精卫填海

精卫填海

炎帝有一个女儿，叫女娃。女娃十分乖巧，喜欢冒险，炎帝视女娃为掌上名珠。有一天，女娃没告诉父亲，便一个人驾着一只小船向东海太阳升起的地方划 去。不幸的是，海上突然起了狂风大浪，像山一样的海浪把女娃的小船打翻了，女娃不幸落入海中，终被无情的大海吞没了，永远回不来了。

炎帝固然痛念自己的小女儿，但却不能用太阳光来照射她,使她死而复生，也只有独自神伤嗟叹了。女娃死了，她的精魂化作了一只小鸟，花脑袋，白嘴壳，红脚爪，发出“精卫、精卫” 的悲鸣，所以，人们便叫此鸟为“精卫”。 精卫痛恨无情的大海夺去了自己年轻的生命，她要报仇雪恨。因此，她一刻不停地从她住的发鸠山上衔了一粒小石子，展翅高飞，一直飞到东海。她在波涛汹涌的海面上回翔阒，悲鸣着，把石子树枝投下去，想把大海填平。 大海奔腾着，咆哮着，嘲笑她：“小鸟儿，算了吧，你这工作就干一百万年，也休想把我填平！” 精卫在高空答复大海：“哪怕是干上一千万年，我终将把你填平的。”

精卫锲而不舍的精神，宏伟的志向，受到人们的尊敬。后世人们也常常以“精卫填海”比喻志士仁人所从事的艰巨卓越的事业。

Jingwei fills up the sea.
（It's widely considered as a symbol of dogged determination and perseverance in the face of seemingly impossible odds.）

Nvwa (nǚ wā女娃) was the youngest daughter of Yan-Di (yàn dì 炎帝). She was lovely and vivacious, and liked to adventure. One day, Nvwa walked on the coast of the East Sea, and she saw the sea was so blue and placid that she wanted to swim. However, when she swam far from the coast, the sea suddenly became large waves rolling in immense surges. Nvwa then heard the bluster of the dragonish Sea-God. Frightened, She tried to return the coast, but her puny body was not able to resist the strength and power of the billowing waves. Nvwa unfortunately drowned.

When Yan-Di heard the miserable news from the servants of Nvwa, he rushed to the coast of the East Sea. Yan-Di cried the name of his youngest daughter, and suddenly he saw a little bird fly out the sea. The little bird flew around Yan-Di, and wailed shrilly with great lament. The bird looked like a crow. Its head had colorful lines, its beak was white, and its feet were red. Yan-Di felt the bird was from the soul of Nvwa. He wept bitter tears. However, the bird suddenly cried “Jingwei”, and flew rapidly to the West Mountain. It took a small stone from the mountain by its mouth, and then threw the stone into the East Sea.Ever Since then, the bird would carry small stones in its mouth and throw them into the East Sea every day. The Sea-God understood the purpose of the bird. He laughed and said to the bird, “My sea is so vast and deep. You are not able to fill up it forever!” However, the bird answered, “I will try forever, and I believe your sea will be filled up in the end.”

Our ancestors saw such a bird throw small stones into the East Sea and cried “Jingwei”, so they called it “Jingwei”. For thousands of years, the story of the bird called Jingwei has encouraged people to strive for their ideals generation after generation.