The Tale Of The Four Dragons Scot Walker   © Copyright 2026 by Scot Walker

Photo by Sunny Li at Pexels.

"Many years ago, there were no rivers or lakes anywhere on the earth. The only source of water was in the Eastern Sea, in which lived four dragons: the Long Dragon, the Yellow Dragon, the Black Dragon and the Pearl Dragon."

"One day the four dragons flew from the sea into the sky, soaring high into the air as they dived back down to earth playing hide-and-seek in the clouds."

"Just like us. I love hide-and-seek," eight-year-old Kwok-Chu shouted.

"Suddenly, the Pearl Dragon blasted smoke," Sung Li continued, "as flames of fire shot from her face, she screamed, 'Come here, look what I see.'"

"'What's going on?' The Long Dragon asked as the other three dragons looked where Pearl Dragon pointed."

"What did they see, Daddy, what did they see?"

Sung Li patted Chin-Yi on top of his head and continued: "They saw earth people laying fruit and cake on the ground and burning great sticks of incense. They saw the earth people praying and offering gifts to the gods. Then the Yellow Dragon squinted up his eyes real tight and stared extremely hard until he noticed a white-haired woman, kneeling on the ground with a thin boy on her back, and the dragon listened and listened until he heard—"

"What did he hear, daddy?" Chin-Yi begged.

"He heard her murmuring and moaning and praying to the gods, 'Please send rain today,' she prayed, 'gracious god of heaven, send us rain. If we don't get rain, we'll have no rice and if we have no rice, our children will starve.'"

"Are there really dragons and gods of heaven?" Kwok-Chu asked, but Li continued without answering, just nodding.

"The woman continued praying, 'You haven't sent rain for two months, almightily gods, please send us rain.'"

"Then the Black Dragon cocked his ears and listened intently. He strained so hard, it was like trying to listen to the wind on days the wind never blows. He listened until he heard a man crying to the gods. 'Our crops have withered, the grass has turned yellow and our fields have cracked under the scorching sun, please, merciful gods, send us rain.'"

"The Yellow Dragon was angry. 'Look how desperate these people are,' he cried, 'if they don‘t get rain soon, they‘ll die.'"

"The Long Dragon nodded in agreement and said, 'Let's fly up to the Jade Emperor and beg for rain.' Then he leapt into the clouds and the others zoomed after him, flying up, up, up to the Heavenly Palace."

"Remember, my children, the Jade Emperor was in charge of all affairs in heaven and on earth. He was the most powerful being in the universe and he was not pleased to see the dragons rushing in on him in the middle of his dinner. The Jade Emperor slowly lowered his chopsticks and glanced down his nose at the four angry dragons. 'Why do you come here instead of staying in the sea where you belong?' The Jade Emperor screamed angrily, 'why aren‘t you home eating your dinner?'"

"Sensing that the time was right, Genji stopped the story. 'Come to dinner now—and no more talking. You‘ve driven me crazy today with your jabbering. I need a few moments peace.'"

All the children complained at once, but Sung Li agreed with his wife. He had to listen to her complaints, and he knew discretion was best solved before bedtime.

"Your mother‘s right," Li said, well all eat in peace and quiet, and I‘ll continue the story after dinner."

The family ate their meal in silence and within a few moments, the children finished and passed their plates off to Genji.

"I‘ll clean up," Qi-Han said, "so you can finish the story and mommy can listen, too, if she wants to."

Genji sat on the on the bench next to her husband, delighted to rest her feet, as she listened to the rest of the story.

"Many, many years ago—"

"No, Daddy, don‘t start over," Chin-Yi yelled, "start where the dragons went to the Jade Emperor to beg for rain. Remember, the place where the people were starving."

"Excellent memory," Sung Li replied as he rubbed his son‘s shoulders, "now let me finish the story."

"The Long Dragon stepped in front of the Jade Emperor and said, 'the crops are withering, your majesty. Please send the people rain.'"

"'As soon as I finish my dinner,' the Jade Emperor bellowed. 'Bother me later!'"

"The Jade Emperor was just like Mommy, wasn‘t he? He made everyone finish dinner before he‘d listen to the end of the story."

