Translated by Jan Walls, West Lake, a collection of folktales

It was said in ancient times, in a cave east of the Milky Way, there lived a jade dragon; and in the big forest west of the Milky Way, there dwelt a colorful gold phoenix. The jade dragon and the gold phoenix were neighbors. Every morning, one would emerge from the cave and the other fly out of the forest.  After a simple greeting to each other, each would then hurry off to do the day's work.

One day, while one of them was flying in the sky and the other was swimming in the Milky Way, they suddenly came upon a fairy islet. On the islet, they discovered a bright and shining stone. The gold phoenix liked it very much:“ Jade Dragon! Look, Jade Dragon! What a beautiful stone!”

The jade dragon has also attracted to it:“ Gold Phoenix! Shall we work on it and make it into a pearl?”

The gold phoenix nodded her head in agreement, and they started to work on it.

The jade dragon clawed it with his claws and the gold phoenix pecked at it with her beak. They worked on it day after day and year after year until finally, they fashioned it into a round, bright pearl. The gold phoenix was so pleased that she flew to the fairy mountain and brought back many dewdrops to sprinkle upon the pearl. The jade dragon was so happy that he swam to the Milky Way and brought back great quantities of pure water to spray over it. After much sprinkling of dew and spraying of pure water, it gradually became a bright and shining pearl!

From then on, the jade dragon grew to like the gold phoenix and the gold phoenix liked the jade dragon. Both of them loved their pearl. The jade dragon did not want to go back to the cave east of the Milky Way anymore, and the gold phoenix had no desire to return to the forest west of the Milky Way; therefore they stayed on the fairy islet in the middle of the Milky Way and kept watch over their own pearl day and night.

Now, this bright pearl was a real treasure. Wherever the bright light of the pearl might shine, the trees there would be green forever, a hundred flowers would bloom all together, the mountains would be bright, the waters beautiful and there would be a bumper harvest of all the grains.

One day, the Queen Mother of the West walked out of her palace gate and saw the beautiful shining light of this pearl. She loved it so much that she ordered a trusted heavenly soldier to steal it at night. Once, when the jade dragon and the gold phoenix were soundly asleep, the heavenly soldier quietly stole the pearl away from them. The Queen Mother of the West was overjoyed when she obtained this pearl. She loved it so much that she would not even let anyone see it, but hid it in the palace. She closed it behind nine layers of gates, which were locked with nine locks.

When the jade dragon and the gold phoenix woke up and discovered that their pearl had disappeared, they were worried sick! They looked for it in the east, and searched in the west. The jade dragon searched in every cave under the Milky Way, and the gold phoenix looked in every corner of the islet, but still they could not find it, and they were extremely saddened. Nevertheless, they continued to search for it day after day, and night after night, hoping to find it some day.

On the day the Queen Mother of the West celebrated her birthday, immortals from all directions came to celebrate in her palace. The Queen Mother arranged for an "immortal peach party" to entertain all the immortals. They were all drinking fine wine, eating the immortal peaches, loudly singing happy birthday to her:” May your fortune be as great as the Eastern Sea is deep; may your life be as long as South Mountain is high!”

All of a sudden the Queen Mother of the West became so happy that she told all the immortals: “My friends! I am going to show you a precious pearl. It is one the likes of which you may find neither in heaven nor on earth!”

So saying, she took the nine keys from her sash and opened the nine locks. She entered the nine gates and brought out that bright pearl. She held it on a gold platter and placed it in the middle of the big hall. The pearl gave out a bright and glittering light. When the immortals saw this, they all praised it, shouting with glee.

At this very moment, the jade dragon and the gold phoenix were still looking everywhere for the pearl.

When the gold phoenix noticed the cold bright light given out by the bright pearl, she shouted to the jade dragon immediately: “Jade Dragon! Hurry and look! Isn't that the cold bright light that comes from our pearl?”

The jade dragon poked his head out of the Milky Way and took a look: “You're right! It must be our pearl. Let's hurry and get it back!”

 The jade dragon and the gold phoenix followed the light and came all the way to the palace of the Queen Mother of the West.

 Just at this moment, the immortals were standing around the pearl and admiring it. The jade dragon rushed forward:” This is our pearl!” The gold phoenix also said:” This bright pearl belongs to us!”

 When the Queen Mother of the West heard this she was enraged. She rushed towards the jade dragon and the gold phoenix and shouted at them: “What nonsense! I am the true mother of the Jade Emperor. All the treasures in heaven belong to me!”

When the jade dragon and the gold phoenix heard this, they also became angry:“ This pearl was not born of heaven nor grown on earth. It was ground and pecked out by us with much hard work day after day and year after year!”

Hearing this, the Queen Mother of the West was both embarrassed and enraged. She stretched out her hands to protect the gold platter that was holding the pearl. At the same time, she ordered the heavenly soldiers and heavenly generals to drive away the jade dragon and the gold phoenix. When the gold phoenix saw that the Queen Mother was going to be so unreasonable, she rushed forward to grab the pearl. When the jade dragon saw that the Queen Mother was so unreasonable, he too rushed forward to grab it. Thus three pairs of hands grabbed hold of the gold platter, and none of them would let go of it. They pulled back and forth, and the gold platter swayed from one side to the other. Finally, the bright pearl rolled off the platter, down onto the stairs, and rolled from heaven on and on down towards the earth.

When the jade dragon and the gold phoenix saw that their pearl was rolling down towards the earth, they quickly rushed alongside to protect it. The jade dragon was flying, and the gold phoenix was dancing. Now they were in front of it, now behind it, always protecting their bright pearl. Slowly, so slowly, the pearl descended down to earth. This bright pearl had no sooner touched the ground than it became the pure and clear West Lake.

The jade dragon, unable to bear the thought of leaving his pearl, turned into the strong and tall Jade Dragon Mountain to protect it. The gold phoenix, also unable to bear the thought of leaving her pearl, turned into the green and lovely Phoenix Mountain to watch over it.

From then on, Phoenix Mountain and Jade Dragon Mountain have been standing quietly beside West Lake.

Even now, there are two lines of an ancient folksong that is still popular in Hangzhou:

The West Lake pearl descended from Heaven, The dragon flew and the phoenix danced to Qiantang.

Translated by Jan Walls, West Lake, a collection of folktales