Old Dragonbeard

This legend begins near the end of the Sui dynasty, when the powerful minister Yang Su is pictured as a proud man living in luxury. His halls were full of singers and dancing girls, maids waited on his slightest nod, and when great lords of the empire came to call, he received them lounging on his couch without getting up.

At that time there lived a bold young hero named Li Dsing. Dressed in plain clothes, he came to Yang Su with a plan for bringing peace to the empire. He bowed low; Yang Su did not return the bow. So Li Dsing spoke up. “The empire is about to break apart, and heroes are taking up arms everywhere. You are the highest servant of the imperial house. It is your duty to gather the bravest men around the throne, not to drive them away with arrogance.”

Hearing this, Yang Su pulled himself together, stood up, and spoke to him courteously. Li Dsing handed him a written proposal, and they talked about many matters. Beside them stood a remarkably beautiful maid holding a red fan, who never took her eyes off Li Dsing.

Later that day, at his inn, Li Dsing heard a knock. At the door stood a figure in a purple turban and gown, with a bag hanging from a stick over one shoulder. “I am Yang Su’s fan-bearer,” the visitor said, stepped inside, and threw off the cloak and turban. She was a young woman of eighteen or nineteen. “I have lived in Yang Su’s house a long time and seen many famous men,” she said, “but none to equal you. I will follow you wherever you go.”

“The minister is powerful,” said Li Dsing. “I am afraid we would bring disaster on ourselves.”

“He is a living corpse with little breath left in him,” she answered. “We need not fear him.” She told him her family name was Dschang and that she was the eldest of her brothers and sisters. Seeing her courage and good sense, Li Dsing knew she had the heart of a heroine. They agreed to marry and slip out of the city. She dressed as a man, they mounted horses, and they rode off toward Taiyuanfu.

The next day they stopped at an inn, had their room cleaned, and lit a fire to cook. The fan-bearer was combing her hair, which was so long it brushed the floor and so glossy you could see your face in it. Li Dsing had gone out to tend the horses. Suddenly a man with a long, curling mustache like a dragon’s rode up on a lame mule, tossed his leather bag down by the hearth, grabbed a pillow, stretched out on a couch, and lay watching her comb her hair.

Li Dsing saw and grew angry, but the fan-bearer had understood the stranger at a glance. She signaled her husband to hold his temper, quickly finished her hair and knotted it up, then greeted the guest and asked his name.

“Dschang,” he said.

“Why, mine is Dschang too, so we must be related!” She bowed to him as an elder brother. “How many brothers are you?”

“I am the third. And you?”

“I am the eldest sister.”

“What luck to find a sister today!” said the stranger, delighted. She called Li Dsing in to meet her “third brother,” and the two men sat down together. “What is there to eat?” the stranger asked. A leg of mutton, they told him. “I am very hungry,” he said, so Li Dsing went to the market for bread and wine. The stranger carved the meat with his dagger, they all ate together, and afterward he fed the leftovers to his mule.

“Sir Li,” he said, “you look like a knight without a penny. How did you come by my sister?” Li Dsing told him. “And where are you going?” “To Taiyuanfu.” “You are no ordinary fellow,” said the stranger. “Have you heard of a hero said to be in these parts?”

“I know of one whom Heaven seems to have chosen to rule,” said Li Dsing. “He is the son of Duke Li Yuan of Tang, and he is no more than twenty.”

“Could you introduce me?” Li Dsing said he could. “The astrologers say a special sign has been seen in the sky over Taiyuanfu,” the stranger went on. “Perhaps he is the cause. Wait for me tomorrow at the Fenyang Bridge.” He climbed on his mule and rode off so fast he seemed to fly.

“He is a dangerous man,” the fan-bearer said. “At first he meant us no good. That is why I tied him to us as family.”

They went on to Taiyuanfu, and at the bridge, as promised, they met Dragonbeard. Li Dsing had an old friend, Liu Wendsing, who was a companion of the Prince of Tang. He introduced the stranger as a man who could read the future in people’s faces and wished to see the prince. The prince wore a simple house robe, but something about him set him apart from everyone else. When the stranger saw him he fell silent, and his face went gray. After a few cups of wine he left. “That man is a true ruler,” he told Li Dsing. “I am almost certain. But my friend must see him too.” He named a day and an inn. “When you see my mule outside with a very skinny donkey, you will know we are there.”

On that day Li Dsing found the mule and the skinny donkey at the door. Upstairs sat old Dragonbeard drinking with a Taoist priest. Dragonbeard was pleased to see him, and after they had toasted one another the three went to Liu Wendsing, who was playing chess with the prince. The prince rose politely and invited them to sit. The moment the Taoist saw the prince’s shining, heroic face, he was shaken. He bowed low and said, “The game is up!”

