Early Version of the Myth of N Wa

Chinese from the Huainanzi, Lesson on Observing the Obscure ()

In ancient times, the four ends of the earth were getting destroyed, and the nine
realms were splitting apart. The heavens could not cover all, and the earth could
not carry everything. Conflagrations scorched all without burning out, and waters
submerged all without cease. Fierce beasts ate the virtuous people, and giant birds
carried off the old and weak. Therefore, N Wa smelted five-color stones with which
to mend the heavens, and broke off sea-turtle legs on which to stand up the four
ends of the earth. She killed a black dragon to succor the central lands, and piled
up ashes of gourds to stop the flooding. The heavens were mended, the four ends
of the earth were straightened, the floods receded, the central lands were pacified,
the monstrous serpents killed, the virtuous people saved. Lying back against the
square earth, and holding the round heavens, she made the spring pleasant, the
summer hot, the autumn deadly and the winters constrained. She lay her head
within a square yard, lay her body within the compass of a measuring-rope. All that
was blocked off in yin and yang, she made to flow smoothly. That which went
against qi and violated things, that which piled up and hurt the people, she cut off
completely. At that time, all rested peacefully and arose energetically. A horse
would come as if on its own accord; a cow would come as if on its own accord.
People walked aimlessly, and they saw unclearly. Ignorant, all were in harmony: no
one knew whence things came; floating through life they did not know what to seek;
confusedly, they did not know whither things went. At that time, of birds, beasts,
bugs, and serpents, there were none but covered their talons and teeth, and hid
their stings and poisons, for they had no thought of catching and eating. Observe
the magnitude of her contribution: above, she ordered the nine heavens, and below
she aligned the depths of the earth. Her fame has covered all later ages, and her
glory has weighed heavily on all things. She rode a thunder-cart, hitched to dragons
and flanked by drakes. She carried a matchless jade, had a fine tapestry spread
beneath her, and was wrapped in yellow clouds. White serpents went before her,
and rushing snakes trailed her. She roamed carefree, encountered ghosts and gods,
ascended the nine heavens, and came through the gate of the spirits to the court of
the emperor of heaven, resting reverently at the feet of the Great Ancestor.
Thereupon she did not show off her achievement, or raise her voice, but hid herself

in the way of the perfected, using that which is most solid in heaven and earth.
Why? When ones virtue reaches highest heaven, all cleverness is extinguished.