"Yes," Sung Li lied—knowing placation was the easy way to end discussion. "You‘re a bright young boy, figuring out life out so quickly. Now, on with the story."

"The Jade Emperor continued, 'Leave me alone, go back to the sea where you belong and I‘ll send buckets of rain when I finish eating.'"

"Actually, the Jade Emperor only pretended to agree. He was so busy enjoying his dinner that he had no desire to stop, let alone make it rain on the starving people. Instead, he listened to the fairies sing and everyone knows that fairies are much more exciting than earthlings."

"I‘ve never seen a fairy," nine-year old Qi Han said as his brother, Kwok-Chu who added, "This is make-believe, okay? Just pretend you can see the dragons and the king and enjoy the story and don’t interrupt or we’ll never hear the end."

"Daddy," all the children screamed at the same time. "Tell us the rest and we promise to be quiet."

So Sung Le continued: "'Thank you, majesty,' the four dragons replied as they fluttered and flapped their wings and flew out of the throne room, knocking down three of the fairies and spilling the emperor‘s wine, but pleased that the Jade Emperor would send rain to their people."

"Ten days passed, and, of course, the Jade Emperor forgot all about his promise. He didn‘t send one single drop of rain and the people suffered so mightily that they began eating anything they could find. Some of them ate bark from the trees, others ate grass from the ground, and still others ate the thick white clay they had used to make bricks."

"Yuck," Chin-Yi said as Kwok-Chu put his hand over his brother's mouth, silencing him for the rest of the evening.

"Seeing all this, the four dragons felt sorry for the people because they knew the Jade Emperor cared only about himself and his stomach. Then they realized they‘d have to rely on themselves to help the people, but what could they do?”

Chin-Yi raised his hand, but everybody ignored him.

"Seeing the vast sea, the Long Dragon said he had an idea."

"'What is it? Out with it quickly,' the other dragons demanded."

"'There‘s plenty of water in the sea. Let‘s scoop it up and spray it into the sky so the water will fall like gentle rain and save the people from starvation. '"

"'Hurray!' The other dragons shouted, as they flapped their wings in joy."

"'We must be careful, otherwise the Jade Emperor will punish us if he discovers our trickery.'"

"'I‘ll do it anyway. I must save the people,' the Yellow Dragon said as she blew fire from her nose, 'Let‘s do it before any more of the people die.'"

"The Black Dragon and the Pearl Dragon were not to be outdone. They flew to the sea, scooped up water in their mouths and flew high into the sky where they sprayed water over the earth. The four dragons flew back and forth all day, making the sky dark all around them and before long the seawater became rain pouring down from the sky."

"'It‘s raining! The crops will be saved,' the people shouted as they leapt in joy, watching the rice stalks rise from the rain soaked fields."

"Meanwhile, the god of the sea saw everything and flew up to heaven to report it to the Jade Emperor."

"'How dare those dragons bring rain without my permission!' Jade Emperor shouted, as he ordered his heavenly guards to arrest them. The four dragons were outnumbered and were quickly arrested and brought back to the Emperor‘s palace."

"'Bring me four mountains to cover them so they can never escape,' the Emperor screamed to the Mountain God."

"The Mountain God hurled four mountains into the air as the Jade Emperor cast the dragons to the earth and the mountains fell upon them one by one, burying the dragons forever."

"Imprisoned as they were, the four dragons never regretted their actions. Determined to continue to serve the people, they turned themselves into four great rivers, flowing out of four great mountains, crossing the land from the west to the east until they finally emptied into the Great Sea—and that‘s how our four great rivers were formed: the Black Dragon River in the north, the Yellow River in the center, the Yangtze farther south, and the Pearl River in the far south."

Sung Li smiled at his children. The baby had fallen asleep and the rest of the children‘s eyes were closing rapidly.

“Quickly now, children, go to bed before the Jade Emperor sends his generals to toss a mountain on top of you."

Genji loved the story as much as her children, but secretly she still believed in the ancient gods and wondered if the Jade Emperor was still as powerful as he had been in olden times. I must trust my husband; he’ll never let anything happen to me . . . or to my children.

Quickly the children went to bed as Sung Li took his wife’s hand and kissed her softly, remembering the days when they were young and marveled at the tale of the four dragons.