The Tale Of Hǎi Tāo The Shuî Guî

Long ago there was a young man named Hai Tao, he was the son of a mighty emperor. Hai Tao was said to be the most beautiful man in his kingdom, he was said to have long teal hair and golden yellow eyes with bronze skin, he was truly angelic.

The prince was seeing a noblewoman named Yin Mei at the time. She was a musician and Tao was madly in love with her, so much to the point that he wanted her to be his princess. So he decided one summer morning that he’d propose to his lover. He had been thinking about popping the question for months and finally decided to act on that thought. He had a unique ring made for the woman it was made up of gold, and in the middle of the ring sat a beautiful jade gemstone. The ring was absolutely gorgeous, unlike any ring anyone had seen before and it was all for the prince’s “true” love, Mei.

That evening Hai Tao led Yin Mei to a lotus pond, the pond was very special to Tao, it was the pond his mother took him to a lot as a child so he thought that it was the perfect place to propose to his lover. They stood beside the pond, looking at all the beautiful lotus floating in the water. Tao smiled at Mei, taking in all her beauty as he took her hands, looking into her green eyes. He asked her in a soft tone if she would marry him and be his princess, he held the ring in his right hand showing it to her and telling her about how he had it made just for her. But the woman only looked at him in disgust, grabbing the ring from his hand and looking at it carefully. She was disgusted with him, throwing the gorgeous ring into the pond and yelling at him. She told the prince that she didn't want to marry him, nor did she genuinely love him. The prince’s heart sank as he watched his “true” love walk off, a single tear fell from his eye as he looked at the ring sinking to the bottom of the pond. In a last-minute effort to retrieve the ring he jumped into the pond but it was too late, the ring was out of sight and the prince felt his body start to panic as he sank farther down to the bottom of the pond. The prince tried his best to swim to the top but he was tired and soon gave in, drowning.

 now the prince lingers at the bottom of the pond in his own sorrows, it's said that if you propose by the lotus pond you and your lover will spend the rest of your days miserably under the water. forgotten forever.

And that is the tale of Hai Tao the Shui Gui