Tianci the Dragon-tamer
A childless couple found a baby boy in a crow’s nest. They were delighted and took him home and called him Dong Tianci. They soon discovered that their adopted son had magical powers. Dong Tianci grew to be a modest young man who didn’t abuse his powers, and who took great care of his elderly parents.
Tianci wanted to build a grand hall so they could live in comfort in their old age. After a long search, he chose to build the hall on the site of a pool. He dried up the pool with his magic breath, but he didn’t know that the pool was the home of the Black Dragon of Erhai Lake.
The dragon was very angry when its pool evaporated. First it shape-shifted into a beautiful woman and tried to coax Tianci into building his hall elsewhere. When that didn’t work, the dragon took on its true form and swooped down to attack Tianci with its teeth and claws. Tianci breathed his magic breath on the dragon, and it fell to the ground.
The dragon grovelled before Tianci. It agreed to move its home to the Cangshan Mountains and allow Tianci to ride it whenever he wished.
When the Emperor heard about Tianci’s dragon-taming skills, he was very impressed. He knew that dragons brought rain, so he put Tianci in charge of water conservation. Whenever there was a drought, Tianci called for the black dragon and ordered it to bring rain.