Chinese Æsop:

The Ming Dynasty ended with the reign of Tchong tching, which was a continued series of murders, robberies, and intestine war, a vast number of seditious male-contents forming themselves into eight armies, each having a commander, but they were afterwards reduced to two chiefs, who were named Li and Tchang. Li and Tchang agreed to divide the provinces between them ; Li going Northwards; and Tchang took the western provinces of Sze tchuen and Hou Quang for his Share. Tchang, nicknamed Yellow Tiger, was born in a poor family in Shensi. Following a disastrous famine, Tchang became the leader of a gang of freebooters who used hit-and-run tactics to plunder widely throughout North China. Although his forces were bought off several times and were defeated by government troops, they retreated into the hills, regrouped, and continued their raids. Tchang seemed to be a demon in human shape, he was good-natured and affable to none but his Soldiers, whom he used with great familiarity , fo...

Genghis Khan, having destroyed the Kingdom of Matena; and carried his Conquests to the Indies and Samarkand, they advanced to Tie men, that is, the Iron Gate, which was the Name of a Cittadel ; that in this Place their General was stopped by a Monster shaped like a Hart Unicorn, his Skin was green, and he had a Horn in his Forehead, and a Tail like a Horse. This Monster spoke to the Genghis Khan, and asked him if he was not satisfied with so much Blood and Slaughter, and if his Fury would have no Bounds? This so frighted the Genghis Khan, that he returned to his own Country, and sometime afterwards invaded China instead.

I heard this story from my mother. And later I read this legend in the local history. And it recorded the Dragon Mother's family, the date when she was born, and accidentally swallowed the egg, to every details. During the Later Jin dynasty (937 - 951 A.D.), in County Yueqing, Zhejiang Province, China, there was a Changshan (Long-hill) Village, which is in now within the jurisdiction of Hongqiao (Rainbow Bridge) town. In the village, there lived a Ye family. In the year 937, a little girl was born, her name was Gongyu. When she was still a baby, she was betrothed to a Zhou family in the nearby county Yongjia, according to the local custom. Every morning she went to a well to fetch a pail of water. This well connects to the Eastern China Sea, and the Dragon King of East China Sea had three sons, the third prince saw Gongyu, and fell in love with her. One day she was thirteen years old, she went with her sister-in-law to the well to fetch water as usual. The dragon prince also...

Once upon a time, in China, there lived a poor boy called Ma Liang. He had to work hard every day, gathering firewood, washing pots, scrubbing floors, etc. He loved to draw, but he was too poor to buy a paintbrush. "I can draw on the ground with stick!" he said to himself, "But I could paint picture for poor people if I have a paintbrush." Suddenly an old man appeared. He held out a paint brush, and gave it to Ma Liang. "Now you can paint pictures for poo people," he said. The old man disappeared, leaving the paintbrush in Ma Liang's hand. Ma Liang started to paint immediately. He painted a butterfly, but the butterfly came to life and flew away! this was a magic paintbrush! Soon everyone in the village heard about Ma Liang's paintbrush. Poor people began to ask him to paint things they needed. "I am so hungry! Please paint me some rice." One poor man asked. Ma Liang painted rice for him. "Please paint me some fishes....

In the twenty-fourth Year of the Cycle (627 A.D.), Tai Tsong began his Reign ; he was esteemed as one of the greatest Emperors China ever had , Chinese praise him above all for his Wisdom, and the easy Access to his Person, which he allowed, to all who were capable of giving him discreet Counsels, or had Courage enough to advertise him of his Faults : So great was his Temperance and Frugality, that he suffered no more than eight Dishes of Meat to be served up to his Table, and drove almost all the Concubines out of the Palace : He caused the best Books to be brought from all Parts, and became, in some respects, the Restorer of the Sciences, by the Care he took to reinstate in his Palace an Academy for Literature, wherein were reckoned 8000 Scholars, and amongst them many sons of foreign Princes : He provided them with able Masters, and of these he appointed eighteen of the most Ingenious to overlook their Studies ; He sounded also a Military Academy, where Archery was taught, and he...