Naga

Naga 

In the many Buddhist countries of Asia the idea of Naga has merged with local traditions to create a prodigious array of dragons and serpents. In China the Naga was compared to the Chinese Dragon “Long“ and in Tibet the Naga was equated with the Klu serpents that dwelt in lakes or underground streams guarding their treasure. Meanwhile the legend of Naga as a god is widespread and significant in all of Southern Asia. As far away as the Malay Peninsula we find Raja Naga, or King Naga, who is the king of all of the many sea snakes which populate the area.

The god Vaskul is the Naga-god of Mount Kailasha, which is also deemed to be the home of the god Shiva, one-third of the Trinity of Brahma’s aspects. There are pictorial and statuary representations showing snakes around Shiva's neck. These are Naga Bushana and they symbolize death, the power of which Shiva controls. They also represent that energy coiled at the base of the spine which yoga practitioners say is the base for all self-realization.

The Naga represents cosmic power; they are a manifestation of the Vedic god Agni, fire, and as such becomes the 'fierce spirit' who is the guardian. The cobra naga is ridden by Vishnu and represents knowledge, wisdom and eternity. As Vishnu sleeps on the cosmic ocean he sleeps on the coiled serpent on the primordial waters. Two serpents with downward and upward movement represent the divine sleep and divine awakening. These Naga and Nagni are serpent kings and queens which are divine in their own right. They are depicted as either fully human, fully snake, humans with cobra heads and hoods, or as humans from the waist upwards and snake below that.

Two Female Naga

In Malay myths Nagas, are many-headed Dragons of colossal size sometimes having five heads, of mammoth size. In Thailand the Nāga and Java (where they are called Sesas) are well-respected underworld deities who possesses much wealth. Naga are believed to live in the Laotian stretch of the Mekong River or its estuaries. Even to this date the people of Thailand, especially the Malay sailors, worship the Naga which is considered as a type of Dragon with many heads and a holy creature. Locals are also more likely to make regular sacrifices to the Nāga before taking a boat trip along the Mekong River, holding onto the belief that the Nāga can protect them from any probable dangers.

It is interesting to note that in the Malay and Orang Asli traditions Lake Chinni, located in Pahang, is home to a Naga called Sri Gumum. Depending on the version of the legend, her predecessor Sri Pahang or her son left the lake and later fought a Naga called Sri Kemboja. Kemboja is the former name of what is now Cambodia. Typically in Cambodian legend the Nāga were a reptilian race that possessed a large empire or kingdom in the Pacific Ocean region. The Nāga King's daughter married an Indian Brahmana named Kaundinya, and from their union sprang the Cambodian people. Therefore to this date many Cambodians claim they are "Born from the Nāga". The Seven-Headed Nāga serpents depicted as statues on Cambodian temples, such as Angkor Wat, typically represent the seven races within Nāga society, which have a mythological, or symbolic, association with "the seven colors of the rainbow". Furthermore, Cambodian Nāga possesses numerological symbolism in the number of their heads. Odd-headed Nāga symbolise the male energy, infinity, timelessness, and immortality. This is because all odd numbers comes from one (1). The even-headed Nāgas are said to be "Female, representing physicality, mortality, temporality, and the Earth."

In Laos Nagas are represented as a beaked water serpents Phaya. Laotian mythology maintains that the Nagas are the protectors of Vientiane and, by extension, the country of Laos. The Naga association was most clearly articulated during and immediately after the reign of Anouvong. An important poem from this period ‘San Lup Bo Sun’ discusses relations between Laos and Siam in a veiled manner using the Naga and the Garuda to represent the two countries respectively.

The legend of the Nāga is a firm and sacred belief held by Thai and Laotian people living along the Mekong River. To bolster this belief every year at the end of Vassa on the night of 15th day of 11th month in the Lao lunar calendar, an unusual phenomenon occurs in the area of the Mekong River in the area stretching over 20 kilometres between Pak-Ngeum and Phonephisai districts in Nong Khai province, Thailand. Miraculous Fireballs appear to rise from the river into the night-time sky. Local villagers believe that Nāga under Mekong River shoot the fireballs into the air to celebrate the end of Vassa, because Nāga meditate during this time.

Naturally locals hold an annual sacrifice for the Nāga because they maintain the belief that the Nāga still rule the river. The degree of extravagance of the ceremony depends on how each village has prospered that year in obtaining their livelihood from fishing in or transport on the Mekong River. 

Poision_Naga_by_Jessada_Nuy

In many parts of pre-Hispanic Philippines, the Naga is used as an ornament in the hilt ends of longswords locally known as Kampilans.

In India Nagas (recognized as superior to humans) are the serpent spirits that inhabit the underworld. Nagas can have a beneficial, neutral or hostile influence on human beings. Nagas, like the Chinese counterpart Long, also inhabit sub aquatic paradises and are considered the protectors of springs, wells, rivers, lakes and seas. They bring rain, and thus fertility, but are also thought to bring disasters such as floods and drought.

In their individual iconography the Nagas are usually depicted with a human upper body and a coiling serpentine body below their waists. Nagas are most commonly white in color, with one face and two hands, often with their hands folded in supplication or offering jewels. A hood of one, three, five or seven small serpents arises like a crest above a Naga's head and these serpents are often individually colored to correspond to the five castes of Nagas or to the eight great Naga kings. The motif of a multi-headed serpent crowning the head of an Indian Naga may possibly have originated from the seven or nine estuaries or mouths of the ancient River Indus. Nagas being snakes that may take human form; they naturally tend to be very curious. According to traditions Nāgas are only malevolent to humans when they have been mistreated. They are susceptible to mankind's disrespectful actions in relation to the environment. The belief is that polluting or disrespectful acts such as urinating or washing soiled clothes in a Naga inhabited stream can result in illnesses or Naga afflictions. Leprosy, cancer, kidney problems and skin ailments are all viewed as possibly being Naga-related diseases.

All the same, Nagas are objects of great reverence in many parts of southern India where it is believed that they bring fertility and prosperity to their venerators. Naturally expensive and grand rituals like Nagamandala are conducted in their honor. In India Naga Panchami is celebrated by feeding milk to snakes…………"

Meanwhile another key function of the Naga is apparent in temple architecture. As guardians of the doors we find them at Hindu and Buddhist shrines alike. In this capacity they can not only frighten ordinary human intruders with their dangerous cobra aspect they can also, as divinities, discern and repel any divine invader.

Chris Strom Naga at Angkor Wat

Straying a little from the image of the Dragon, the Buddhist Nāga generally appears in the form of a great cobra-like snake, usually with a single head but sometimes with several heads. Some Nagas are believed to possess the ability of to transform into the semblance of a human. That is why in many Buddhist paintings the Nāga is portrayed as a human being with a snake or Dragon extending over his head.

Legend has it that Nāgas live on Mount Sumeru among the other minor deities, and in various parts of the human-inhabited earth. Some of them are water-dwellers, living in streams or lakes; others are earth-dwellers, living in underground caverns. The Nāgas are the servants of Virūpākṣa (Pāli: Virūpakkha), one of the Four Heavenly Kings who guards the western direction. They act as a guard on the holy Mount Sumeru, protecting the devas of Trayastrimasa from attack by the Asuras. Among the notable Nāgas of Buddhist tradition is Mucalinda, protector of the Buddha. In the Vajrayana and Mahasiddha traditions many notable fully enlightened Nagas also transmitted or transported the terma wisdom that had been elementally encoded by adepts into and out of the human realm. And according to tradition the Prajnaparamita terma teachings are held to have been conferred upon Nagarjuna by Nagaraja, the King of the Nagas, who had been guarding them at the bottom of a lake.

In the 'Devadatta' chapter of the Lotus Sutra an eight year old female Naga, after listening to Manjushr preach the Lotus Sutra, transforms her body into that of a male human and immediately reaches full enlightenment. This narrative reinforces the ironic viewpoint prevalent in Mahayana scriptures that a male human body is required for Buddhahood, even if a being is so advanced in her realization that she can magically transform her body at will demonstrates the emptiness of the physical form and therefore sexuality itself.

Asaramiz nagas Rafi Adrian Zulkarnain

Both in India and Nepal the Nāgas are still very much a part of contemporary cultural traditions. They have their origin in the ancient snake cults of India, which probably date back to the early Indus valley civilization (circa 2500 BCE). In the Hindu Puranic legends the Nagas were the offspring of Kadru, the sister of Vinata who gave birth to Garuda. Both the Nagas and Garuda shared a common father, Kashyapa, buts due to an act of treachery by Kadrus they became mortal enemies. Kadru gave birth to a thousand serpents each with many heads which populated Patala, the region below the earth. This subterranean realm is rich in treasures with beautiful palaces ruled over by three great Naga kings named Sesha, Vasuki and Takshaka, who figure prominently in several puranic legends. Historically the Nagas were an ancient Indian race, of whom very little is known other than the serpent cult legacy that they appear to have left within Indian culture.

