A mountain, its slopes covered with peach trees, lies in the southeast of Lingbao County, in what is today Henan Province. In spring in the third lunar month of every year, the peach trees are in full bloom and are as beautiful as the colorful clouds in a summer sky. This seems just another common hill, but thousands of tourists from home and abroad visit it every year. The reason lies in the fact that the mountain has a close association with a famous Chinese legend. Thus the mountain is living proof of the old Chinese adage, “A mountain, high or short, will gain great renown if a fairy should chance to rest there.”
It is said that in the olden times Chengdu Heavenly Mountain was home to a tribe of great giants. Larger of limb and braver of heart than ordinary men, this tribe of giants were said to be able to fight tigers barehanded. Kua Fu, the tribal chief and the strongest giant in the tribe, boasted a formidable stature. Barrel-chested and with muscular arms and shoulders Kua Fu was said to be able to capture as many as ten tigers, twenty wild boar, thirty wolves and one hundred rabbits in a single hunt. The most remarkable feature of Kua Fu’s body was his two long legs, which were said to be some 25 meters long, accounting for all of two-thirds of his total height. Once Kua Fu got into his stride, he could easily span a broad river; once he began to run, he could travel close to the speed of sound like a wild horse of the Heavens. Kua Fu was renowned as a brave and kind-hearted giant. As a leader, he never tyrannized his people, often sharing the considerable spoils of his hunting expeditions among the young, the weak and the infirm. He was greatly loved by his people and his tribe enjoyed many years of prosperity and peace when he was chief.
One year the weather grew abnormally hot with searing sunshine scorching the land. Crops, flowers, grass, and trees, which normally grew in great profusion, withered and died. The river soon dried up, the riverbed scarred and cratered like the face of the moon. Of the 365 days in a year, 360 days passed with no rain whatsoever and the people were sorely afflicted by the terrible hardship caused by the scorching sun.
