Legends and stories of Baishui County: The Ancient Spring of the Supreme Emperor

Shaanxi
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Near Gezhai and Huangdedi villages in Yichuan County, there is a famous historical spring called Shanghuang Ancient Spring. Shanghuang Ancient Spring is a top-grade precious spring used for brewing water today. To ask about its origin, we have to start with King Yu of Xia. According to legend, in ancient times, after King Yu of Xia dug open the Dragon Gate and released the lake water accumulated in the south of the Dragon Gate, the original lake bottom was exposed, and there was a large piece of land called "Huangdedi". King Yu of Xia was stationed in Huangdedi, and a clear and clean spring appeared nearby. Before this spring was exposed to the ground, it was the residence of an evil dragon. This evil dragon was originally in charge of the lake water here. Every year, it either added fuel to the fire and flooded the fields and houses by the lake, or did not drop a drop of water during droughts. During floods, it rained for a hundred days. The people cried out to the sky and complained bitterly. The evil dragon was so angry that his eyes turned red for several days when he saw that King Yu of Xia had exposed his residence by controlling the flood. That day, it flew into the sky in a rage and sprayed water at the place where King Xia Yu was stationed. The water on the ground was rising higher and higher. When it was about to flood the imperial land, King Xia Yu walked out of his residence slowly and said calmly: "Where is Yinglong? Quickly suck up the water for me!" Yinglong was a fire dragon, and it was King Xia Yu's assistant in flood control. The fire dragon came as soon as he heard the sound, and sucked up all the water on the ground. When the evil dragon saw it, he fought with Yinglong, and Yinglong fought hard. The two dragons fought back and forth in the clouds. The battle was so dark that it was hard to tell who was the winner. At this time, King Xia Yu saw the opportunity, drew his bow and shot an arrow, hitting the evil dragon's body. The evil dragon was in unbearable pain, so he rolled down at King Xia Yu's feet. King Xia Yu stepped forward and killed it with a sword. King Yu of Xia got rid of the evil dragon and took Yinglong to the evil dragon's residence. He saw a spring flowing out of a cave. On the stone walls on both sides of the cave, there was a couplet engraved, which said: Wuyou Cave Heaven is lawless, Zuolefudi is domineering and blessed, and the horizontal banner reads: Panlongjing. When King Yu of Xia saw it, he nodded and said, "The couplet is neat, but the meaning is too bad!" So King Yu of Xia had people scrape the handwriting on the stone wall flat, and ordered people to carve a new couplet on the stone walls on both sides of the cave: Wuyou Cave Heaven Kyushu Wuyou, Zuolefudi Siminzuoyue, and the horizontal banner reads: Shanghuangquan. King Yu of Xia got the spring and saw that the water was sweet, so he ordered his minister Yi Di to guard the spring. Yi Di was good at distinguishing the five flavors. He saw that the spring water tasted sweet, so he often offered the spring water to King Yu of Xia to drink. It is said that Yi Di still guarded the spring until he was old. Time flies, and time flies. Since Du Kang invented wine, he believed that water is the bone of wine. A person cannot be complete without bones, and wine cannot be mashed without bones. The quality of water is directly related to the quality of wine. Du Kang traveled to many places on both sides of the Yi River and found that the only spring water with top quality on the bank of the Yi River was Shanghuang Spring. Once, Du Kang took people to Shanghuang Spring to fetch water, and saw an old man with a long silver beard who walked like a breeze. He appeared at the spring. "Are you Du Kang, the winemaker?" "Yes!" "Only people who are qualified to make wine can come to this spring to fetch water, so you can try to fetch as much as you can!" "Who are you, old man?" "The person appointed by King Yu of Xia to guard this spring, I am Yi Di, a minister of King Yu of Xia!" Yi Di said, and then disappeared. Du Kang was very excited when he heard that Yi Di was guarding this spring, waiting for the winemaker who came later. When he came to fetch water for the second time, he brought a pot of wine to offer to Yi Di. Du Kang came to the Shanghuang Spring, but he waited and waited but Yi Di did not come. He had no choice but to pour the wine he was offering to Yi Di into the clear spring water. Suddenly, the spring water of Shanghuang Spring emitted a white mist, which was filled with a strong fragrance. Since then, Shanghuang Spring has become a wine spring. Later, as time went by, people added the word "ancient" to its name and called it "Shanghuang Ancient Spring". Today, if you can go to Shanghuang Ancient Spring, you can still appreciate the couplet that the ancients wrote about this spring: The best place in the mountains and rivers, the ancient spring that has been brewing for thousands of years is fragrant. (No pictures yet, please provide them.) (No pictures yet, please provide them.)

Intangible culture related to the heritage

China tourist attractions related to the heritage