This legacy was absorbed into Buddhism at an early date, with the Buddhist Nagas inheriting much of their ancient Indian symbolism. They similarly dwell below land and sea, especially in the aquatic realms of rivers, lakes, wells and oceans. In Buddhist cosmology they are assigned to the lowest tier of Mt. Meru, with their Garuda enemies placed on the tier above them. Nagas are the underworld guardians of treasures and concealed teachings and they can manifest in serpent, half-serpent, or human form. The great second century Indian Buddhist master and philosopher, Nagarjuna, was perhaps the first person to receive a 'hidden treasure text' or terma (Tib. gter-ma) from the Nagas, in the form of the Prajna-paramita-sutra.

It is interesting to note that the Great Naga, Ananta (the 'endless', also called Sesha) has 1000 hooded heads which form a canopy for Vishnu. Ananta represents the cosmic ocean.

The symbol for water in Hindu mythology meanwhile, is the serpent (naga). The gigantic anthropomorphic form and the boundless elemental sea are Vishnu, but the Naga is also Vishnu. Vishnu is man, ocean and snake. All are one. Springing forth from the navel of Vishnu is a lotus stem, and on the flower at the end of the stem sits the god Brahma who creates the world. Ananta spits out venomous fire at the end of each Kalpa (age) to assist Shiva in destroying creation. The iconography of Vishnu, sheltered by a Shesha naga or reclining on Shesha, has as well been extended to other deities.

Meanwhile, the Varuna, the Vedic god of storms, is viewed as the King of the nāgas. Nāgas live in Pātāla, the seventh of the "nether" dimensions or realms. The Nāgas also carry the elixir of life and immortality.

In the great epic Mahabharata, Naga’s are frequently depicted as having a mixture of human and serpent-like traits. The epic also calls the snakes “persecutors of all creatures", and tells us "the snakes were of virulent poison, great prowess and excess of strength, and ever bent on biting other creatures". Typically, the general portrayal of Nagas tends toward the negative, and they are represented as the deserving victims of the snake sacrifice and of predation by the eagle-king Garuda. At the same time Nagas are important players in many of the events narrated in the epic, frequently no more evil or deceitful than the other protagonists are and sometimes act on the side of good.

Classic_Treasures_Cover_by_kerembeyit

The great nemesis of the Nagas in the Mahabharata is the gigantic eagle-king Garuda. Garuda and Nagas began life as cousins. The sage Kasyapa had two wives (amongst his 13 wives, all prajapati Daksha's daughters), Kadru and Vinata, the former of whom desired many offspring, and the latter of whom desired few but powerful offspring. Each got her wish. Kadru laid 1000 eggs which hatched into snakes, and Vinata laid two, which hatched into the charioteer of Surya the sun god and Garuda. Through a foolish bet, Vinata became enslaved to her sister, and as a result Vinata's son Garuda was required to do the bidding of the snakes. Though compliant, he chafed and built up a grudge that he would never relinquish. When he asked the snakes what he would have to do in order to be released from his bondage they told him he would have to bring them amrita, the elixir of immortality. Garuda stole the elixir from the gods and brought it to the serpents in fulfillment of their requirement putting the cup with the elixir on the ground before them. But it was taken away by Indra. However a few drops remained on the grass and the Nāga licked up the drops but in doing so cut their tongues on the grass and since then their tongues has been forked. From that point onward, his debt fulfilled, the Garuda have regarded Naga as enemies and as food.



The End.

Dragons in Africa: Aido-Hwedo

The Rainbow Dragon:
Aido-Hwedo of the Fon People of Dahomey

http://www.susanneiles.com/aido.html

African Dragons are more like serpents or giant snakes but they permeate the myths of the African tribes and even appear in the Egyptian pantheon as Apep (Apophis). The most accessible of the African Dragons is Aido-Hwedo of Dahomey in West Africa. Aido-Hwedo, a rainbow-coloured Dragon that is both male and female, was brought into being by the Creator God Nana-Buluku to serve as his companion and instrument in his Creation of the World. The Rainbow Dragon was the only being capable of travelling between Heaven and Earth and it carried the Creator God in its mouth as it passed between the two realms. It represents the link between the Sacred and the Secular.

While it was in the Heavens it bent across the sky as a rainbow arch and its droppings became mountains and fertile soil and its writhing passage formed the rivers and valleys.

