The Myth of People Plowing with the Cow
In ancient times，people used to plow the fields and plant crops on their own strength.They worked very hard.It would be great if the wild animals on the mountains could help them do some work，they often thought.
One day，a hunter went hunting up the mountain.He found that the bharal was very skillful at climbing the rocks and slopes.He said to himself，“With the help of this animal，it might be possible to plow the field faster.”Then he caught the bharal alive instead of shooting it with bows and arrows.He pulled the bharal back to his home，made a wooden plow out of solid chestnut wood，and drove the bharal into the field to work.The plough with the bharal was much faster than using a stick.The hunter was extremely happy to see it.The news spread quickly among the village.Very soon，all the farmers went to catch bharals，and made them plow the fields.In this way，people could cultivate more lands and get more foods than before.So up to now，people in Xishan Mountain still have a folk song to praise plowing the fields with bharals：
Though we are living in different places，
We all plow the field with bharals.
Male bharals plow the field all day long，
Female bharals plow with alternatives.
New plowshares plus old plowshares，
Can make the plough easier.
After a long time，there were more and more people in the world，the number of bharals could not keep up with people's needs in ploughing the land，and the food which people could harvest got insufficient gradually.Knowing this，the Jade Emperor came up with an idea.He called a thrush to the earth and said to the people，“Since you don't have enough food to eat，you'd better eat one time every three days，and eat three bites of meat and one mouthful rice for each time.”The phrase“three bites of meat”said by the Jade Emperor originally meant to hunt the animals on the mountain to eat，and“one mouthful rice”meant to eat grains.But the thrush sent the message wrongly into“you'd better eat three times a day，three bites of rice and a mouthful of meat for each time”.As a result，the food was even less，so people had to pull the bharals to plow their fields even harder，which made the bharals painful and could not bear it any more.
One day，a cow passed by and saw a bharal ploughing the field.Whenever it made a plowshare，its feet knelt on the ground with bleating.Moreover，it jumped up and down with a whip.It was very hard for the bharal to plough.The cow went up to the bharal and said，“It is not so difficult to plow the land.Ican plow much faster than you.The land each time you plowed is not as big as my footprint.”After hearing it，the bharal said to the cow，“It would be great that you plow the field for me.”The cow was so pitiful to the bharal that it set up the plough and plowed the field briskly.From then on，the cow has been used to plow the land，and the plowed lands have been enough for people to grow crops and grain.