Chihli, whose father, Hao, had been Magistrate
of Ch'ing Liu, in Anhui. This man was always absent on his travels,
no one knew whither. The girl's mother, Cheng, had married her two
years before to a man named Chang of Ch'ing Ho, in Chihli, who had
just died. Distressed at her daughter being left a widow so young,
the mother wished to find another husband for her.

Liu I agreed to marry this young woman, and at the end of a year
they had a son. She then said to her husband: "I am the daughter
of the King of the Tung-t'ing Lake. It was you who saved me from
my miserable plight on the bank of the Ching, and I swore I would
reward you. Formerly you refused to accept my hand, and my parents
decided to marry me to the son of a silk-merchant. I cut my hair,
and never ceased to hope that I might some time or other be united
to you in order that I might show you my gratitude."

In A.D. 712, in the reign-period K'ai-yuean of the Emperor Hsuean Tsung
of the T'ang dynasty, they both returned to the Tung-t'ing Lake;
but the legend says nothing further with regard to them.

Shang Ti, the Supreme Ruler, conferred on Liu I the title of Chin
Lung Ta Wang, 'Golden Dragon Great Prince.'

The Old Mother of the Waters

The Old Mother of the Waters, Shul-mu Niang-niang, is the legendary
spirit of Ssu-chou, in Anhui. To her is popularly ascribed the
destruction of the ancient city of Ssu-chou, which was completely
submerged by the waters of the Hung-tse Lake in A.D. 1574.

One author states that this Goddess of the Waters is the younger
sister of the White Spiritual Elephant, a guardian of the Door of
Buddha. This elephant is the "subtle principle of metamorphosed water."

In his _Recherches sur Us Superstitions en Chine_, Pere Henri Dore,
S.J., relates the legends he had heard with regard to this deity. One
of these is as follows:

Shui-mu Niang-niang inundated the town of Ssu-chou almost every year. A
report was presented to Yu Huang, Lord of the Skies, begging him to
put an end to the scourge which devastated the country and cost so
many lives. The Lord of the Skies commanded the Great Kings of the
Skies and their generals to raise troops and take the field in order
to capture this goddess and deprive her of the power of doing further
mischief. But her tricks triumphed over force, and the city continued
to be periodically devastated by inundations.

One day Shui-mu Niang-niang was seen near the city gate carrying two
buckets