A Dragon Story

Dr Nicholas Ng

PART 1

Music 1 Pipa—Prelude (10 seconds to underscore)

This is a story about dragons. Have you ever seen a dragon before? I have…in my dreams! But
once, there were many, many dragons flying in the sky, playing in the clouds, sleeping in caves,
and swimming in the ocean. And people saw them. This was a long, long, long time ago…when
the world was without rivers and lakes.

Can you imagine that? No rivers, no lakes, no creeks, not even billabongs! The land was completely
dry from north to south, and east to west.

Oh, but there was water. There was water alright.

end Music 1

It was all in the Eastern Ocean. The Eastern Ocean was a mysterious place full of magical creatures.
The King of the Ocean lived there with a talking tortoise, and they were protected by an army of
ferocious prawn soldiers. In this ocean lived four amazing dragons.

Four magnificent dragons. Not one, not two, not three, but four.

In Mandarin, the word for ‘dragon’ is ⿓ long. Can you say long?

Oh look, there’s the Eastern Ocean right over there!

Well, I’m going to go for a little walk to my boat and see if I can find my dragon friends (I have
friends, you know).

PART 2

The are dragons living in the Eastern Ocean, and I am going for a sail today to see if I can see any
of my dragon friends.

Here is my little sail boat.

Here is my long oar.

I’m pulling up my anchor…and awaaaaaay we go!

Music 2 Guzheng—Water Music (10 seconds to underscore)

It’s a beautiful day a sea. The sun is shining, the seagulls are flying. But, I don’t see any dragons!

end Music 2

SFX Thunder (or Gong)

Oh no, I think it’s starting to storm.

Can you hear the wind howling

SFX Wind (or Flute)

And the rain falling?

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SFX Rain (or Rainstick)

SFX Waves (or Cymbals)

The sea is becoming really choppy. I think I am loosing control of my boat. I think I am going to…

…Aaaaargh!

Music 3 Cymbal & Gong—‘Splash’

Music 4 Beijing Opera Track (5 secs to underscore)

The storm is over and I’ve found my beautiful dragon friends! Would you like to meet them? Let me
introduce you!

Yellow Dragon (Huang long) ⿈⿓ is the fastest and bravest of all the dragons. He has bright yellow
eyes, yellow scales and yellow claws.

His best friend is Long Dragon (Chang long) ⾧⿓, the longest dragon in the world. His body is a
beautiful mixture of blue and red scales.

Long Dragon’s cousin is Black Dragon (Hei long) ⿊⿓, slightly eccentric and completely black from
head to tail. He has a heart of gold.

And finally, Pearl Dragon (Zhu long) 珠⿓, who is white as snow. Do you know if this is a girl or boy
dragon? Yes, it’s a girl!

The four dragons!

Ahhhh…These dragons were the best of friends, and they spent their days swimming in the Eastern
Ocean and playing in the clouds.

end Music 4

Can you say the Chinese word for ‘friend’? It is peng you 朋有. Repeat after me: peng you.

PART 3

Pearl Dragon, the only girl in the group, sometimes went out flying on her own (to get away from
the other boys).

She loved the feeling of the sun’s warm on her back as she flew high up into the sky, as high as she
could go, before diving back down again to glide against the glassy surface of the Eastern Ocean.
And then she’d rest high up on a mountain top to look down on the world below her.

Music 5 Hulusi—Dragon Song A (30 secs)

One day, as Pearl Dragon was resting on her favourite mountain top, she saw something unusual
happening and she called out to her dragon friends: ‘look!’

Do you know the Mandarin word for look? It is: kan 看. Can you say: 看. kan?

The other dragons rushed over and together, they looked down on earth. Below them, a group of
people had gathered, but instead of laughing and dancing, and eating festive foods, they were
moaning and groaning and pulling on their clothes and hair. From amongst them a very, very old
man appeared and walked up to an altar.

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(Old Man voice) O Heavenly God, Ruler of all Heavens, Earth and the Underworld, Creator
of the Universe, Emperor of the Universe, and Lord of the Imperial Court.

Today is the ninth day of the New Year, the day of your divine birth. Please accept our
humble offering of dried fruit and incense.

O Mighty God of the Skies, this is all we can offer, for there has not been rain for a very, very,
very, very, very, long time. Our crops have withered, the grass has turned yellow, and the
earth is scorched and cracked. We have no rice for our children.

O Heavenly Emperor, please send us rain. Please, send us rain.

