In the spring of the year 960, on the twenty-third day of the third month, a brilliant light shone in the northwest, and a baby girl was born to a fisherman’s family in Fujian Province.
The girl was such a quiet, watchful child, her parents called her Mo Niang, the Silent One.
As she grew older, Mo Niang played on the beach with her brothers, who taught her to swim. Even before she learned to talk, Mo Niang could swim like a sleek, swift fish.
When her brothers went fishing with their father, Mo Niang stayed on shore alone. She was too young to go fishing. Silently, she waved goodbye as they sailed off in their little boat.
One morning, when Mo Niang was six years old, she raised her…
