A Chinese Legend

The folklore of China is filled with stories of dragons.In the ancient Chinese stories ,dragons are not bad,and young men do not set out on quests to destroy them.Dragon emprors have beautiful daughters who want to find good kind peasant husbands and live happily ever after on earth.One dragon story takes place in the province of Sichuan,which has twenty-four small lakes called Dragon's Tears.The story of their name is a favorite Chinese legend.Wen Peng was a good peasant boy who lived with his widowed mother.He fished and sold his catch to support himself and his mother .One day he felt an enormous tug on his line.He fought and struggled and finally landed a huge ,golden fish.The fish gasped,"Please ,let me go,and I will reward you".Wen Peng felt sorry for the creature and returned it to the water.In return,the fish gave him a magic pearl.With the magic pearl,Wen Peng and his mother had all they needed and were very happy .A jealous neighbor saw their prosperity and became very suspicious."You are sending your son out to steal,"he told Wen Peng's mother."There is no other way for you to be doing so well."The mother was so frightened that she told the neighbor about the pearl.This only increased the neighbor's jealousy,and he was determined to get the magic pearl.As soon as Wen Peng came into the house,he and his men grabbed the boy and began to shake him,demanding the pearl.Wen Peng had hidden the pearl in his mouth,and the shaking made him swallow it.Wen Peng fainted,and when he woke,he asked his mother for water,He drank and drank but could not satisfy his thirst.He finally went down to the river where he had caught the fish.It seemed as if he would drink the river dry.As darkness came ,a huge storm arose.Wen Peng's mother watched in horror as her son slowly turned into a great dragon and started to fly away.She begged him not to go,but a gust of wind carried him into the sky as he called,"I am sorry,Mother.I cannot stay."
"Come back.Come back,my son,"she continued to call.The dragon turned sadly,and great tears fell from his fiery eyes.After these drops fell to the ground,they formed the two dozen lakes of Sichuan.