Section 1 The Legend of Gasui

Legend has it that there is a big tree in Jiashui County, which grows on the side of the flowing water next to the county seat, this big tree is dozens of zhang high, and thousands of birds often build nests on the tree to make nests.

There was a widow named Li Xian, whose family was very poor, and she lived alone under a tree. When I got up one night, I suddenly saw a gorgeously dressed woman in the room, and this woman said to Li Xian, "I am the god of trees, and I can call the wind and rain, because you are of noble character, so I will help you." Go and tell the county that tomorrow morning you will come here and pray for rain, and it will rain heavily at noon. ”

At that time, Jiashui County had been in drought for many days, and the people of the county town listened to Li Xian's words, so they went to pray to the big tree with food, wine and meat. Sure enough, at noon the next day, heavy rain poured down. So the people built an ancestral temple for the tree god on the spot, and entrusted Li Xian to help manage it, and Li Xian never had to worry about food and clothing.

A year later, at night, the tree god said to Li Xian in a dream: "The Emperor of Heaven called me back, and today I have come to bid you farewell. As he spoke, he handed a jade ring to Li Xian. Li Xian woke up from his dream, but there was a small white snake like a jade ring in his hand, and there was a sapling-like mark on the snake's head. Li Xian loved it very much, ate and slept together, and treated it like his own child.

In this way, Li Xian slowly grew old, but the little snake slowly grew up, more than two feet long. At this time, few people in Jiashui County remembered Li Xian's begging for rain, but people were very afraid of the big snake. It happened that the new county order was transferred from other places, and the new county order had a prodigal son, who rode a horse out of the city one day, and injured Li Xi, and the horse was swallowed by a snake. The swinger was so frightened that he ran back, adding fuel and vinegar to Li Xian.

After hearing this, the new county order was very angry, and the people also talked about it, and they all ordered Li Xian to hand over the snake. Li Xian didn't comply, so the county order sent someone to her house to dig. The snake hole is getting bigger and deeper, but there is no trace of the snake. The confused county commander was angry with Li Xian and scolded her, how could Li Xian withstand such a beating at his age, and he died halfway through the beating.

That night, the county magistrate dreamed that the snake said to him angrily: "Why did you kill my mother, I must avenge my mother!" Since then, Jiashui County has been thundering and winding every night, for more than 40 days. When the common people met, they all asked each other in amazement: "Why are you swimming with fish swimming on your head?" and "Hey, you have a frog squatting on your head!"

Later one night, the county seat of Jiashui and dozens of miles around it suddenly collapsed into a lake. Only Granny Li's house and the tree remain intact and still remain on the water.