Kua Fu Chasing the Sun 夸父追日

Kua Fu Chasing the Sun is one of the earliest famous fables in China. It talks ab0ut the legendary story of Kua Fu who aspired to catch up with the sun.

In ancient times, there lived a group of mighty giants deep in the forests in the north and Kua Fu was their leader. At that time, the world was desolate and uncultured, infested with vipers and beasts. Kua Fu kept hanging the ferocious snakes he caught on ears for decoration, or grabbed them in hands waving proudly.

In a year when the weather was extraordinarily hot, the plants were scorched, the rivers were dried and people were suffering from the intense heat of the sun. Kua Fu swore to catch the sun and tame it to serve for all. 
The sun moved fleetingly in the sky, while Kua Fu chased it like wind on the ground. When he shook off the dusts in his shoes, the dusts became a hill; he used three stones to support his boiler when he was cooking, and the stones later became three mountains.

He caught up with the sun finally after nine days and nights. However, the sun was so scorching that he felt thirsty and tired and went to the Yellow River and the Wei River to quench his thirst. But the water from these two rivers was not sufficient to satisfy him and he decided to go to the Great Lake to drink its water. Before he got there he died of thirst on the way.
Before his death, Kua Fu cast his walking stick away, and the place it fell off immediately grew a huge lush peach forests. The forests were flourishing all year round, which provides shades and peaches for the passersby and hard-working people to quench thirst.

The story reflects the strong wish of the ancient Chinese people to overcome drought. Although Kua Fu sacrificed himself, his undying spirit keeps inspiring the Chinese people. The legend of Kua Fu Chasing the Sun was recorded in many ancient books in China. In some places of our country, there are even mountains named “Kuafu Mountain” so as to commemorate him.