Two hundred li east of Changxi in Fuzhou there is a deep pool called Dragon Stream, on the border with Pingyang in Wenzhou. Above it is Dragon Well Mountain, and below is a great well, in which a divine dragon is said to live.
At the turn of the seventh and eighth months, in the early years of the Chunxi era, there was no rain for fifty days. The people were scorched and could not keep body and soul together, and they exhausted every kind of prayer without an answer.
There was a scholar of the district, Liu Yingzhi, whom the whole countryside called a good man — quick to a duty, free with what he had. He took the lead, and brought together Taoists, monks and mediums, with banners, drums, pennants and cymbals, and some three hundred farming families; and at the first crowing of the cock they set out for the well to file a petition for water.
It was daylight by the time they arrived. The monks and Taoists had formed a ring and were reciting scriptures and spells, and were about to take up water from the pool, when they saw a giant crab swimming on the surface. Its claws were as big as shears. On its back were seven stars, arranged like the Dipper. Its eyes were the size of pellets, and it had a strange and brilliant lustre.
They rinsed a clean vessel and received it in, and the crab went in with the water.
The bearers had only just started off when cloud and mist began to roll up thick out of nothing; and before they had reached Dragon Stream the rain was already coming down in torrents.
The next day they carried it in procession round the villages. The press of onlookers was so great that suddenly the crab was gone. Once the sweet rain had soaked the ground, the company agreed it should be taken back. They searched about in some perplexity, and found it in the pond in Liu’s back garden.
The day after that they prepared an offering of thanks and returned it to the well. From then on, whatever was asked for was granted.
