When you look at Chinese Dragons they are nearly always holding a pearl in their claw. There is a story that is told of how that came about…

A mother lived with her young son, Xiao Sheng, in a small village. They, like the other villages were very poor and the young boy had to cut grass daily to feed his mother and the animals. The farmland around the village was so dry that the boy had to travel farther and farther from home to enable them to survive.

One day after walking many miles he came upon a lush and fertile area of grass which he cut and took home to his mother. He returned to the same spot of grass the next day and was surprised to find it had re-grown over night. He took more grass home and found in the blades of grass a beautiful pearl. He proudly gave it to his mother, who promptly hid it in a half-empty rice jar.

The next day when they looked into the rice jar it was filled to the top. They then placed the pearl into a jar containing the few coins they possessed. The next morning the coin jar was overflowing, the boy and his mother they knew the pearl was ‘magic’.

Xiao Sheng and his mother decided to share their good fortune with the rest of the village, but suspicions were soon aroused and word of the pearl quickly spread.

Some villagers broke into to the mother’s house and demanded the pearl for themselves. The boy in a panic, and not knowing where to hide the pearl swallowed it. It is said Xiao Sheng turned into a dragon, he then brought much needed rain to the village, and carved a river with his tail before disappearing with his beloved pearl forever.