Near the shore the water broke into a glittering spray, and the third daughter came up out of the lake to stand before Sea Girl.
“Deep in the lake I heard your songs,” she said. “They are so strange and beautiful that I could not resist them. My father does not allow us to meet humans, but I have come to you secretly. I, too, love songs, and your songs are finer than mine.”
Sea Girl asked, “Are you the third daughter of the Dragon King?”
“Yes, I am Third Daughter. My father and his people guard Wild Goose Lake. Who are you? Why do you sing your songs here?”
“I am Sea Girl. I live in a village at the foot of Horse Ear Mountain, and I have come all this long way to find the Golden Key which opens the stone gate of the lake. The people in my village are hungry and need water to save their harvest.”
Third Daughter hesitated, then she said, “I would like to help you. The Golden Key is kept in my father’s treasure room, deep in a rock cave. Outside on the cliff a huge eagle guards it, and he would tear to pieces anyone who tried to enter.” She pointed to a rock cliff a little distance off. On the cliff perched an eagle nodding in the sun.
Sea Girl asked, “Would your father give us the Golden Key?”
“He will not help humans,” sighed Third Daughter. “That is why he had the stone gate made to keep in the lake water. You must wait until my father leaves his palace and goes off. Then perhaps we can lure the eagle away from the treasure room.”
So Sea Girl made a bed of soft pine branches under the trees and Third Daughter brought her fresh fish to eat.
A few days later she said to Sea Girl, “My father has left his palace. Now is the time to search for the key, but I don’t know how you will slip past the eagle.”
“We will sing to him,” said Sea Girl.
The two girls lightly and quietly moved closer to where the eagle perched high on the rock cliff. Third Daughter pointed out the entrance to the cave below. Tall ferns and reeds hid the girls from sight, and they began to sing. Each took turns singing the loveliest and most enchanting songs they knew.
At first the eagle just peered around curiously. Then, drawn by the strange haunting sounds, he flew down from the cliff in search of the source. Third Daughter crept quietly farther and farther away, and the eagle followed the enchanting sound of her voice.
Sea Girl slipped into the treasure cave to search for the Golden Key. At first her eyes were dazzled, for the room was filled on all sides with gold, silver, and sparkling jewels. But Sea Girl did not touch the treasure. She searched only for the Golden Key.
Just as she was about to give up in despair, she saw a small, plain wooden box sitting on a shelf in the corner. Quickly she opened it and peered in. There lay the gleaming Golden Key!
Sea Girl took the key and returned to where Third Daughter waited. When the delicate soaring melody of song ceased, the eagle shook himself, spread his wings, and sailed back to his cliff.
Sea Girl and Third Daughter hastened back to the stone gate. The Golden Key fitted perfectly into the keyhole, and the gate swung open. At once the water rushed out in a leaping cascade, down the mountainside to the village. In a very short time, all the canals and ditches of the farms were full and overflowing with water.
Third Daughter saw that the village would soon be flooded and she called out, “Sea Girl, Sea Girl, there is too much water. The crops will be washed away and lost!”
Sea Girl quickly threw in the piles of bamboo she had left earlier at the stone gate. But that slowed the water only a little. Then the two girls rolled boulders and large rocks into the stream until the water slowed down to a small, bubbling brook. Now they knew the village would always have a steady supply of water.
When the Dragon King returned and found the Golden Key was gone, he was very angry. He banished Third Daughter from the palace. But Third Daughter went to live very happily with Sea Girl, and they sang their songs together as they worked.
So beautiful were their songs that each year ever after, on the twenty-second day of the seventh moon, all the women of the surrounding villages came together to sing songs and celebrate the heroic deed of Sea Girl.
This version was adapted by the editor from a tale in Folktales of China (1965), edited by WOLFRAM EBERHARD. The story comes from a minority group living in southwest China, the Yi tribes of Yunnan. However, the Dragon King is frequently found in Chinese tales, and the importance given to folk singing is typical of many groups in southern and western China.
ABOUT THE EDITOR and ILLUSTRATOR
ETHEL JOHNSTON PHELPS (1914–1984) held a master’s degree in medieval literature; she was coeditor of a Ricardian journal and published articles on fifteenth-century subjects. Originally from Long Island, her activities included acting, writing, and directing in radio drama and community theater. Three of her one-act plays have been produced.
SUKI BOYNTON is the senior graphic designer at the Feminist Press. She is a graduate of Connecticut College with a BA in art history and has a degree in graphic design from the Art Institute of Charleston, South Carolina. She currently lives in Queens.
ALSO BY FEMINIST PRESS
TATTERHOOD
Edited by Ethel Johnston Phelps
With Illustrations by Suki Boynton
Introduction by Gayle Forman
Preface by Ethel Johnston Phelps
With tales from Japan, Norway, Scotland, and Sudan, Tatterhood brings readers twelve folk tales—and twelve women whose cunning, hard work, and physical strength are at the center of the story. Three women teach a strong man how to wrestle, a girl battles a bear, and a young woman rescues a village from an elephant’s stomach.
KAMALA
Edited by Ethel Johnston Phelps
With Illustrations by Suki Boynton
Introduction by Kate Schatz
Preface by Ethel Johnston Phelps
Whether they’re dismissing princes or saving them, each of these diverse heroines remains the center of her own legend.
In this second volume of reissued classic folktales, a Punjabi woman outwits seven ruthless thieves, an Incan girl restores harmony to the empire, and a mischievous Norwegian lass thwarts her entitled landowner. Spanning several centuries and continents, the stories in Kamala recall how it’s the dazzling courage, cleverness, and power of women that hold our world together.
SEA GIRL
Edited by Ethel Johnston Phelps
With Illustrations by Suki Boynton
Introduction by Daniel José Older
Preface by Ethel Johnston Phelps
In legends from China, Canada, and more, women of all ages prove they’re more than capable of saving the day.
The feminist folktales collected in Sea Girl upend any notion that women are doomed to be sentimental, meek, or submissive. In these classic tales, heroines unflinchingly wade monstrous rivers, escape ogres’ nests, and outsmart desperate sharks and hungry tigers. And while defending their families and villages, they always determine their own fate.
ETHEL JOHNSTON PHELPS (1914–1984) held a master’s degree in medieval literature; she was co-editor of a Ricardian journal and published articles on fifteenth-century subjects. Originally from Long Island, her activities included acting, writing, and directing in radio drama and community theater. Three of her one-act plays have been produced.
ABOUT FEMINIST PRESS
The Feminist Press is a nonprofit educational organization founded to amplify feminist voices. FP publishes classic and new writing from around the world, creates cutting-edge programs, and elevates silenced and marginalized voices in order to support personal transformation and social justice for all people.
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