Once upon a time a turtle, who was living in a pond in a nobleman’s garden, learnt after prolonged study how to change his form at will. Now you must know that the nobleman had a daughter of rare and unusual beauty, and one day, as she was combing her hair at the window, the turtle caught sight of her and fell deeply in love. He said to himself: ‘As I can turn myself into a human being at will, why should I not become a young man and court the young lady?’
So in the night he climbed on to the bank, turned himself into a handsome youth, and went to her room, where he persuaded her to yield. From then on the turtle became a youth every night and played with the maiden till dawn, when he returned to the pond. He left no trace behind him, and even the maiden did not know that he was really a turtle, but thought instead that he was some student from the neighbourhood.
At the end of a year the maiden noticed that she was going to have a child. Her mother knew nothing about it until one day on a visit to her daughter she noticed what was the matter. She asked the maid-servant who the young man was, but the servant said: ‘My mistress is very secretive; she remains in her room all day long without going out. But one day, about a year ago, I saw a young man looking like a student come out of her room. From that time he came every night and went away at dawn.’ ‘Is it possible?’ cried the mother angrily. ‘Don’t you know where he comes from? How does he get up to her? You have eyes. You must once have seen how he came.’ ‘Really, I don’t know, said the maid. ‘Mistress must try to forgive me. He comes and goes without leaving a trace. Sometimes he appears in the wink of an eye, and disappears in the same way.’ ‘Then he must be a spirit,’ decided the mother. ‘What can be done for my poor daughter?’ After a moment’s thought, she called her daughter to her and said: ‘The man who comes to see you every night must be a spirit, but I have thought of a plan; when he falls asleep to-night, tie a thread on to his coat, and then wherever he goes, we can follow the thread to his abode and decide how to catch him. Don’t fail to do this, and to-morrow we will see what happens.’ Her daughter promised to do as she was told.
That night the turtle came again. The maiden had already hidden a needle and thread under the pillow, and when about midnight her lover fell asleep, she sewed the thread on to his coat without his noticing anything in his dreams.
The next morning, the turtle flew out of the window like a bird and vanished in the twinkling of an eye; but the thread flew with him through the window and into the pond in the garden. Then the father said at once: ‘It can only be a turtle spirit. It must be the one my father put into the pond. But it shall not escape me; I shall kill it.’ At once he called for ten workmen and ordered them to scoop the water out of the pond, and when it was empty enough to see the bottom, sure enough there was a turtle as large as a round table lying in the mud, with the red thread that led to the maiden’s window fast in the folds of his skin. ‘There he is,’ shouted the father, and he ordered the workmen to carry him up to the edge, where he seized a knife and cut off the turtle’s head so that it died. Its remains were cut up in little pieces and thrown into a corner of the garden to rot. After a few months, all the flesh was gone and only bones were left, which no one bothered about.
One day, when the maid was walking in the garden, she noticed the white bones, and told her mistress, who wept when she heard it. She said to her maid: ‘It is true he was a spirit, but still he was my husband, so how can I leave his bones to lie and rot?’ So she gave the maid a little yellow bag to put the bones in and hung it beside her bed. The son that was born to her in due time naturally bore no love for his grand-parents, because he was the son of a spirit. At seven years old he still had no teacher, but was allowed instead to play about the whole day long.
Now, one day a grave-seeker had found an unusually fine burial-place for one of the families in the town. According to him, there was a heap of mud in the river near the village shaped like a dragon, with a tail, a head and two horns, just like those of a real dragon, and the sons and grandsons of anyone buried there would certainly rise to high honours. Unfortunately, the current in that place was very strong, and many tales were told of ships that had sunk there, so that no ordinary mortal would be brave enough to swim over and bury the bones. The rich man consulted the grave-seeker, who finally suggested: ‘If you promise to give a large reward, you will certainly find a man brave enough. We ought to announce that we are looking for someone who can dive well, and reward him handsomely if he takes the casket over.’ ‘That is a good plan,’ said the official, nodding his head. ‘We must try that.’ He had a notice written out to this effect, only he wrote nothing about the bones that must be buried there, but only about a treasure, and promised a reward of one thousand pieces of gold and one thousand pieces of silver. Many people read the notice that was posted up, but all knew how dangerous the river was, and that it would be difficult to find anyone to do it.
