Long ago, a small village sat at the base of Precious Stone Mountain along the shore of West Lake. In t his village lived the young farmer Liu Chun and his wife, the weaver Hui Niang. Since they were a hard-working, prudent couple, the other villagers admired them.

One morning, soon after the rising sun glowed red upon the eastern horizon, black clouds blew across West Lake and brought with them a violent rainstorm. The sun immediately sank below the horizon, and even after the storm had blown past it did not reappear.

The world became dark and cold. The trees withered and turned from green to brown. The flowers shriveled and turned from red to brown. The crops dried upon the fields and turned from gold to brown. Demons, ghosts, and other evil creatures of the night ventured forth with great delight, for an endless night shrouded the world in blackness. Their wicked deeds caused much suffering.

“What are we going to do?" the people asked one another. "Where has the sun gone? How can we survive if we cannot grow food?"

Liu Chun went to see the oldest person in the neighborhood, an elder who was 180 years old. "Can you tell me what has happened to the sun?" he asked.

"I think I can," the elder replied. "A demon king lives beneath the Eastern Sea. It is he who rules over all of the wicked ghosts, demons, and other evil creatures. To these creatures the sun is a great enemy. They fear and hate it, for it exposes their terrible deeds. Therefore, I think that the demon king has stolen the sun."

Liu Chun thanked the elder and returned home. He said to his wife, "Hui Niang, I must go forth and try to find the sun. The people are freezing and starving to death! I feel their pain burning in my heart."

"It is a good deed that you would do," his wife replied. "Go with a happy heart. I will send you on your way with special clothing."

Hui Niang made her husband a thickly padded cotton jacket. She then combined a lock of her long hair with strands of hemp and fashioned a pair of sandals from them.

As Liu Chun was leaving, the couple saw a bright golden light moving through the sky toward them. When it landed on Liu Chun's shoulder, they recognized it as a golden phoenix. Liu Chun asked it to accompany him on his journey, and the bird nodded.

Liu Chun then addressed his parting words to his wife. "Hui Niang, I will not return until I have found the sun. If I die first, I will become a bright star. In that form I will guide anyone who would find the sun." He and the phoenix began their journey.

Each day thereafter, Hui Niang climbed to the top of Precious Stone Mountain and scanned the horizon for the sun. Each day she was disappointed. The world remained shrouded in endless night.

One day as she watched, however, a brightly shining star rose from earth to the heavens. Then the golden phoenix came to rest at Hui Niang's feet with its head downcast. Hui Niang knew that her husband had died. Her heart was so filled with grief that she fainted.
When Hui Niang awoke, she found that she had given birth to an infant son. She named him Bao Chu. With the touch of the first gust of wind, the infant could talk; with the second gust of wind, he could walk; and with the third gust of wind, he grew to be eighteen feet tall. Hui Niang was delighted to be the mother of such a great son but sad that the boy would never know his father.

Seeing his mother's tears, Bao Chu questioned her, and she told him the story of his father's fatal quest. "Moth.er, with your permission, I will go and find the sun!" he exclaimed. " It will give me great pleasure to complete my father's task."

Hui Niang's heart was torn in two. One half thought of the honor to her husband; the other half worried over the danger to her young son. She felt obliged to do her part to save the people of the earth, so she gave her consent. Once more she made a thickly padded cotton jacket and a pair of sandals woven from a lock of her hair and strands of hemp. Once more the golden phoenix arrived at their gate. It alighted upon Bao Chu's shoulder when he was ready to depart.

Hui Niang said to her son, "Notice the brightest star in the heavens, there in the east. Your father transformed himself into that star when he died. Follow it, and it will lead you to the sun. The golden phoenix is a friend. Just as it accompanied your father on his journey, it has come to accompany you on yours."

"I will do just as you wish, Mother," Bao Chu replied. "No matter how long I am away, do nor let your heart grieve for me. Any rears you shed would break my heart, and I would nor have the strength to complete my task." With these words, Bao Chu and the phoenix began their journey.

