The legendary prose of Xiao Lantuo and Xiaolongwan
A long time ago, Xiaolantuo Village, Laoguantuo Town, Liaozhong County, Liaoning Province, was still a land overgrown with weeds and thorns. Roe deer roamed, badgers chased, rabbits and pheasants flew, and jackals and foxes howled. , a desolate place with no human habitation.
According to legend, in the eighth year of Shunzhi in the Qing Dynasty (AD 1651), a huge famine occurred in Shandong and Hebei. In order to alleviate the poverty and hunger caused by the famine to the people in these places, strengthen the reclamation and cultivation of large fertile lands in Guandong, which will help the imperial court to control the land of Guandong, completely change the reality that the mountains are high and the emperor is far away, and effectively resist external intrusion, the ancestors of the Qing Dynasty Emperor Aixinjueluo Fulin issued an imperial edict, ordering most of the disaster victims in Shandong and Hebei to move to the east of Shanhaiguan. Now they have settled in various places in Liaoning, Jilin, and Heilongjiang provinces, forming villages naturally and enclosing land for reclamation and farming. , thrive.
As the saying goes: The people follow the king's law and the grass follows the wind. In the ancient feudal monarchy, the emperor was the true dragon emperor, the lord of ten thousand chariots, and he had a golden tongue and could do whatever he said. As a common man, how dare he disobey the decree and be punished with beheading, and his whole family would be beheaded. It was hard to disobey the emperor's order. Driven by the imperial edict, in order to escape the suffering caused by the famine, most of the Li people left their homes and traveled thousands of miles to the land of Kanto. Common people refer to this large-scale migration as coming with the "dragon".
It is said that at that time in Xinghualing, Xiaojiazhai, Licheng County, Jinan Prefecture, Shandong Province, there was a villager named Xiao who had been reading poetry and books since childhood. Like other immigrants, he carried My wife, children, old and young, carried burdens, traveled all the way, stayed at dawn, and worked hard to reach the vast land of Kanto.
One day, their family was hungry, thirsty, tired and tired walking in the deserted wilderness, and finally came to a big tree on a large mound covered with orchid grass. Under the willow tree, relax and rest. They each chopped some tree sticks, cut some wormwood and weeds, built a shack, set up a stove, and made a fire to cook.
After dinner, a day of hard work sent the whole family into a sweet dreamland. In the middle of the night, there was a sudden strong wind, and then dark clouds rolled in from the northwest, followed by lightning and thunder, and it started to rain heavily. The whole family was awakened from a deep sleep. Amidst the thunder and lightning, through the cracks in the shack, they clearly saw a dragon rising and falling several times in the torrential rain and fog, meandering and playing, and finally descended with water and landed. In a patch of grass in the northwest about five hundred meters away from the shack. This scene amazed the whole family and made them unable to sleep for a long time.
The next morning, after the rain, the sky cleared and a brilliant rainbow appeared in the sky. On the branches of the big willow tree, several magpies chirped non-stop, heralding the arrival of good luck. Strong curiosity drove the whole family out of the shack and hurried to the place where the dragon bathed in the rain and landed in water last night to see what happened. But I saw that this place was a large river pond full of lotus flowers. The lotus flowers were in full bloom in the river pond, and the fragrance of the flowers was overwhelming and refreshing. The morning breeze blew the green lotus leaves, and the crystal clear water drops rolled back and forth on the lotus leaves. Pairs of mandarin ducks played on the water, red carps swam in the water, and groups of wild ducks flew from time to time. Luo...
Facing the beautiful scenery in front of them, the whole family was intoxicated. Xiao Guodong's face was full of joy, and he said with emotion to his wife Yang Lanzhi (called Yang in ancient times), eldest son Xiao Wenying, second son Xiao Wenhui, third son Xiao Wenkui, fourth son Xiao Wende, and fifth son Xiao Wenxiu: "In the middle of the night yesterday, in the heavy wind and rain, , our whole family saw the scene of the dragon drawing water and landing here very clearly. This is our blessing. The fact that the dragon can land here shows that this is a treasure land of Feng Shui. Moreover, there are mushrooms, orchids, lotus, carp, mandarin ducks, etc. Magpies are symbols of kindness, virtue, wealth, and luck. Our whole family left our hometown, traveled thousands of miles, and traveled all the way to find this Feng Shui treasure that can bring us wealth, luck, and live a happy life with plenty of food and clothing. , a good life to live and work in peace and contentment. From now on, our ancestors will open up wasteland and cultivate land on this Feng Shui treasure land, survive and multiply, and use our hard-working hands to create a happier and better life.
Zhizhi and orchid are two kinds of herbs, which symbolize people's kindness and virtue, as well as the beautiful environment; Tuo means mound. This large mound covered with orchid grass was called Xiao Lan Tuo from then on. The bay is a river with meandering water, and a dragon descended here last night. Therefore, this beautiful river in the shape of a dragon is called Xiaolong Bay. It is our village-protecting river and village-supporting river..."
History is developing, the years are changing, the stars are changing, and the world is changing. More than 360 years have passed by in a blink of an eye. The Xiao family has changed from the mud wall of the thatched hut back then. Earthen pots and pots, gourds and gourds, roe deer and gourds scooped out fish with sticks, pheasants flew into the rice pots, the hard years of sparsely populated areas have continued to thrive to this day, and the soil and water of Xiaolantuo and Xiaolongwan have nurtured the Xiao family for generations. For more than three hundred and sixty years, future generations have not been able to verify whether there is a real dragon descending from the sky. People today have not seen it with their own eyes, and it is not to promote feudal superstition. The standpoints, viewpoints, and angles of dialectical materialism and historical materialism realistically restore the authenticity of the historical legend. p> With the development of science, it is now scientifically known as an illusory natural phenomenon caused by heavy rain caused by tornadoes, that is, "dragon drawing water". From a superstitious perspective, the ancients believed that it was a real dragon falling from the sky. That was at that time. We don’t need to delve into the limitations of history and scientific development.
So far, the beautiful and touching legend of Xiao Lantuo and Xiaolong Bay is still widely circulated among the people.
——Originally published in "Legend of Puhe"