One day, the son of the turtle spirit was strolling along, when he saw a great crowd gathered in one place, and going up he asked what was the matter. ‘They are looking for someone to dive into the river and bring up a treasure. Can you do that? If you can, you will be given a large amount of gold and silver!’ the boys standing by said to him jokingly. ‘Bring a treasure out of the river and receive gold and silver as well? That is quite simple for me,’ said the child. ‘I will tear down the notice.’ ‘Better leave it alone,’ said some older people. ‘Do you know which river it is? It is the terribly dangerous Li Cha River, where so many people are drowned every year. And a young boy like you wants to dive? Go and play and don’t come and talk such rubbish here.’ ‘But I can do it, you don’t need to dispute it,’ said the boy, and pushing his way through the crowd, he tore down the notice.
Then the watchmen seized him and asked: ‘Surely you are joking when you say you can do it?’ ‘Why should I joke?’ the boy replied steadily. ‘Would I have torn down the notice if I could not do it?’ ‘Well, you must come to our Master,’ said the men. ‘No,’ said the boy, ‘first I must go home and tell my mother, then I will go with you.’ ‘Go there first,’ said the men, ‘we will wait for you here.’ Swift as the wind, the boy ran to his mother, and when he had told her everything, he begged her to let him go. His mother thought: ‘After all, he is the son of a turtle, he ought to be a strong swimmer.’ And so she said to him: ‘You can go, but before you enter the water, come back to me, because I have something to tell you.’ The boy promised and went off to the rich man with the watchmen.
When the rich man and the grave-seeker saw a seven- or eight-year-old child coming, they were very surprised, but they thought that, having torn down the notice, he must be sure of himself. They sent for wine, and while he drank, the rich man said to him: ‘What we wrote in the notice was not quite the truth. We want to ask you to take the remains of my grandfather and bury them in a favourable spot. Now in the river there is a dragon formed out of sand, with his mouth always open. I will give you the casket which contains the remains of my grandfather, and you must dive to the bottom of the river and place it in the dragon’s mouth. If you can do that, you will receive the promised reward of one thousand pieces of gold and one thousand pieces of silver.’
‘That is quite simple,’ said the boy. ‘I can certainly place the bones in the dragon’s mouth.’ After the meal, he took the casket and went home to tell his mother. His mother suddenly remembered the bones of her own husband, and with a smile she took the little bag with the bones of the turtle and gave them to her son, saying: ‘These are the bones of your father. Take them to the bottom of the river and put them in the dragon’s mouth, and hang the other bones on his horns. Don’t forget to do this, and don’t mix the bones.’
The boy promised to follow her instructions and went to the river with the two packets, where the rich man and the grave-seeker were waiting. The boy called out to them and plunged into the river, at the bottom of which he soon arrived. There, sure enough, was a mud dragon, more than six feet long, with a head and a tail, and his mouth wide open, as if he wanted to swallow something. The boy took the two packets out of his breast-pocket, and threw his father’s bones into the dragon’s mouth, and hung the bones of the rich man’s grandfather on the dragon’s horns. Then he shot up again and swam to the bank.
When the rich man and the grave-seeker saw that he had returned safely, they knew that their plan had succeeded, and they were very glad. They brought him back to their house, and gave him dry clothes and delicious food and wine, and when he had finished, they sent him home with one thousand pieces of gold and one thousand pieces of silver.
When the boy was ten years old, his appearance suddenly began to change, and he became quite out of the ordinary, and much cleverer than anyone else. Finally, he became Emperor, and the son of the rich man was his minister.