Myths A myth is a traditional ancient story

Myths A myth is a traditional, ancient story that is fictional. Myths were often written to explain unusual or remarkable things within nature and quite often involved gods and fantasy creatures. The Ancient Chinese told myths to explain phenomena they had no explanation or understanding of e. g. how rivers are formed.

The greatest creature in Chinese mythology is the legendary dragon. The dragon is a long snake-like creature with four legs each and long and dangerous claws. Some dragons are drawn with small wings, but they all have the magical power to fly. Dragons were thought to have power over water and the weather. They can control storms, tornadoes, the ocean, and floods. The dragon was the symbol of the emperor. His throne was even called the Dragon Throne. It is said that the Yellow Emperor turned into a dragon and flew to heaven when he died.

The Tale of the Four Dragons

Once upon a time, there were no rivers and lakes on earth, but only the Eastern Sea, in which lived four dragons: the Long Dragon, the Yellow Dragon, the Black Dragon and the Pearl Dragon. One day the four dragons flew from the sea into the sky. They soared and dived, playing at hide-andseek in the clouds…. .

For the rest of the story watch the clips and listen carefully…. https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=01 UQ 0 IWx. C 6 E https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=FNZ P 3 E 7 Ye 4 c- A different version of the same story.

China's four great rivers are named after the Four Dragons - In the far north, the Huanghe (Yellow River). The Heilongjian (Black Dragon) in central China. The Yangtze (Changjiang, or Long River) farther south. The Zhujiang (Pearl) in the very far south

Your task…. • We would like you to retell the Tale of the Four Dragons in your own words. Watch the clips as many times as you need to and have a go at writing out the story in your own words. You could draw pictures to help tell your story. • Use the next few slides to help remind you of the main characters and setting. We have also shared a plot to remind you of the key points of the story but in your own writing we would like a lot more description and detail. • On the next slide chose a bronze, silver or gold challenge and try and include them in your writing. We would love to see some of your super stories !

Chose your challenge and try and include these in your writing… • Bronze Challenge- Try and use powerful adjectives e. g. deafening cry, tranquil sea. • Silver Challenge- Powerful adjectives, different sentence openers and adverbs of time e. g. after a while, eventually. • Gold Challenge- Powerful adjectives, different sentence openers, adverbs of time and inverted commas for speech.

Main Characters The Emperor The Black Dragon The Long Dragon The Yellow Dragon The Pearl Dragon

Setting Use the picture to help you think of some exciting descriptions of where the myth was set. The Eastern Sea- China

Plot The four dragons see the people on earth begging for water. The dragons visit the Jade Emperor and ask him to send rain down to Earth. He says he will but he does not. The Dragons decide to scoop up water from the ocean and spray it on earth, The dragons do this and are then punished by the Emperor.

If you enjoyed the Myth and would like to hear another one below is a link to two Myths about how the first people in China were created and how humans first got fire. https: //www. bbc. co. uk/bitesize/clips/zc 86 j 6 f https: //www. bbc. co. uk/bitesize/clips/zyscycw