Kuafu Chased the Sun

夸父逐日

The Story is fecofded In Book of Mountains and Seas It is said that in an-tiquity a god named Kuafu de-termined to have a race with the Sun and catch up with Him，so he rushed in the di-rection of the Sun. Finally，he almost ran neck and neck with the Sun，when he was too thirsty and hot to continue. Where could he find some watery¹ Just then the Yellow River and Wei River came into sight，roaring on. He swooped² upon them earnestly and drank the whole river. However, he still felt thirsty and hot，thereupon，he marched northward³ for the lakes in the north of Chi-na.Unfortunately，he fell down and died halfway⁴ because of thirst. With his fall，down dropped his cane⁵. Then the cane be-came a stretch of peach. And so comes the idiom，Kuafu chased the Sun，which becomes the trope of man's determination and volition⁶ against nature.

夸父逐日的故事载于《山海经》。相传远古时代，有一个叫夸父的人欲追赶太阳。他向着太阳的方向狂奔。当他终于要赶上太阳的时候，他又口渴难忍，不得不停下来。这时夸父一眼看见了黄河和渭河，于是急忙将河水饮起。但饮尽了黄河、渭水的水，仍不解渴。于是，夸父又要到北方的一个大湖里饮水。结果还没走到，便渴死了。他临死时丢弃的木杖，变成了一片一桃树林。“夸父逐日”的成语便由此而来，用以表示人们征服自然的意志与决心。