A third time the little spirit asked, and upon receiving yet again no answer, she decided to go to this world herself to see what she might do. She put on her magic necklace, which gave her the power to go wherever she wanted, and flew down to earth. It was dark and cold and without any form of life.

The Great God of Heaven was angry with her for going to the world without permission, and he cursed her, decreeing that the little spirit would never be allowed back into the heavens.

The little spirit was all the more determined to make a wonderful place out of the cold, dark earth. She noticed that wherever she flashed her eyes upon the rocks, there was some light, and whenever she cast her view upward, there was some light on the ground. She also saw that the pearl necklace around her neck flashed with light. She thought, “If I can use these to help light the earth, I wouldn’t be sorry that I cannot go back to heaven.” So she tore out her right eye and threw it up into the sky. The eye became the sun, and the earth was light and warm.

But the spirit also saw that the sun went down over the Western Mountains after a while, and the earth was cold and dark again. So the little spirit threw her left eye into the sky, and it became the moon. It cast some light on the earth, but not enough, she thought, and so she threw her magic pearl necklace up into the sky, spangling the sky with the stars, but leaving her forever on the earth with no means to return to the heavens. With these lights the earth became a bright, warm place, and soon life came and grew. The little spirit now had no energy left, and she had thrown away her only magic tool, her necklace. There was nothing left to her but to stay where she was. She soon died and remained frozen to the spot.

The compassionate spirit is found on the mountain today, in an attitude of prayer. She faces eastward, toward the life-giving morning light, with her hands together. And there is life on the earth.

The Manchu language is nearly gone, but the Manchu have traditional tales about their language and the languages of the Chinese. One story describes the origin of linguistic variation, taking as its background the Long White Mountains.