Tell Me a Story: STORM MAIDEN

  Long, long ago, a family lived on the shores of the East China Sea, where they fished and raised their three children. The two boys were brave and strong, and their parents loved them dearly, but loveliest of all was the daughter they called Lin Chi. All the fishing families along the coast adored her, for she was friendly and generous to everyone.

Each day at dawn she awoke and went to the shore to prepare the fishing boats for her father and brothers. She cooked the family's breakfast, and when the men set out to sea, she stood on shore and waved until they were out of sight.

"Good wind!" she called to them. "May your nets be full today!"

One day, after the men had set sail, she sat down at her sewing, but she was weary from the weight of the winter weather. She began to yawn, and soon her eyes closed and she was fast asleep.

Suddenly she gasped. for in her dream she stood on the shore and saw the waves rise so high they seemed to be mountains, and when they came crashing down upon the shore, the earth trembled.

The maiden looked and saw sea dragons, brothers of the Sea King. They were furiously thrashing their long tails,

and with each swish, they stirred the sea into a mighty, rolling tempest. The waves rose higher and higher, and the sea turned purple and green as the sky turned dark. The maiden wept, for she saw the tiny fishing boats flying through the sky, unable to steer a course in the midst of the terrible winter storm.

Everywhere people ran to their homes for safety as the shore began to wash into the sea. Everyone ran but the maiden. She called to the dragons, "Stop your fury," and as she called, she waded into the rushing water.

The dragons lashed their tails again, and the weeping girl searched the sea for her father's boat. She waded out farther, and to her great relief, she saw his boat, and then the boats of her two brothers. She plunged into the water, grabbing the ropes of her brothers' boats, one in each hand, and then, lunging once more, she grabbed her father's rope between her teeth. Now, summoning all her strength, she pulled and tugged, struggling to drag the three boats to safety.

Through the crashing of the waves, Lin Chi heard a voice calling her. It was her mother's voice. "My darling, "she called. "My dearest child, wake up, you are screaming."

She felt a hand upon her shoulder, and still she tugged and pulled. But the voice would not stop calling to her. "Wake up, you are shivering," the voice said, and without thinking, the maiden answered "Mother, please, I'm saving Father." Alas, when she opened her mouth to speak, rope slipped from between her teeth and her father's boat was lost beneath the waves.

When she fully awoke from the dream, she cried, "Mother, something has happened at sea." And all that afternoon the two women waited for the safe return of their loved ones.

At dusk they spied the two brothers sailing toward home, but when the boys came ashore, their eyes were swollen with sadness.

"Our father's boat is lost at sea," they lamented.

Before the boys could stop their sister, she rushed to the shore and plunged into the icy waves. She swam and swam, for she was determined to save her father from the sea dragons' wrath.

She was never again seen on land, but her brothers and the other fishermen saw her out at sea whenever winter storms threatened. When the sky grew dark and waves rose high, Lin Chi rose out of the water and guided the fishermen back toward the safety of shore. And ever since that day, she has been seen at sea, where she guides all who lose their way.