Stone of the Month: June 2014 "Dragon's Eye"
by Mihail Blagoveshenskiy
A siliceous gall stone owned by Mihail Blagoveshenskiy of Vladimir, Russia is featured this month. The appearance of this stone reminds many of an old Chinese legend concerning a man and the dragon he raised.
Cui Hai Zi lived on a small tract of land he owned at the base of a large mountain. Cui was skilled at repairing equipment. One day he found a small dragon while walking along a road. He put it in a box and took it home. As he fed the tiny dragon, it began to grow very rapidly and soon outgrew the box. The animal continued to grow until it outgrew Cui's small home. Cui told the dragon “I earn just a little money and you are so big now that I cannot afford to feed you. I’m going to take you to live in a big cave high in the mountain.” The dragon agreed and Cui led the dragon to the cave.
A valuable medicinal herb grew close to the cave, but people were afraid to venture near the cave. One day, the Emperor heard about the miraculous plant and ordered that some of the roots of this plants be brought to him. But everyone was afraid to go and collect the plant because of the huge fearsome serpent. So the local governor told Cui to go and gather some of the roots or lose his head if he failed. Cui went high up the mountain to the cave. Cui was trembling when he cried out “dear dragon, I raised you. Please save me now by letting me dig some roots and take them to the Emperor.” The dragon agreed and Cui was able to take the plants and save his life.
A year later, the Empress developed a serious eye problem and was going blind. Her doctor said that the only way to cure her was to rub her eyes with the eye of a dragon. But, the only dragon was fierce and even 1,000 of the Emperor’s soldiers couldn’t defeat it. The Emperor ordered Cui to obtain the eye of the dragon to cure his wife’s illness. Cui went again to the cave and in great fear told the dragon about why he came. The dragon again approved and giant tears flowed down across the dragon’s face as Cui removed one of the dragon’s eyes.
Cui took the eye to the Empress and she rubbed the eye on her own eyes. A little later, the Empress’ eyes began to improve and soon her eye sight was fully restored. The Emperor was so happy that he appointed Cui as a minster and gave him an estate, money, and servants. Cui lived carefree and had everything he wanted. Soon, Cui changed and became greedy and evil and thought only of himself. He knew that a dragon’s eye was very valuable, so he decided to go back to the cave and ask the dragon for his other eye. Cui had his servants carry him on a palanquin to the mouth of the cave. He asked the dragon for his other eye. The dragon looked at Cui, lowered his head down to Cui and swallowed him whole.
