Legend of Bald Tail Lao Li

According to the legend, a peasant named Li Han lived in Nansanli Village, Longdu Sub-district, Weifang. He married Tao Hong but did not have any child for more than 20 years. That summer, Tao Hong was pregnant and the couple was overjoyed. But after eleven months, Tao Hong gave birth to a little black snake. Li Han was in a rage. He picked up a shovel and cut the tail of the snake. It jumped to the eave with pain and then fell into Tao Hong's arms, bleeding profusely and shedding tears. Tortured by scare and anger, Tao Hong died. The little snake quickly grew to over four feet within six hours, and nodded three times to its mother, "Mom, I'm leaving." It arrived at the Heilongjiang River at a flash. Later, it fought with the evil white dragon in the Heilongjiang River for three days and three nights. With the help of people from Shandong, it defeated the white dragon at last. From then on, people by the river no longer suffered floods and had bumper grain harvests. It was said that May 13 was the day when the bald tail Lao Li was born, and when his mother Tao Hong passed away. It rained on May 13 of each year when the bald tail Lao Li came back to offer sacrifices to his mother, and there appeared a local saying, "May 13 cannot be forgotten even in a three-year drought". When the great poet Su Shi worked as the governor of Mizhou Prefecture, Zhucheng suffered a severe drought. He remembered the saying and led his team to pray for rain to Lao Li. It worked magically. This legend carries forward the virtues of loyalty, filial piety, integrity and universal love of the bald tail Lao Li, and his noble conduct of sacrificing for others. Nowadays, such virtues are necessary for building a harmonious society and cultivating people's temperament. In 2008, it was included in the second batch of National Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection List.