It is said that Heqing Dam used to be a boundless¹ sea where inhabited ninety-nine dragons lead by an alpha dragon named Tadpole², who stirred up trouble and unrest, leaving no peace to the nearby villagers. Since the founding of Nanzhao (an ancient Chinese country), Heqing invited a dignified³ monk⁴ named ChandraGupta, who led local people to expel the dragons and pave the sea. Thereafter the war among dragons and people went on incessantly⁵ for a decade and a truce⁶ was still not in the picture. So people pray to kwan-yin, the Goddess of Mercy, for a solution, which was to make a hook with bean sprouts⁷ and fiddleheads, a fishing line with potato noodles, and a bait with a steamed rice bun mixed with green barley⁸ and green beans. On the Beginning of Summer day, the alpha dragon was celebrating his birthday with his fellows in the Abyss Pool near Guanpo in Lijiang (a city in Yunnan Province). ChandraGupta lead people there to fish the alpha dragon from the sea. They pulled it southward toward the peak of East Mountain with the hope of sacrificing it to the demon⁹ in Dali (a city in Yunnan Province). However, the dragon struggled violently, with its tail leaving deep winding¹⁰ ditches on the ground, which later became Yang River flowing through Lijiang and Heqing with a fame of having a hundred and eight twists. Dragged to the Peace village, the dragon attempted to escape but in the end surrendered to the villagers who were beating him with sticks and rice buns. Since then, there was a full moon-like river course near the river flowing through Peace village and people named it “a pouch¹¹ bag”. To commemorate¹² the success of the great endeavor of their ancestors, later generations celebrates Fishing Dragon Festival on the Beginning of Summer day by holding public memorial ceremony and riddle-guessing-feasts while eating the Fishing-dragon Rice Bun.

据传，鹤庆坝子原来是个汪洋大海，海里住着以蝌蚪龙为首的99条龙，时常兴风作浪，祸害周围山村的各族群众。南诏建国后，鹤庆从牟迦国来了个叫赞陀掘多的高僧，他带领着鹤庆的群众钓龙蟹海开疆。众人与妖龙大战了十年，成效甚微，后来，在观音菩萨的指点下，人们用豆芽、蕨菜作钓钩，用粉丝当钓线，用青大麦、蚕豆瓣和大米包成的馒头包裹钓钩作钓饵，到了立夏这一天，蝌蚪龙在它的老窝——丽江关坡的无底潭中办寿，赞陀掘多带领众人从潭中钓起蝌蚪龙，拉紧钓线往顺东山顶往南而行，准备把蝌蚪龙拉到大理，送给罗刹吃，妖龙一路挣扎，身尾摆滚之处，出现了一条弯弯曲曲的深沟，这就是今天流经丽江、鹤庆境内有一百又八道弯的漾江。当妖龙被拉到今天的太平村时，他想要逃脱，当地的群众忙用手中的棍棒和身上的馒头，使劲打妖龙，最后迫使妖龙降服，从此，太平村这段河床上留下了一段环如满月的河道，人们称之为荷包套，后人为了纪念钓龙泄海的成功，把立夏定位钓龙节，这天，人们举办活动公祭，吃歌谜宴，品尝钓龙饭。