Aido-Hwedo and the Red Monkeys by ~Flame-Shadow on deviantART

 Aido-Hwedo was so large it could hold up the entire world, but once the multitude of creation was done Nana-Buluku asked Aido-Hwedo to coil up beneath the land to cushion it. Aido-Hwedo cannot stand heat so the Creator made the ocean for the Dragon to live in (like the Midgard Serpent in Teutonic legend). Inhabiting the undersea with the Rainbow Dragon is a troop of red monkeys who forge the iron bars that are Aido-Hwedo’s food.

When the iron runs out and Aido-Hwedo grows hungry it will start to chew on its own tail. The earth above will become unbalanced, be struck by repeated earthquakes and eventually slide off the Dragon’s back into the sea.

The Aido-Hwedo myth still carries the resonance of its transcendent meaning into modern times, as can be seen by the poem by Audre Lorde:

Call

 But I must recover my spirit first…
Holy ghost woman
stolen out of your name
Rainbow Serpent
whose faces have been forgotten
Mother loosen my tongue or adorn me
with a lighter burden
Aido Hwedo is coming.

On worn kitchen stools and tables
we are piercing our weapons together
scraps of different histories
do not let us shatter
any altar
she who scrubs the capitol toilets, listening
is out sister’s youngest daughter
gnarled Harriet’s anointed
you have not been without honor
even the young guerilla has chosen
yells as she fires into the thicket
Aido Hwedo is coming.

I have written your names on my cheekbones
Dreamed your eyes flesh my epiphany
Most ancient goddesses hear me
enter
I have not forgotten your worship
nor my sisters
nor the sons of my daughters
my children watch your print
in their labors
and they say Aido Hwedo is coming.

I am a Black woman turning
mouthing your name as a password
through seductions self-slaughter
and I believe in the holy ghost
mother
in your flames beyond our vision
blown light through fingers of women
enduring warring
sometimes outside your name
we do not choose all our rituals
Thandi Modise winged girl of Soweto
brought fire back home in the snout of a mortar
and passes the word from her prison cell whispering
Aido Hwedo is coming.

We are learning by heart
what has never been taught
you are my given fire-tongued
Oya Seboulisa Mawu Afrekete
and now we are mourning our sisters
lost to the false hush of sorrow
to hardness and hatchets and childbirth
and we are shouting
Rosa Parks and Fannie Lou Hamer
Assata Shakur and Yaa Asantewa
my mother and Winnie Mandela are signing
in my throat
the holy ghosts’ linguist
one iron silence broken
Aido Hwedo is calling
calling
your daughters are named
and conceiving
Mother loosen my tongue
or adorn me
with a lighter burden
Aido Hwedo is coming.

Aido Hwedo is coming.

Aido Hwedo is coming.

Nidhogg and Ratatosk

Nidhogg and Ratatosk

The first world to be created in Norse mythology was Muspelheim, the world of volcanic fire. The next world that came into being was Niflheim, the land of ice and cold and, where it meets the world of fire, a world of mists. Between the two realms of fire and ice grows the World Tree, Yggdrasill, with the rest of creation, the worlds of Gods, men, elves and giants in its branches. One of the roots of Yggdrasill draws sustenance from the spring at Hvergelmir, located in Niflheim. Under this root, one of three that support and nourish the World Tree, lies the Dragon Nidhogg (Malice Striker) who, along with the Dragons Goin and Moin, gnaw on the main root while the Dragons Graback, Grafvolluth, Svafnir and Ofnir chew away at the twigs that grow on the tree. Even though the three Norns repair the damage every evening, Nidhogg will eventually gnaw through the root and Yggdrasill will topple, ushering in the end to all the worlds and the final battle: Ragnarok.
High in the branches of Yggdrasill perches a giant eagle in whom is housed the knowledge of all the worlds. The eagle abhors Nidhogg and his destruction of the World Tree. Using the squirrel, Ratatosk, as a go-between he and the dragon trade insults up and down the height of the tree, much to the delight of the quarrel-loving Nidhogg and the gossip, Ratatosk.

Niflheim is also the abode of Hel, daughter of Loki, and mistress of the unvaliant dead. Heroes and those who die in battle spend the afterlife in Valhalla feasting, drinking and telling tales of valor; those who live forgotten lives, who have no warrior traits and who died of disease, suicide or accident are sent to the Realm of Hel where they work, cold and miserable. The wickedest of these miserable shades are sent to Nidhogg, where their souls are sucked from them for his nourishment.

After the final battle Nidhogg will fly over the battlefield eating the souls of Fire Demon, Rime Giant and God indiscriminately until he, too, is killed by Surtur the Fire Demon.

