, let’s see how these immortals went from happy to unlucky!
Who are the Eight Immortals?
A long time ago, in Chinese legend, there were eight ordinary people who practiced and eventually became immortals. They were called the “Eight Immortals”, which means eight immortals. Their names were:
Iron Knuckle Li (with a walking stick made of iron).
Han Zhongli (with a big banana fan).
Lv Dongbin (with a magical sword).
Zhang Guolao (riding a donkey backwards).
Han Xiangzi (likes to play the flute).
Lan Caihe (always holding a clapper).
Cao Guoyu (holding two jade plates).
He Xian Nun (sitting on a lotus flower).
These eight people had different personalities, each with their own characteristics and their own powerful skills.
One day, Lu Dongbin proposed, “We usually stay in the sky, why don’t we go to the East China Sea together to have some fun?” Everyone found it quite refreshing and agreed.
The race across the sea began!
When they came to the East Sea, they saw that the sea was rough and the wind and waves were very strong. At this time, Lu Dongbin suddenly had an idea: “Since we have all become immortals, let’s have a race to see who can cross the sea in the best way, how about it?”
Everyone thought it was interesting and nodded their heads in agreement.
So Lu Dongbin drew his sword and threw it into the sea, then stepped on it and flew up, rushing forward like water-skiing.
Tie Qiao Li, not to be outdone, made his walking stick thick and long, then stood on it and drifted with the waves.
As for Han Zhongli, he took out the banana fan, put it toward the sea, and jumped on it and stood firmly, just like riding a boat.
Several other immortals also used their own magic treasures to cross the sea:
Zhang Guolao rode a donkey backwards and slow;
Han Xiangzi floated across on his flute;
He Xian Gu sat on a lotus flower and floated very fast;
Lan Caihe stood on the clapper like a water surfer;
Cao Guoyu stepped on two jade boards and skated past like an ice-skater.
In this way, each of the eight immortals showed his own skill and crossed the sea in all kinds of strange ways. As they crossed the sea, they cast spells, and the whole sea was stirred up by them, as if the whole world was shaking.
The Dragon Palace under the sea was disturbed
Just as they were having a good time, the palace of the Dragon King at the bottom of the sea was also shaken by them. The Dragon Prince who lived inside was very angry and shouted, “Who is so bold as to make trouble in front of my house? Go and see what’s going on!”
He sent shrimp soldiers and crab generals to the surface of the sea to see what was going on. When these pawns arrived at the surface of the sea, they found that eight immortals were flying around the sea in all kinds of strange and bizarre ways, and also making a mess of the sea, so they hurriedly ran back to report.
After hearing this, the Dragon Prince was furious, thinking: “How can this be! This is my territory, how can I let them just mess around!” So he rushed out with his men personally, trying to teach these disobedient immortals a lesson.
The Immortals and the Dragon Prince are fighting
As soon as the Dragon Prince appeared with his soldiers, he blocked the path of the Eight Immortals. When the Eight Immortals saw someone blocking their way, they immediately stopped and said, “Who are you? Why are you blocking our way?”
The Dragon Prince sneered, “I don’t even know who you guys are, how dare you spread your wildness in my territory! Brothers, fight for me!”
After saying that, both sides fought. Each of the Eight Immortals had high magical power, and the Dragon Prince’s men were no match at all, and were beaten to death in no time.
The Dragon Prince saw that the situation was not right, and hurriedly showed his original form – a small green dragon, turned around and wanted to escape back to the bottom of the sea.
Blue Caihe eyes and hands fast, take the opportunity to pick up his bang bang hard on the head of the dragon prince. With a thud, the dragon fainted and slowly floated to the surface.
Something has happened!
When Cao Guoyu saw the green dragon floating up, he was shocked: “Bad, bad, this must be the Dragon Prince, we killed him, the Dragon King will definitely come to settle the score with us.”
Lu Dongbin also calmed down and said, “Things are already like this, we have to find a way to explain clearly, maybe we can even beg the Dragon King for forgiveness.”
But before they could react, the sea suddenly lifted up a huge wave, and the Dragon King of the East Sea appeared in a rage. Seeing that his son had been killed, he was overwhelmed with grief and roared, “How dare you kill my son! You must pay for it with your lives today!”
Cao Guoyu hurriedly went up to apologize: “Lord Dragon King, please don’t be angry for a moment, we didn’t do it on purpose, we just injured your son by mistake, please forgive us!”
But the Dragon King didn’t listen at all and directly ordered, “Kill them for me!”
Seeing that a great battle was about to start again, the eight immortals had to resist with all their might. The Dragon King also showed his true form and turned into a huge dragon, pouncing on the Eight Immortals with teeth and claws.
Lan Caihe stood out and said to the Dragon King, “It was me who beat up your son, if you want to take revenge, come at me!”
The Dragon King became even more angry and opened his mouth to spew out a powerful column of water with great force. The others rushed to avoid it, and when they looked back again, Lan Caihe had already been swept away, and even the Dragon King had disappeared.
Seek help from the Goddess of Mercy
As Lan Caihe disappeared, He Xianfu cried anxiously, “What should we do? No one can help us now!”
After discussing the matter, they decided to seek help from the Goddess of Mercy. The Goddess of Mercy is kind-hearted and wise, so she can definitely help them solve this problem.
Eight Immortals rushed all the way to the South China Sea, found the Goddess of Mercy, the story of what happened one by one. The Goddess of Mercy nodded after hearing this and said, “I can help you to intercede with the Dragon King, but you must also show your sincerity.”
So, the Goddess of Mercy asked Lan Caihe to give his clapper to the Dragon King as a gift of apology. Then she took the Eight Immortals back to the Heavenly Court and explained the whole story to the Jade Emperor.
Jade Emperor’s Punishment
After hearing this, the Jade Emperor felt that although the Eight Immortals had done something wrong, they did not mean to kill anyone, so he did not sentence them to a felony. But he still decided to give them a little punishment so that they would remember this lesson.
Eventually, the Jade Emperor ordered that the Eight Immortals be relegated to mortal status, and that they could no longer use their magical powers at will or cause trouble.
From then on, the Eight Immortals never dared to show off their powers again, and lived a peaceful and honest life.
What does the story tell us?
Dear children, don’t you find this story very interesting? But it also tells us a very important truth:
Even if you are very skillful, don’t show off all the time. You have to be low-key and modest, or you will easily get into trouble. Just like these eight immortals, who wanted to have some fun, but ended up getting into big trouble and being punished instead because they were too fond of showing themselves.
So we usually have to learn to control ourselves when we are at school, at home, or when we are playing outside, and we should not always think of being better than others. Only if you know how to respect others can you win their respect.
I hope you can all learn something from this story and be a good boy who knows what he is doing and has good manners!
