The Third Story: A long time ago, to the west of Nanyang city, there was a Niujiazhuang village. In this village, there was a boy called Ling’er. He was bright, honest, and diligent. His parents died early, so he had to live with his brother and sister-in-law. His sister-in-law with the maiden name Ma was vicious to him. One year, in the autumn, shortly after harvest was finished, Ma forced Ling’er to graze oxen on mountains. She told him, “Here are nine oxen, you have to bring back ten oxen.” Ling’er had no choice but to drive the oxen out of the village.
When the villagers heard this, they all felt sympathetic to Ling’er. Some offered him food, while others offered him clothes. Ling’er thanked them all, and then drove the cattle toward mountains.
When he came to places with luxuriant grass and trees, he stopped to have a rest. He felt sad as he didn’t know what time he could have ten oxen. When the cowherd was crying, an old man with white hair and white beard came up. He patted him on the shoulders and said warmly, “My son, why have you alone come to this remote place to graze your cattle? Why are you so sad?” Ling’er told the old man about the ill treatment he received from his sister-in-law, and how she forced him to graze cattle. The old man laughed after he heard the boy’s story, “Ah, I see, it’s a piece of cake. Don’t be sad. Over there in Funiushan Mountain, there is an old bull in disease. You can well fed it, and after it recovers, you can take it back home.” Hardly had the old man finished this when he disappeared. It was like a dream, but Ling’er decided to follow the instructions given by the old man.
Ling’er kept going and going, climbed one mountain after another, crossed one river after another, and finally he found that diseased bull, which was lying on a large piece of stone. Immediately, Ling’er knelt down, kowtowed three times to the bull, and called it uncle bull. The old bull struggled to open its eyes for a while, then closed again. Looking at the languorous old bull, the boy thought it might be hungry, so he brought bales of grass to it. For three days on end, he kept bringing grass to the old bull, and finally it ate enough. Then, suddenly, the old bull raised its head and uttered, “My good boy, I was the grey bull in heaven, but I violated the law in heaven because I scattered various grain seeds to the human world. The Jade Emperor was very angry, he kicked down and my leg is broken, so I can not move now. If you are so kind as to collect dew from various flowers to wash my leg, I will be fine about a month.” Hearing this, Linger settled down on Funiushan Mountain. When he was hungry, he would eat some wild fruits; if he was thirsty, he would drink some spring water. At night, he would sleep at the side of the old bull. In the morning, he would go to collect dew on various flowers to wash the broken leg of the old bull. After one full month, the wound of the old bull got healed, and then it followed Ling’er to go back home.
(Source: bjchinese.bjedu.cn)