They headed east, in the direction of the brightest star. On and on Bao Chu walked, over eighteen cliffs and nineteen precipices. T he bushes on the mountainsides tore his jacket to shreds and his body ro a mass of bloody wounds. He looked worn, haggard, and very cold as he limped into a mountain village. When the villagers heard of his quest, each tore a piece of cloth from his or her own jacket and had it sewn into a new jacket for Bao Chu, which they called the "100-family coat."

Feeling warm in body and refreshed in spirit, Bao Chu and the golden phoenix went on their way again. They walked on and on, over many more mountains, and they swam across many rivers.

One day they reached a river so wide that even an eagle could not fly across it. A mighty current swept boulders as large as houses downstream. With no fear in his heart, Bao Chu stepped right into the turbulent water and set out for the far, invisible shore. Huge waves dashed over him and fiercely swirling whirlpools captured him, but Bao Chu mustered his strength and swam boldly on. When he could see the farther shore, his heart flooded with pleasure.

Suddenly, however, a frigid wind blew upon the river, transforming the fierce current into a river of ice that imprisoned Bao Chu and froze the phoenix. Miraculously, the 100-family coat kept the ice from freezing Bao Chu. In fact, the magic coat kept him so warm that his body heat melted the ice that encased him.
He warned the phoenix against his own body with one arm while he pounded the ice into chunks with the fist of his other hand, making the water dance. The surging waves lifted him upon one of the floating pieces, and he made his way to shore by leaping from one piece of ice to the next.

Bao Chu walked on and on with the phoenix until they came to another village. When the villagers heard of his quest and the dangers he had encountered, the elder of the village announced, "Without the sun, we are poor people. The best thing we can give you is our soil, for it has been watered by the sweat of our labor since the time of our ancestors. Maybe you will find our gift useful as you pursue your journey." One by one, the villagers each put a handful of soil into a large bag.

When the bag was full, Bao Chu placed it on one shoulder. With the phoenix on his other shoulder, he continued to walk toward the brightly shining star in the eastern sky. He climbed ninety-nine mountains and swam across ninety-nine rivers. Finally he came to a place where two roads met.

As he stood there wondering which road to take, an old woman approached and asked, "Young man, where are you going?" When he told her the object of his journey, she said, "The distance is far too great! I advise you to return to your home before it is too late."

"I will not return home until I have found the sun!" Bao Chu replied. "No matter how long the road or how difficult the journey, I will do what I have set out to do!"
"If you are so determined," she counseled, "follow the road to the right and you will find the sun. When you come to the next village, you would be wise to rest there."

While the woman was speaking, the golden phoenix repeatedly attacked her. It struck her eyes with its beak, scratched her face with its claws, and beat her body with its wings. Bao Chu was embarrassed, so he chased it away.

He took the path the woman had advised, even though the phoenix continually flew in front of him and tried to block his way. Given how difficult his journey had been until then, Bao Chu was surprised that the road was so smooth and easy. Before long he reached the village that the old woman had mentioned. To his amazement, it was a thriving town. The men were prosperous and fat, and the women were well dressed and beautiful. The villagers welcomed him warmly. They praised him as a hero and held a bountiful l feast in his honor.

Bao Chu raised his wine bowl as the villagers prepared to drink a toast to him. "I wonder why these people are s~ prosperous when those in every other village are cold and starving?" he thought. The golden phoenix suddenly hovered above his head and dropped an object into his wine bowl. As Bao Chu stared in wonder, the wine caught fire and began to burn the object. Bao Chu noticed that it was a sandal just like his own, made of hemp and hair.

"This must be one of my father's sandals!" he exclaimed to himself. "My father must have died here!" He dropped the wine bowl to the ground and screamed at the villagers. At the sound of his voice, the entire village and all its inhabitants disappeared in a puff of smoke. In their place ran hundreds of frightened ghosts, demons, and other wicked creatures.

