Chinese Story

Nu Gua was sitting by the banks of the Yellow River one day. She admired the beauty of the river and the land but felt sad that it was such a lonely and quiet place. She started to make little models of the gods out of the yellow clay that lay on the banks of the Yellow River.
When she had finished making each model it magically came to life. These were the first people on earth.
It was taking Nu Gua a very long time to model each person. She had an idea about how she could make each person quicker. She started to use a cane from the river to flick droplets of the yellow clay. Each droplet transformed into a human being.

It is said that the people who were modeled by Nu Gua's hand became the rich, powerful and fortunate people. The people formed by the cane became the poor and unlucky people on earth.
One day a great hole opened in the sky. Water came pouring out of it. Thousands of people were swept away as the rivers burst their banks and the waters rose to great heights. Other people survived only by climbing to the tops of the highest mountains.
Nu Gua looked down on what was happening, and was horrified to see the people suffering so much. She took a magical five-coloured stone and melted it down until it was a hot lava. She used this to fix the hole in the sky.
She then sacrificed the heavenly tortoise and used its legs to hold up the four corners of the sky. She stopped the floods by using soil to create huge dams and lakes.
Huang Di, the Yellow Emperor, was pleased that Nu Gua had saved the people on Earth. Nu Gua however did not want a reward or any shrines to be erected in her honour. She instead asked for Huang Di to look after the people on Earth better from then on. She then disappeared.
The people were so grateful that they made many temples and statues in honour of Nu Gua in spite of her wishes. However, after the day she spoke to Huang Di, Nu Gua was never seen on Earth again.