Music 6 Zhonghu—Sad Song (30 secs)

PART 4

The dragons turned to each other and discussed what they had seen. After 108 minutes of deep
meditation, they decided that they should help the people by asking the Heavenly Emperor to
send rain. After all, he sent the sun by day, and the moon by night. Surely, he had just forgotten to
send rain!

With a giant leap, the dragons ascended into the clouds towards the Heavenly Palace.

Music 7 Cymbal, Gong & Drum—Travelling Music (20 secs)

The Jade Emperor, ruler of heaven and earth was a very busy man and he was not at all pleased to
see the dragons.

“What are you doing here at the Palace Gate instead of playing in the clouds?” he asked in an
angry voice.

“Your Majesty, there is no rain on earth,” said Yellow Dragon in a brave voice. “The crops have
withered, the grass has turned yellow, and the earth is scorched and cracked. The people have no
rice for their children.”

The Heavenly Emperor replied that he knew about the drought, and that he would send rain when
the time was right because he was very, very busy.

“Now, go home, dragons, and don’t bother me again!” And with that, he stormed off in a huff.

The dragons, content that they had spoken to the Heavenly Emperor, flew back to the Eastern
Ocean, and there they waited.

PART 5

Music 8 Wooden Fish—Riff (underscore)

The dragons waited and waited for the Emperor to send rain.

1 day passed ⼀ yi. (Can you repeat after me?)

2 days passed ⼆ er
3 days passed 三 san
4 days passed 四 si
5, 6. 7 days passed 五 wu, 六 liu, 七 qi
8, 9 days passed ⼋ ba, 九 jiu

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After 10 days ⼗ shi…

end Music 8

…there was still no rain.

The people suffered more and more and started to eat bark, roots, and finally white clay from the
ground.

The four dragons, seeing this, realised that something needed to be done and held another
meeting.

After 108 minutes of deep meditation, Long Dragon had an idea: there’s plenty of water in the
ocean where they live. Why don’t they...scoop it up? And then they can spray it into the sky so that
the water will fall onto the ground like raindrops.

The other dragons thought this was a great idea. Black Dragon was worried that they might get in
trouble for interfering. But their love of the people was too strong. And so with a giant leap, the
dragons dived deep down into the ocean, and scooped water up in their mouths and bellies.

They flew up, up, up, as high as they could into the sky and released the water and…the sky
became dark, and little by little, big fat drops of rain began to fall. Slowly at first, and then
increasing in speed until it turned into a giant storm!
Do you know the word for rain? It is: ⾬ yu [SLIDE]

‘It’s raining! It’s raining!’ The people cried. ‘Our crops will be saved’. They jumped for joy as their
grass turned green again.

Music 9 Erhu—Hantien Lei (30 secs)

PART 6

So the people were happy, the Old Man was happy, the Dragons were happy. The only person
who wasn’t happy was the Heavenly Emperor, who heard about the rain from the Sea God.

In fact, the Emperor was furious and ordered the immediate arrest of the dragons by the imperial
guards.

Music 10 Drum & Gong—Martial music (10 secs to underscore)

They descended from the heavens with their staves and swords and chains.

Outnumbered, the dragons could not defend themselves, and were arrested by the Heavenly
guards.

end Music 10

Because they had misbehaved, the Heavenly Emperor had the dragons separated. Yellow Dragon
was sent to the centre of China. Long Dragon was stretched out from east to west, slightly north of
Yellow Dragon. Black Dragon was sent to the far northeast, where it is cold. And Pearl was sent as
far south as possible.

To make sure they stayed where they were, the Emperor ordered the Mountain God to fly in four
magical mountains and land them on each of the dragons, imprisoning them forever.

PART 7

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The dragons did not regret helping the people and decided to continue helping them. But how?
After 108 minutes of deep meditation, they decided to turn themselves into water, so that if ever
the Heavenly Emperor ever forgot to send rain again, those who l lived on the land could help
themselves to a drink.

Thus the dragons became the four rivers of China that flowed past the high mountains and deep
valleys, crossing the land from east to west, and finally emptying into the seas: the Heilongjian
(Black Dragon), the Huanghe (Yellow Dragon), the Changjiang/Yangtze (Long Dragon), and the
Zhujiang (Pearl Dragon).

Although the dragons no longer exist, we remember them today by telling this story: brave and
magnificent, swimming in the ocean and flying through the clouds.

Music 11 Hulusi—Dragon Song B (50 secs)

THE END
© Copyright 2018 by Nicholas Ng

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