The ruler of the South was the god of the sun and fire, Yan-di. Every year there were more and more people in the country, their life was getting worse, since there were not enough animals and birds on which they fed, and the wells dried up before everyone managed to get a drink. Yan felt sorry for the people. He took nine steps. At the place where his foot stepped, a well appeared. As soon as you scooped up in one, the water fluctuated in the other eight, but did not decrease. That's how wonderful these nine wells were. At this time, a beautiful red bird flew across the sky, holding nine ears of grain in its beak. She opened her beak, and the ears of corn fell at Yan-di’s feet. The bird had dropped ears of corn before, but people did not know what to do with them. And Yan-di raised them, sowed grains and grew tall, strong grains. People began to work together, divide the harvest equally, and everyone was like brothers and sisters. And in order for the grains to grow strong, Yan-di forced the sun, obedient to him, to give more light. Grateful people began to call him Shen-nun - the Divine Farmer. Soon Yan-di saw that some people began to have something extra, while others were missing something. Therefore, he created markets for the people, where people traded things they needed with each other. But back then they didn’t know how to count time. When to trade and when to work, do the necessary things in order to exchange them later? Yan Di told people to come to the market when the sun rises to its zenith, and to work from early morning until noon. Everyone was convinced that this calculation of time was accurate and simple, they were very happy and followed the advice of the Divine Farmer.
People's joys increased, but their sorrows did not decrease. They were sick, but they didn’t know how to treat them. And here the generous ruler decided to help them. He was the sun god after all. And it is a source of strength. Thanks to him, not only cereals grow, but also all herbs. Both healing and poisonous.
Yan-di Shen-nong had a magic red whip with which he identified herbs. He hits with a whip and immediately sees whether the grass is poisonous or not, whether it heals wounds, whether it saves from fever, fever or diarrhea. In addition, he tasted all the herbs to determine their properties. One day he poisoned himself seventy times. Yan Di suffered greatly, but people began to beware of these herbs.
The sages report that Shen Nong had a body made of transparent jade, so that all his insides could be seen. And this is the absolute truth. Otherwise, how would it be possible to rid him of the poisonous herbs that he ate? After all, he ate at least twelve poisons a day. But one day the merciful god could not protect himself and swallowed the grass of Duanchang, which tears the intestines. People saw through the jade body how this hooked grass tormented the insides of their beloved god, but they could not help. Yan Di died, sacrificing his life for the good of his subjects.
To this day, people are wary of creeping grass with small yellow flowers. They say that her poison is so strong that even Shen-nong died from it.
Yan-di had very interesting descendants. Many of them moved in the clouds and controlled the rains. They flew, waving their arms, and instead of legs they had tails. And the son of Gu made beautiful bells. He had a pointed head and a nose pointing straight to the sky...
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru