Long long ago, only few people lived on the Earth. They roamed about in the forests among wild beasts, reptiles and insects, and slept on the ground, shivering from cold and fear One wise man saw how birds made their nests, and built himself a dwelhng in the branches of a tree. Then he taught others to do the same. People were glad and made him their ruler. They gave him a name, Youchao Shi, which means Nest Master. 
But the life of the people was still bad. They ate wild fruits, grass seeds, mollusk sand oysters. If they happened to kill an animal, they are its the meat raw. People were often ill, and died young. 
One wise man noticed a bird striking the bark of a dry tree with its long beak. He saw light emanating from the bark. He did not know that the light came from glowworms that lived in the bark. He also wanted light, and took a wooden stick and revolved it between the palms of his hands, touching the bark. Smoke appeared, and the dry moss came alight. The fire drove away the beasts. People cooked their meat on the fire, and its smell changed. People rejoiced, and made the man ruler of the Celestial Empire. They called him Sui Renshi, which means Fire Maker. 
Now people did not fall ill as often as before, and lived longer. But there was al- ways a shortage of food. And there was no sage about who could help them. Then the grandmother of people, the honourable Jian Yuan, brought her son down from heaven to the Earth. 
The bullocks were going to water, and heard a shrill cry. They saw an infant — more beautiful than anyone had ever seen before. One of the bullocks came up and offered it her udder. The infant stopped weeping while it fed. And the bullocks fed it in turn all summer. In the autumn, the herd had to go elsewhere. The infant remained on the bank of the river. The bullocks could not take it along, for they had no hands. Left alone, the infant cried still more loudly than before, because it could not obtain food by it- self. Wolves heard it cry and came running. The helpless human infant was welcome prey for them. They approached the infant, but two large long-legged birds descend- ed from the skies, snatched up the infant, and bore it away under the very noses of the infuriated beasts. 
The wonderful infant began living in a large nest. The birds brought him grass seeds from the meadows, and soon the child grew accustomed to this diet. 
One day, the birds flew away to obtain food, and when they returned, they saw the nest was empty. Circling over the forest, they saw the little one rising to his feet. They realised that the human offspring no longer needed their help. They waved goodbye with their white wings, and flew south, where they spent the winter. 
Meanwhile, the little one crawled to the meadow where the bullocks had fed him milk. Though still very small, the child had the mind of a sage, because his mother was a goddess. He found a stick with a knot in it, and began scratching the moist earth. Then he threw grains into the furrows. 
A few months passed, and people walked on to the meadow in search of food. They stopped in amazement. Along the edges, much like banners of green, beans stalks rose to the sky. A little farther away they saw large yellow pumpkins. Then they saw straight rows of golden wheat. They also saw hemp. But the plot of millet looked especially rich. Ear after ear of it. Grain upon grain. Black millet-with a double grain; red millet- - with a thick ear, and white milleta pleasure to see. People had known these tasty things before. But before, they grew singly, amid useless grass People could not understand how the weeds had been conquered. Suddenly the spikes of millet parted, and a wonderful infant appeared before them.
 "Hou Zi! Hou Zi!" people shouted. 
Having named the infant King Millet, people began to worship and serve him, while he taught them to plough, sow, and clear the soil of weeds. 

GUN AND YU WHO CONQUERED THE DELUGE 

Once upon a time, a deluge occurred. Water covered all the earth, girdling the Five Mountains. The cries of those who had managed to find refuge in the mountains, could not be heard above the whistling of the wind and the roar of the waves. None of the gods gave a thought for them. 
Then the divine hero, Gun, went up to Heaven. He addressed the Ruler there as follows: 
"Look," he said, showing him people floundering amid the waves. "They are perishing in your waters, while you refuse to heed their cries. Let me build a dyke and halt the deluge." 
"Build it if you wish," the Ruler of Heaven said, grinning. He gloated, because he knew the soft earth that Gun used to build the dyke would not withstand the pressure. Celestial earth was needed, for it turned to stone when combined with water. 
Gun returned to the world of people and began building a dyke to stem the deluge. The water destroyed his dyke, but the persistent Gun kept digging and digging, until he realised his labours were in vain. 
Then Gun returned to Heaven. Not to beg the Ruler of Heaven for help, but to dig a bagful of celestial earth while the latter slept. 
When the Ruler of Heaven woke up and looked down on the Earth, he caught his breath. The water that had almost covered the mountains was beginning to retreat, while the people on the hillsides began sowing grain in the mud and building houses. It dawned on the Ruler of Heaven that Gun had outwitted him and stolen celestial earth for the sake of the people.The Ruler of Heaven was enraged, and banished Gun to the Northern Mountain, where snow falls day and night. There, Gun died. 
Out of his body rose Yu, the son of Gun, as kind and as brave as his father. The tireless youth walked all about the Earth that Gun had saved from the deluge. Crossing dry ground, he drove a horse-drawn cart; in the mud, he walked in high boots, and climbing inaccessible mountains, he put on boots with spikes. Wherever he went, he felled trees and shrubs, dug channels, built dykes and ponds. He laboured thus for many years, until the Earth became fit for habitation. 
The time had come for people to descend from the mountains. Raising their crops, they did not forget to send up praise to Gun and Yu, their saviours. And years later, without the help of the gods, they found the earth which, combined with water, turned into stone. 

Alexander Nemirovsky, "Tales Of The Ancient World"

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