As they parted, Dragonbeard told Li Dsing, “Go on to Sianfu, and when the time comes, ask for me at such-and-such a place.” And off he went, snorting.

Li Dsing and the fan-bearer packed up and travelled west. Around that time Yang Su died, and the whole empire was thrown into turmoil. A few days later they reached the meeting place and knocked at a small wooden door. A servant led them through long passages, and suddenly splendid buildings rose before them, with crowds of maidservants waiting. In one hall lay heaped the richest dowry imaginable: mirrors, clothes, and jewels finer than anything on earth. Maids led them to bathe and change, and then their host was announced. He came in dressed in silk and fox furs, looking almost like a dragon or a tiger, and called in his wife, who was extraordinarily lovely.

The four sat down to a feast of dishes so rare the guests did not know their names, served on gold and jade studded with pearls. Two bands of girl musicians took turns on flutes and pipes, singing and dancing in rainbow robes, until the visitors felt they had been carried to the palace of the Lady of the Moon.

When the banquet was over, Dragonbeard gave them a book and a key. “This book lists all my treasure and riches. I give them to you as a wedding present. Nothing great can be done without wealth, and it is my duty to give my sister a proper dowry. I had meant to take the Middle Kingdom in hand myself. But a true ruler has already appeared, so what is there to keep me here? The Prince of Tang is a real hero and will restore order within a few years. You must both help him, and you will rise to high honor. Sister, you are not only beautiful but also wise. No one else would have seen Li Dsing’s worth, and no one else would have been lucky enough to find you. You will share your husband’s honors, and your name will go down in history. Use my treasures to help the true ruler—remember that! In ten years a glow will rise far off in the south-east. That will be the sign that I have reached my goal. Then pour out wine toward the south-east and wish me luck.”

He had all his servants and maids bow one by one to Li Dsing and the fan-bearer. “This is your master, and this is your mistress,” he told them. Then he took his wife by the hand, they mounted horses that stood ready, and rode away.

Li Dsing and his wife settled in the house with its countless riches. They followed the Prince of Tang and used their wealth to help him restore order. When the great work was done and peace had returned, Li Dsing was made Duke of We, and the fan-bearer became a duchess.

About ten years later the duke heard that in a kingdom across the sea a thousand ships had landed an army of a hundred thousand armored soldiers. They had conquered the land, killed its prince, and set up their own leader as king, and the report said their rule was now established there. The duke knew then that Dragonbeard had reached his goal. He told his wife, and the two of them put on ceremonial robes and poured out wine to wish him good fortune. And they saw a bright crimson ray flash up on the south-eastern horizon—surely Dragonbeard’s answer. Both of them were very happy.

About this telling

“Old Dragonbeard” is one of the historic legends in Richard Wilhelm’s The Chinese Fairy Book, translated by Frederick H. Martens and published in New York by Frederick A. Stokes in 1921. Wilhelm’s note says plainly that the tale is legendary, not historical, though it is built around real people.

Wilhelm distinguishes this story’s Li Dsing from Notscha’s father of the same name and identifies its Prince of Tang as Li Shimin, later Emperor Taizong. The note’s chronology needs care: 618 marks the beginning of Li Yuan’s Tang rule, not his son’s accession. Taizong ruled from 626 to 649. Columbia University’s introduction to Taizong’s advice on government gives the father-and-son reigns. The legend’s encounters, predictions and overseas conquest should not be treated as a historical record.

Read the original: Wilhelm’s Chinese Fairy Book in English (Project Gutenberg)

Best for ages 9–12 with adult discussion: escape from a powerful household, an intimidating stranger, warfare and the reported killing of a ruler. Claims of destiny and signs in faces belong to the legend.

Reading the story closely

The fan-bearer changes the first meeting by inventing a family relationship around a shared surname. She later explains that this was a response to danger, so her welcome is a deliberate protective act. Dragonbeard’s later transfer of wealth turns that improvised kinship into a lasting alliance. The inventory and key make the gift concrete: political ambition needs resources as well as predictions.

Compare his two choices of kingdom. He steps aside in China because he believes another ruler is destined to succeed, but he pursues conquest elsewhere, where a prince is killed. Retell the final report from the perspective of someone living in that unnamed land. Does the couple’s celebratory toast settle what that conquest meant for everyone affected?

Questions to ask

• How does the fan-bearer turn a rude stranger into a friend?
• What does Dragonbeard see in the Prince of Tang that changes his plans?
• What sign tells Li Dsing and his wife, years later, that Dragonbeard has succeeded?

Related stories

• The Golden Canister — another Tang-era legend with a daring heroine
• Dschang Liang — a strategist who helps found a new dynasty
• Mulan, the Warrior Maiden — a brave young woman who disguises herself as a man