In ancient times, there was a young farmer named Xie Duan who was known for his diligence. One day, I stumbled upon a giant field snail in the field and carefully took it home, placing it in a water tank and taking good care of it every day. The next morning, after changing the water tank with clean water, Xie Duan locked the door and went to work in the fields. After a whole day of hard work, he returned home exhausted, only to be pleasantly surprised to find hot and steaming food prepared on the table. At first, he thought it was a gesture of goodwill from his neighbor’s aunt, but after several days of doing so, he was puzzled and decided to go to her maternal home to express his gratitude.
After hearing this, the old lady denied the matter with a smile on her face, and half jokingly said that perhaps Xie Duan himself had married at some point and was hiding at home to take care of the household chores. After listening, Xie Duan was even more confused and decided to uncover the truth.
The next day, as dawn began to break in the sky, Xie Duan carried a hoe and left early. Before noon, he hurriedly returned home and quietly approached the window to peek. I saw a graceful and graceful girl slowly walk out of the water tank, lightly approaching the stove and starting to cook. Upon seeing this, Xie Duan hurriedly entered the house to inspect the water tank, only to find that the snail had turned into an empty shell. He held an empty shell in his hand, full of surprise, and then walked towards the stove to ask the busy girl about the origin and reason.
The girl was shocked by the sudden discovery and was at a loss, but under Xie Duan’s repeated questioning, she finally revealed the truth. Originally, she was the goddess of water in the sky. Because the Heavenly Emperor had mercy on Xie Duan’s loneliness, hard work, and duty, he specially ordered her to come down to earth to help. The goddess of water continued, “I should have continued to fulfill my mission, but because you discovered the secrets of heaven, I had to return to the heavenly court.” Xie Duan felt remorseful after hearing this. Before leaving, the goddess of water gave the snail shell to Xie Duan, which can make rice never dry up and vegetables grow endlessly.
A few years later, Xie Duan worked hard and finally obtained the imperial examination for high school, becoming the magistrate of a county. In order to express gratitude for the kindness of the Goddess of Water, he specially ordered people to build a statue, and every festival, he would personally go to worship. This custom gradually spread and formed today’s Su Nv Temple.