The Duke Loves Dragons

 The Duke Loves Dragons

 

Since the days of the cave man home has been more than the structure that gives us shelter from the elements. We abhor the emptiness of bare surfaces and strive to make our living space into something that expresses our individuality, a place that defines us as much as it displays our tastes and accomplishments. Sometimes what has started as decoration, or as a means of passing on our tastes to our descendants, becomes a tool of a man’s pride and takes on a life of its own. Mankind’s pride is limitless and his expression of his self-worth is only limited by his riches. Buildings become a measure of a man’s achievements and the expression of his own taste.  

Here’s a perfect illustration, the amusing ancient tale of Duke Yeh retold (as Duke Coquaigne, with certain liberties taken):

Long after Rome had fallen, when Europe was beginning to dig itself out from centuries of barbarism, the continent was split up into a multitude of feudal states, each under the control of its local ruler. One of these states was the fiefdom of the Duke of Coquaigne, a strong leader who had increased the agricultural production of his estates, traded successfully with his neighbours and vanquished other, less amenable, nobles with his well-trained army. He rebuilt his ancestral castle and gathered a small army of the most skilled artisans, stonemasons, carpenters, cooks and blacksmiths; setting them to work on monumental structures that vastly improved his patrimony.

The Duke held an unusual fascination for Dragons ever since he was a child and had spent many an hour perusing the scrolls of heraldry. Every night before going to sleep, at his urging, his nanny had filled his head and imagination with wondrous accounts of the regal Dragons that had once roamed the world. In the time before they had been chased away by the present Religious hierarchy, who had also succeeded in permanently abolishing   the last vestiges of the Old Religions. 

 During this successful reign, as the Duke Coquaigne’s prestige and wealth grew he began to identify with the Dragon and so began collecting anything and everything to do with the fearsome beasts.  He filled his entire castle with Dragons:  illustrated manuscripts and scrolls, statues, tapestries and frescoes. Every nook and cranny was soon adorned with images of Dragons; bejewelled Dragons guarding their hoards, fire-breathing Dragons despoiling villages and terrifying maidens, countless depictions of various Knights fighting a Dragon, ships menaced by Water Dragons, and even paintings on rice paper from far-off Cathay of their Serpent-Dragon coiled across the sky. Dragons were embroidered on his court clothes and carved on his furniture, each one carefully crafted to inspire awe in anyone who beheld them. He even acquired stone Dragon eggs from traders who had discovered them lying in the rock of the Great Desert, along with the bones of their mother. The Duke had dispatched several expeditions to retrieve those bones, but none had ever returned from the wasteland. 

The eccentric Duke even began to imitate the Dragon’s roar (or what he imagined the roar to sound like) whenever he was enraged, and lived his life the way he thought a Dragon would.

So enthusiastically did he carry out this Dragon worship, for he did view it as an almost Holy quest, that he became famous throughout Europe for being a Dragon lover. People would comment, ``the Duke loves Dragons, `` with as much veracity and nodding of heads as if they had said, ``the sky is blue.”

 It was bound to happen that the story of the Duke who loved Dragons would finally reach the ears of the last colony of Dragons left in the world. On the highest mountains, far away from even the remotest trails they had sought refuge where their roars and fiery breath were often mistaken for mountain storms. Such adulation that the Duke espoused stoked their curiosity and they decided to send out one of their number, a youngster only eleven centuries old, to visit the Duke and discern the truth. ``Perhaps mankind has matured over these past centuries and may once more welcome us among them.`` they speculated. With this, the young Dragon took flight and headed towards civilized lands.

On a rather sweltering afternoon, the Duke was sipping cool refreshments after his extensive lunch as he admired his latest acquisition; an exquisitely carved marble Dragon perched atop a model of his own castle.

Suddenly an explosive roar was heard that shook the palace down to the deepest dungeons. A blinding flash of lightning lit up the room just before clouds of roiling smoke obscured the view. The Great Dragon had just crashed through part of the roof and, with a small twitch of his mighty tail, demolished the outside stone wall. When the dust and debris settled the Dragon looked out over the fallen tapestries, broken statues and splintered furniture trying to find the Duke.

``I have arrived, oh Duke! ``, he roared.

The Duke was nowhere to be seen. In his terror he had scuttled under his throne and remained there frozen, shaking like a leaf.

 “There you are!” The dragon puffed the throne aside, uncovering the paralyzed, cowering Duke among the shattered remains of his Dragon treasure, his face hidden and eyes averted  from the real Dragon that towered over him.

