Once upon a time there was a poor boy named Zhu Yuanlong; he went to school every day.

One morning the boy was passing by a stone Buddha statue,

When it stood up as if it was in honor of him.

The boy was very surprised and he told this to his Mother back home.

“You naughty boy,” said his mother.

“How can a stone statue stand up! You are telling me a lie.”

“Oh, Mum,” the boy explained. “The statue really stood up. You know I never tell lies.”

“Well,” thought Mrs. Zhu. “Let me test it, to see if it is true.”

So that night Mrs. Zhu went out with an egg.

She put the egg into the apron of the statue, then she was back home.

Next morning Zhu Yuanlong went to school early as usual.

When he came near the statue, it suddenly stood up again.

Later that day, to Mrs. Zhu’s surprise she found the egg which she placed last night

Had slipped down from the apron and was broken.

In the evening Mrs. Zhu told her son when he was back home,

“You have been a holy boy, my son. See, even a Buddha statue respects you:

It stands up whenever you come to it.”

“But Mum,” said the boy. “I do not know what a holy boy is.”

Then Mrs. Zhu said:

“A holy boy can get everything he asks for

And everyone on the earth must obey him whether man or beast.

Now you try, my son.”

“Me? Try?” asked the boy.

“Yes, try now.”

The boy voiced a special request as:

“Well, let the tide flood if the stone lion at the gate’s face bleeds.”

Just then, a butcher passed by outside.

“How funny it sounds, let me try.”

The boys heard the butcher say to himself.

As he took out a piece of dirty rag,

And with it he smeared pig blood on the face of the stone lion,

Then he went away with self-satisfaction.

Zhu Yuanlong went outside to get water,

When suddenly the boy saw the blood on the face of the lion in the moonlight.

Therefore he shouted out,

“Mum, the lion has blood on its face; the tide must flood now!”

With his words, the sound of a rolling tide came in.

The boy quickly carried his mother on his back and ran away,

Shouting, “Tide floods, tide floods!”

People heard him and all followed him running. They ran and ran,

And before long they were tired.

The boy was also tired and could not move one step ahead anymore.

So he murmured disappointedly:

“Stop here!” Suddenly the tide following them leveled down,

And drew back into Hangzhou Bay.

Why? What caused it down back? As a matter of fact,

The boy had said, “Stops here” to himself,

And just as he had ordered, the dragon king of the sea stopped the tide instantaneously!

Later on people constructed a monument carved with the words, “STOPS HERE!”

It is erected at the southern bank of Hangzhou Bay.

So I, Mr. Bluesky,

Often heard the words “stop here” from my parents’ mouths when I was a young boy.