Long, long ago, a brother and sister lived at the foot of a mountain south of. West Lake. The brother was called Spring Lad and his sister was Autumn Lass. When their parents died, they were left with about half an acre of leased land and a run-down hut. They would get up before dawn and not rest until midnight every day hoping that if they worked hard on the land, they might get a little more harvest. However, when the grain ripened in the autumn, the landlord would come to collect the rent, and leave them not even enough to live on. There was nothing they could do but try to survive on soup and thin rice porridge each day.

One New Year's Eve, it was very snowy and windy. In the house of the wealthy landlord, the tables were laden with cooked meat, fish, chicken and ducks, while there was only one small cup of rice left in the house of the brother and sister. Autumn Lass made it into a bowl of thin rice porridge for her brother to eat.

Spring Lad said: “I'm not hungry. Why don't you drink it?”

“I'm not hungry either. You have it!”

They yielded back and forth but neither would take it.

At this time, flakes of snow as large as goose-down were lying and the north wind was howling fearfully. Through this wind and snow, an old lady came to beg for food. Her hair was partly white and her clothes were tattered.

Leaning on a cane, she stumbled with every step she took. As she stumbled, she moaned:“ Oh the wind-filled skies! Oh the snow-covered ground! Oh kind-hearted people, please pity this old woman!” Her hoarse cry drifted into the run-down hut and brother and sister heard it clearly.

“Listen, brother! What a sad cry.” said Autumn Lass.

“Let's invite her in.”

Spring Lad quickly opened the door and helped the stranger into the hut. Autumn Lass quickly brushed off the snow and Spring Lad gave her the bowl of thin rice porridge to eat.

The old lady stayed overnight with them. Next day the snow stopped and as it was clear and bright outside, she wanted to leave. Before she left, however, she brought out a piece of white silk and offered it to Autumn Lass:“ Dear girl, embroider this piece of white silk with your own skillful hands. Good fortune awaits those who are kind and diligent!” When Autumn Lass looked at the silk, she saw the faintest trace of a phoenix.

Thus, Autumn Lass set about embroidering this piece of white silk night and day. She embroidered the head of the phoenix with red silk thread, the eyes with black thread, the wings with golden thread and the tail with five different colors. On and on she embroidered, and now and then she accidentally pricked her fingers, with the result that her blood made stains on the white silk. She embroidered a fiery red sun and rosy clouds to disguise the stains. She embroidered from spring solstice to winter solstice until finally she finished the whole phoenix.

What a beautiful picture of the phoenix! The head was raised towards the fiery red sun, as though alive. The brother and sister hung it up in the hut. The more they looked at it, the happier they became and the more they grew to care for it.

Then one night, something strange happened. Autumn Lass woke up to discover that the room was lit up by a bright golden light. She took a careful look and saw that the phoenix had come down from the picture. She woke up her brother and they both watched carefully. They saw the bird walk around the room once, then go back into the picture, at which time the golden light also disappeared.

Next morning when Autumn Lass got up to sweep the floor, she found a gold phoenix egg. They sold the gold egg and used the money to buy a few acres of land and a cow.

As the saying goes,“ Good news travels a thousand miles”; the news of the picture of the phoenix traveled like the wind to the ears of the County Magistrate.

He thought to himself: “A phoenix in a picture that can lay golden eggs-this is truly a rare treasure. I must get it into my own hands!”

He had Spring Lad brought to him: “I admire you and want to do something nice for you. Tell you what: I'll give you three hundred ounces of silver for your phoenix picture.”

“My sister embroidered that picture with much pain and care. I'm not going to sell it!”

The Magistrate pulled a straight face and rapped his gavel on the desk: “It is quite clear that this treasure belongs to the Emperor! How could any pauper have made such a precious picture!”

Without listening to any explanation, he found Spring Lad guilty of the crime of "stealing a national treasure" and had him put in prison. At the same time, he ordered his runners to snatch the picture of the phoenix from Spring Lad's house.

The Magistrate was beside himself with joy, and he burst out laughing when the picture came into his own hands.

That very night, he sat in his comfortable armchair and waited for the phoenix to lay a gold egg. At midnight, the phoenix suddenly gave out blinding rays of light and the whole room turned a golden hue. Just as expected, the phoenix came down out of the picture. The Magistrate, thinking that the bird was going to lay a gold egg, quickly stooped down to look. Before he knew it, however, the bird was dashing towards him fiercely and started pecking at him with all its might. The Magistrate was in such pain that he rolled on the floor, yelling: “Help! Somebody! Help!”

When the yamen runners rushed in, the phoenix had already flapped its wings and flown out of the window towards the mountain. When they helped the Magistrate up, they found that his face was covered with blood and his left eye was blinded.

In spite of what happened, the greedy desire of the County Magistrate would not subside. He thought:“ If that girl could embroider one phoenix picture, she must be able to do a second one!”

He ordered Autumn Lass to be brought in and told her that if she could embroider another phoenix, he would release Spring Lad. To save her brother, Autumn Lass agreed.

She brought back that piece of white silk from the Magistrate's place and started to embroider it again stitch by stitch. This went on for three months, until she finally finished embroidering a splendid phoenix. However, she did not embroider the eyes. She told the Magistrate that only after her brother was released would she put eyes on the phoenix.

The County Magistrate had Spring Lad released, and when Autumn Lass saw her brother, she set about finishing the eyes.

As soon as the eyes were completed, the phoenix spread its wings, came down, took Spring Lad and Autumn Lass upon its back and flew away disappearing into the mountain top.

Afterward, people named this mountain “Phoenix Mountain.”