Once upon a time, there was a king, and a queen in China. They had a daughter. One day, when the little princess was playing in the royal garden, a thunderstorm came and took her away.
A nine – headed bird
After days, the princes opened her eyes. She was in a cave and there 
was was a nine-headed bird in it. She remembered that the bird figured in her grandmother’s stories.
An annoucement
The king didn’t know where his daughter had disappeared to. He sent a messenger across the country with an announce-ment. It said, that whoever finds the place where the princess was, will become her husband one day. The handsome youth in in the country hurried to search for the princess.
The cave where the princess was hidden was in the middle of a huge rock. No one could climb up to the peak or slide down along its walls.
Two young men
There were two brave young men from two corners of the country, who heard the king’s message and started on their journey to look for the princess. They also had heard about the nine-headed bird and the cave in their grandmothers’ stories.
The two young men reached the rock cave and knowing that the task was a difficult one, started walking around the cave. They met each other and became friends.
Together, they climbed the rock and one young man lowered the other into the cave with the help of a creeper.
A wound
This youth saw that the princess was washing a wound in the nine-headed bird’s neck. The wound was the place where the tenth head had been bitten off by a hound in heaven. It was bleeding. The princess saw the youth and signed for him to hide behind the feather pillow on the floor. She finished bandaging the wound and soothed the neck of the bird. All the nine heads fell asleep one-by-one.
A plan
The youth came out of hiding, cut the nine heads with his sword and explained his plan. “Princess, you should climb first, and take me out with the help of my friend” the youth said firmly. The princess took her hairpin and broke it into two. She also took her scarf and tore it into two. She gave one half to the youth and kept the other half with her. As the intelligent princess had suspected, the friend who was waiting at the top of the rock meant to leave the brave hero in the cave. This youth made the princess leave with him.
A dragon
The youth in the cave was pleading for a while but the friend had vanished with the princess. He felt hungry. and started searching for food. He saw a dragon who was licking a stone. He also tried it.
Magically, the hunger was over. The dragon winked his eye and signed to the youth to sit on his tail. The tail was tied to a hook by the nine-headed bird. The youth released the knot. The dragon was happy and flew out of the cave with the hero. Once outside, they bid farewell to each other.
Pearls
The hero started walking through the thick jungle. He came to a pond and saw an inverted tortoise shell full of pearls. He remembered his grandmother’s stories once again and filled his pockets with pearls. He reached an ocean. He threw a pearl into the sea. Suddenly water started dividing into two. The hero could walk through the sea.
A sea cave
There was a sea cave. He heard someone crying. He saw that it was a baby dragon tied to a rock and he realised that it was the son of the dragon who had helped him. He threw another pearl towards the clouds.
A wish
Then he made a wish. He opened his eyes and saw the old dragon there. The old dragon was so happy to see his son after the nine- headed bird took him away in a thunderstorm.
The father dragon offered the hero a jewel. He did not accept. He begged for help to go to the king’s palace before it was too late. The dragon kept the hero and the baby dragon on his back. They flew over mountains, seas, jungles, and villages and reached the king’s palace.
The other youth who left the friend in the cave could reach the palace with the princess only one day before his friend, the real hero.
The king was very happy to see his daughter and ordered the marriage between the princess and the youth to be arranged for the following day. The princess cried and tried to explain to the king that she wanted to wait for the real hero, but the king did not listen to her.
The marriage
Suddenly, the sun was covered by the father-dragon’s wings and the princess realised that it was a sign of the grand arrival of the real hero. The father dragon helped the hero to land a moment before the couple exchanged rings. The princess took the broken half of the hair pin and the torn half of the scarf, and the real hero showed the matching halves.
The King realised who the right hero was . He blessed the couple and they got married. The king sent the youth who cheated the princess to jail.
The real hero gifted the magic pearls to the princess as the wedding gift.