With the golden phoenix once more upon his shoulder, Bao Chu returned to the fork in the road and took the road to the left. Meanwhile, the evil creatures decided to try to harm Bao Chu in another way. They had been unable to freeze him in the river. They had been unable to kill him in the Village of Lost Souls. Now they turned themselves into high mountains and blocked his way, but one by one, Bao Chu climbed over each mountain. Next they turned themselves into wide rivers, but one by one, Bao Chu swam across each river.

Finally the demons turned themselves into the wind and blew themselves to Bao Chu's village at the base of Precious Stone Mountain. They found Hui Niang and told her that Bao Chu had slipped while climbing up a cliff and had fallen to his death in the river below. They hoped that the news would fill her heart with grief and that her tears would weaken Bao Chu.

However, Hui Niang remembered her son's parting words. She tried not to believe their tale. Instead, she clenched her teeth and held back her tears.

Each morning since the day of Bao Chu's departure, Hui Niang and the other villagers had picked up a flat rock and walked to the top of Precious Stone Mountain. When they reached the crest, they would stand on the stone that they had carried and gaze intently into the east, hoping for a glimpse of the sun. Each day they stood higher than they had the day before, hoping for a better view of the sun. But day after day, month after month, and year after year, the sky remained black. The stones had become a high stone terrace, but the sun still had not returned.

Meanwhile, Bao Chu climbed mountain after mountain and crossed river after river until his journey seemed endless. Finally, from the peak of a mountain, he heard the sound of the sea far in the distance. He continued to travel eastward until he came to the shore of the Eastern Sea. "Now what do I do?" he asked himself. "How do I find the sun from here? How can I cross the sea?"

Bao Chu opened the bag on his back and poured the soil into the sea. As the soil hit the surface of the water, a great wind arose and transformed it into a chain of islands that stretched to the middle of the sea. Bao Chu swam from island to island. When he reached the last island, it suddenly sank to the bottom of the sea, carrying Bao Chu along with it.

On the ocean floor Bao Chu found a huge cave, with a giant boulder sealing its entrance. "Ah!" he exclaimed. "This must be where the demon king has imprisoned the sun!"

The King of Evil had gathered a large army of hideous demons at the cave entrance, all armed and ready for battle. "If I can kill the demon king, I will survive," Bao Chu thought, "for once their king is dead, the army will flee in panic."
So Bao Chu and the King of Evil fought one another to the death. Their battle raged from the bottom of the sea to its surface, and from the surface back down to the bottom. It created tempestuous waves over 100 feet high.

Finally the demon king retreated to the ocean floor. Bao Chu punched him in the nose, causing him to stumble and fall backward. Then the golden phoenix tore out his eyes with its beak. Screaming in pain, the wicked creature lunged blindly back and forth. Then he crashed into a huge boulder and died. The army of demons vanished immediately.

Bao Chu moved aside the boulder that was blocking the cave and found the sun within. Summoning the last of his strength, he held the sun in his hands and slowly swam up to the surface of the sea. He managed to push the sun to the top of the water before his strength gave out, and he died of exhaustion.

The golden phoenix dived beneath the sun, spread its wings, and rose from the water with the sun upon its back. Once the sun was free of the water, it rose into the sky under its own power.

Hui Niang and the villagers were watching from their stone terrace on the top of Precious Stone Mountain when the sun at long last began to rise into the sky. First clouds of purple appeared on the horizon, followed by clouds of rose and gold. Then 10,000 golden rays appeared, followed by the golden disk itself. Its light turned all the demons to stone.

As the villagers shouted with joy, the golden phoenix came to rest at Hui Niang's feet with its head downcast. Then Hui Niang knew that her son had died. Her heart filled with grief, but she felt joy as well, for Bao Chu had completed his father's task and had become a great hero.

From that day until this, the star of Liu Chun shines brightly in the eastern heavens before dawn breaks across the sky. The people call it the morning star. As the phoenix rises with the sun upon its back, its wings shine upon the clouds and paint them purple, red, and gold. A pagoda now stands upon the stone terrace where the golden phoenix landed. The people named It Bao Chu Pagoda in tribute to the young man who rescued the sun and made it possible for plants to grow upon the earth again.