Far, far away in a mountain country ran a swift, rushing river. In it lived a school of carp — and the smallest one was golden. One day the old carp said, “At the head of the river stands the Dragon Gate. Any fish that can leap over that waterfall becomes a dragon!” The little carp's heart went thump-thump. “Come on — let's at least go see it!”
Seven days they swam, and reached the head of the river. Oh my! What a giant waterfall! A whole mountain of white water came crashing down from the sky — boom-boom, it thundered in their ears, and spray flew about like mist. The old carp whispered, “Up there is the gate. No one has ever crossed it.”
The leaping began! Splash! Splash! One went up — and fell back. Another went up — and fell back. By day's end everyone was panting. “It's impossible! Come, brother, let's go home.” The little carp lifted her head above the water and said, “You go. I'll leap once more.”
Her friends drifted away downstream, and the carp stayed on alone. She leapt — ten times… twenty times… a hundred times! Her scales got scraped, her fins throbbed and ached. Tell me — would YOU have stopped? Yet every time she fell back into the water, she said just one thing: “Once more. Once more.”
Night fell. In the black pool below the falls, a broken moon trembled. Tears rose in the tired carp's eyes — can I really do it? And just then she saw it: the falling water shattered the moon's reflection a thousand times, and a thousand times it joined back whole. The moon never gives up! The carp whispered, “Then neither will I.”
The moment dawn's first light touched the water, the carp dove down deep. Then, pushing off with her tail — whooosh! Up the wall of white water she climbed… and climbed… The falls slapped at her, shoved her down — still she rose! Leaving the thunder below, bursting through the mist, the little carp crossed the Dragon Gate!
And right then — a blaze of gold! The sky filled with golden light. The little carp's body grew long, her scales turned to gold — and she flew, coiling through the clouds. A dragon! Over her friends — who had come back — she showered one sweet burst of rain, and called down, “Fall a hundred times, brothers — still, leap once more!”