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A long time ago, on a small island in the East China Sea lived a gang of pirates who constantly pillaged the villages along the coast of China. One day the pirates plundered a fishing village and took its provisions and its women and children back to their island. A few days later the pirates went to another fishing village to pillage it. By chance there arose a great tempest. "Please let the pirates' boat not return, " the women and children shouted to heaven. "Let it sink into the sea!" "Please help us to return to our village, " they asked of the gods. The pirates really did fail to return. Every last one went down to feed the fish in the sea. But gradually the provisions on the island became scarce. Everyone started to look around the island for things to eat, birds' eggs, wild fruit, or dead fish that washed up on the beach they collected everything. Among these was a kind of wild herb quite similar to garlic, which was very tasty, with a slightly sweet flavor. It was perfect substitute for rice to fill one's hunger. Even one sick person, who was gaunt to the bone with consumption, began to get better by the day. That year passed, and when the new year came, a group of people gathering herbal medicine came by accident to the island. Everyone was exceedingly happy. "That's odd. This barren island cannot be farmed. What did you eat to live until today?" "We all went gathering this kind of wild herb to eat in place of rice. " "Oh. This is a kind of medicinal plant. " The people who gathered herbs guided the women and children back to their fishing village. They also brought back the wild herb that was similar to garlic, cultivating it and giving it a try. It stopped coughing and calmed the nerves with great effectiveness. Since this kind of plant had no name. Because the people who were rescued from the island numbered about 100, the Chinese name for the lily became bai-he, meaning "one hundred together." |
