Once upon a time, when the world was young and Gods ruled, there were ten suns in the sky. They were the young sons of a Goddess. At night, after bathing, nine of them slept on a low branch(树枝) of a tree near the East Sea, and the other on a higher one. When it was daytime, the sun on the higher branch would take a ride across the sky, shining, bringing light and warmth to the world. Human lived happily, so did all the wildlife.
One day, the ten brothers decided to travel across the sky together. How fun it would be! So they all got on the imperial carriage(辇) and played in the sky. What they didn't know was that this was a disaster(灾难) to the world. Forests were on fire, animals lost their homes, crops(庄稼) were all dead, even the wells(井) became empty. What could human do?
A brave young man named Hou Yi was famous for his archery(箭术). The elders begged(请求) Hou Yi to shoot down nine suns and brought back their happy life, so Hou Yi started his journey. He tramped(翻越) ninety-nine mountains, crossed ninety-nine rivers, spent ninety-nine days and finally got near the East Sea. After aiming(瞄准), he drew the bow(拉开弓) and shot an arrow! One sun was down. One by one, Hou Yi shot down nine suns! The suns fell to the ground and could not give out heat anymore. The world got back to normal and Hou Yi was regarded as a hero.
