The Cattle Becoming a Village God

Tingming Brook of Cangshan Mountain has kept running for years.Every rainy season，mountain torrents roar up and rush out of the valley pass，entraining the debris on the mountain into the torrents and dropping it down at the bottom of the brook and on both sides of the brook on their way，which let the clean water flow into Erhai Lake.With time passing，sandy beaches have been formed on both sides of the brook，and lawns have been formed between the sandy beaches.In some places，there are also many willow trees and bamboos.

At the mouth of Tingming Brook，there was a green sandy beach with a cluster of hollow bamboos growing on it，which was very beautiful.People liked this place and moved to live here one after another.Over time，the area had developed into a large village，which was called Jiapeng Village.

One night of a rainy season，the rain poured down endlessly，which caused a torrent to rush out of the mountain belly.The torrent broke through the bank of Tingming Brook，broke into the fields on both sides of the river，and poured into Jiapeng Village.The torrent caught the people off guard and they only wanted to escape.The whole villagers cried and fled to other places in the rain.

Several days later，it rained less and the flood subsided.People ran around telling each other that the flood had changed its course and was heading north.People went back to find that in the north of the river，there was a new river.Taking a closer look，they found that a big cattle was lying in the bend of the river.One villager said，“When the flood came，we saw this big cattle running into the flood and lying there to block the flood，which diverted the water flow and saved the houses and all of us.”

People were very grateful to this big cattle and regarded it as the Village God.Every year on February 23rd of the lunar calendar，the whole village holds a grand sacrificial ceremony to commemorate the big cattle.At the same time，out of the reverence for the big cattle，the villagers do not breed cattle，let alone slaughter them.