Loawnu the Wise Woman (ancient story) Illustration

Ancient Story
Loawnu the Wise Woman
Ancient China for Kids

Once upon a time, a long time ago, in Xia times, there was a young, wise woman named Loawnu. She was very young to be the village wise woman. Still, the people in the village trusted her. If you had a problem, everyone knew you took it to Loawnu.

One day, the sky overhead darkened. The wind picked up and blew wildly. Several young children ran up the hill to Loawnu's home, dragging a basket behind them. The basket was overflowing with the remains of blue flowers that had been yanked by the wind from the earth.

"The sky has fallen," they screamed at Loawnu. "The sky has fallen!"

The children knew this was a very bad time for this to happen. Theirs was the village selected by many others to host this year's Spring Festival. It was quite an honor. The village would be disgraced without a sky. The children were too young to find husbands and wives at the Festival. But their older sisters and brothers had been talking of nothing else.

Loawnu sent the children back down the hill to search for all the pieces of the sky. They tried their best, but the children were worried. The wind had blown everything everywhere. What if they had missed some pieces?

The next day, the children ran outside. With great relief, they looked up at a bright blue sky. That night, when they looked up at the sky, they could not believe their eyes. The sky had always been dark at night. Loawnu had patched the sky with bright, twinkling lights, just in time for the Spring Festival.

Xia Dynasty

Stories about Ancient China