The Dragon sighed, as much as Dragons could sigh, let out a mighty roar, and then took to the air. Mankind had not changed, the Duke`s admiration was but a sham. He loved the idea of Dragons, the hollow tales and images of Dragons, but he panicked when presented with the real thing. He was unmanned and his pretense exposed.

Despite all his efforts to suppress the story, the news of the Dragon`s visit and its unfortunate effect upon the Duke spread like wildfire. There were whispers in the dark corners that spread to the alehouse and then out into the street where laughter at the Duke`s folly ran rampant. People still said, ``The Duke Loves Dragons. `` But now they used it to refer to a poseur or someone who puts up a false front. His riches and army were still with him, but the Duke was no longer respected in his own country, or abroad. Soon an invading army put an end to his reign and their cannons completed the devastation the Dragon inflicted on the castle.

The End

The Legend of Wen Shi (Long Mu)

The Legend of Wen Shi (Long Mu)
My Version of the Story: Wen Shi -The Mother of the Dragons

During the Qin Dynasty, in the Teng District of Guangdong Province a second girl child, named Wen Shi, was born to Wen Tianrui and Liang Shi. Wen Shi often frequented the banks of the nearby Xi River to catch fish or do the laundry.  On one such errand she chanced upon a large, smooth, white stone along the banks of the river, partially hidden by a cluster of rushes. Drawn to it at once, she picked it up and admired it for a long while before placing it in her apron’s pocket.

When she concluded her chores she returned home for supper.  As she was getting ready for bed, her hand chanced upon the stone in her pocket. Elatedly she showed this beautiful new find to her siblings but her sisters weren’t at all interested and, as in the past, they laughed and teased her endlessly for liking such odd things.  She didn’t care, for the more she handled it, the more things she found to like about it. For one, it possessed a nacreous depth and a unique hint of luminosity, it grew warmer with prolonged touch and it offered her unending comfort. You can imagine her thrill when she discovered weeks later that it was actually an egg; an egg from which hatched five baby snakes. Her sisters wanted nothing to do with these slithering creatures and again teased her incessantly for her odd attraction to them.  She pleaded with her parents to be allowed to keep them, promising to bear the sole responsibility of feeding them, caring for them and keeping them out of trouble. Although they were a poor family Wen Shi saved the best portions of her own food and diligently fed these morsels by hand to the baby snakes. She carried them with her always, even when doing her chores. Soon the snakes grew up under her good care, and loving her in return, they assisted her whenever they could with her chores.  These unusually intelligent snakes were quite adept in the water and excellent swimmers; therefore, they used their ability to help Wen Shi catch bountiful loads of fish in the Xi River.
Then a time came when another wonder manifested; the snakes matured into five magnificent and most powerful dragons. By then her parents had departed this world and her sisters had been happily married off and lived elsewhere. She therefore dwelled in her parent’s home alone. In Chinese culture, dragons are deemed spirits of water and have the power to control the weather. When a bad drought plagued her village and caused untold hardships for many families living within that region, Wen Shi gathered her dragon children to her and asked for their help.  The dragons instinctively knew what to do and they set to work in summoning the rain.  Soon the downpours drenched the parched land, renewing life of vegetation and crops. The grateful villagers from that time on overcame their innate fear of the dragons and named Wen Shi “Mother of Dragons” or “Divine Human”.
 Visitors spread the word far and wide of this miracle and the benevolent dragons that had saved the villagers from certain ruin. Before long it reached the ear of the Emperor of the Qin Dynasty, Qin Shihuang.  Immediately Wen Shi was summoned to Court for a private audience with the Empreor in the Imperial City, Xianyang, far to the north near the Yellow River.  Wen was declared a Benevolent Being and was also endowed with gifts of gold and jade.

By the time of this summons she was an elderly woman in rather frail health and her dragons feared for her well being and safety. They tried to deter her from the gruelling trip but she was a loyal subject and would not hear of it. Soon she boarded the boat to begin her journey to the Imperial City.  Unbeknownst to her, however, her concerned dragons had hidden themselves under the boat and pulled it backward; no matter how hard the rowers struggled, the boat failed to pass Guilin. Eventually the frustrated Imperial officials aborted their mission with great reluctance and allowed Wen Shi to return to the safety of her home.
Finally after many years, Wen Shi passed away and the grief-stricken dragons buried her with due reverence on the northern side of Zhu Mountain.  Then they forsook their dragon forms and permanently assumed human shapes. In time they became known as the Five Scholars.
 
The End