The children of Nü Wa lived happily on the land， but as the saying goes， “The unexpected may occur at any time.” At this time a Heavenly Emperor named Zhuan Xu， came to rule the northern universe. This selfish king ruled in an atrociously self-serving manner. He fixed the sun， the moon and the stars to the northern Heavens， not allowing them to move between the other realms. In such a way， many places of the lands that are now China would have ever-lasting darkness and freezing cold while some places were dominated by perpetual sunshine and scorching heat.
The people were plunged into an abyss of suffering and they felt great fury at the actions of the self-centered Emperor. Indeed not only did Zhuan Xu bring catastrophe down upon humankind， he also cruelly oppressed and exploited the other Heavenly gods. Never reluctant to interfere in the affairs of other realms； to steal their subjects and invade their territory， he inevitably attracted bitter hatred from the other gods， most especially from the Southern Water God， Gong Gong， who eventually became the first to rise in revolt against Zhuan Xu’s dark and degenerate rule. A destructive， bitter conflict broke out between Gong Gong and Zhuan Xu， which lasted for a long time and raged from the south right up to Bu Zhou Mountain in the northwest.
The war at last began to go against Gong Gong， the huge battlefront proving just too much for his forces to cope with. Maddened and frustrated by his imminent defeat he smashed into Bu Zhou Mountain， which was not only Zhuan Xu’s headquarters but also one of the pillars that propped up the sky. With the terrible impact of Zhuan Xu’s assault， this pillar crumbled and half of the Heavens tilted alarmingly. A hollow appeared in the sky once sustained by Bu Zhou Mountain while deep and wide cracks and chasms appeared on the land. Great floods issued forth from beneath the Earth； raging fires broke out in the forests； the world was in great disarray and fearsome creatures like dragons， snakes and birds of prey came forth to prey on the people. Catastrophe unparalleled thus faced all humanity and they turned their eyes in prayer and supplication to their Earth mother Nü Wa.
On hearing of the terrible plight of the land and the people， Nü Wa was deeply worried. She determined to rescue her sons and daughters from these terrible cataclysms. If she could not， then all the painstaking efforts she had devoted to creating humanity in the first place would have gone to tragic waste. She saw that all ills had sprung from the collapse of the sky as a result of the destruction of one of its supporting pillars. The first step must be to repair the sky.
Thus Nü Wa undertook the onerous task of pasting up the sky. Firstly she gathered together a great number of boulders and stones of various colors and calling forth great heat from the raging forest fires on Kunlun Mountain， melted them into a paste， which she could use to glue together the torn the Heavens. It was slow and painstaking work but eventually the scarred skies were stitched together. Nü Wa paused and drew breath， realizing that her handiwork could only be a temporary measure. The great pillar that supported one corner of the sky needed to be replaced or else the catastrophic events would inevitably occur again in the future. She plunged into the sea and captured a giant sea turtle. Cutting off the four legs of the enormous creature， she placed each limb at the four corners as supporting pillars to hold up the sky as four pillars to uphold the sky. The Heavens were now stabilized and the immediate danger of a recurrence of a collapse of the Heavens was averted.
After uncountable trials and hardships， Nü Wa beheaded the black dragon which had been causing great floods in the land. For the lands inundated with floodwater， she dammed using the ashes from the burnt reeds. Peace returned to the Earth. Thanks to Nü Wa’s efforts， the sky had been mended， the land righted， the floods ended， and the rampaging beasts laid low. The grateful people returned to their former harmonious and peaceful existence.
However， the fiendish disaster left its mark on the lands. From that time onward， the sky has always inclined somewhat towards the northwest， leading the sun， the moon and the stars to naturally move each day towards the west while all rivers flow towards the southeast because the land falls away in that direction. All of these phenomena result from the great labors of Nü Wa to repair the Heavens as indeed does the glorious phenomena of rainbows. These are a reflected aura of the enormous fire kindled by Nü Wa on Kunlun Mountain to melt the divine stones to create the glue that holds the skies together. Every time we see a rainbow we should think with gratitude of our Great Mother’s boundless compassion.
