How did Human Come About in China

The reading materials in this third-grade book cover a lot of Chinese legends. Here is one about Nv Wa, who was the creator of human being. It tied in nicely with the a previous one about Pang Gu, who had created the world.

My daughter's translation:

Nü Wā Makes People

It is said that the sky and ground were separated by Pán Gǔ. The big mountains and rivers, forests and flowers, wind, clouds, rain, and snow on the world were also made by Pán Gǔ. But, there were no people at that time. Then, how did people appear?

Well, the people were made by the goddess Nü Wā who mended the sky. Nü Wā heard that Pán Gǔ separated the sky from the ground, and she wanted to look at the world herself. She came to the world, saw the world was very good, and liked it a lot. But, she looked and looked, and it seemed to her that it was missing something. She thought, let me help the world, and let the world become even better.

Nü Wā picked up a piece of yellow dirt from the ground, kneaded it with her hands, and made a little person. She carefully made a nose, eyes, and a mouth for the little person. After that, she placed the little person on the ground, and patted his shoulder. The little person hopped, jumped, and started to play. Just like that, Nü Wā made more of the people non-stop. One by one, the little people ran and yelled by Nü Wā’s feet. The world quickly became very noisy. Suddenly, Nü Wā thought, “If I make people one by one, it will be too slow. What method will make it faster?” She found a rope, dipped it into the yellow dirt, and swung it powerfully. As soon as the dirt dropped on the ground, the dirt became people. Nü Wā swung and swung, and made tons of little people. The little people slowly became big people, and the big people had a lot of kids. So, the world had more and more people.

The Chinese original:

女娲造人

传说天地是盘古打开的，世界上的高山大河、树木花草、风云雨雪也都是盘古变出来的。可是，那时候没有人。那么，人是怎么变出来的呢？

原来，人是补天的女神女娲造出来的。女娲听说盘古打开了天和地，就想亲眼看看这个世界。她来到世界上，看见世界是这么美好，心里非常喜欢。可是，她看来看去，好像总是觉得这世界上少了些什么。她想，让我来帮助这个世界，让它变得更加美好吧。

女娲从地上拿起一块黄土，用手一捏，就捏成了一个小人。她小心地捏出了小人的鼻子、眼睛、和嘴巴，然后再把小人放到地上，拍拍他的肩膀，小人就蹦蹦跳跳地玩起来了。就这样，女娲不停地捏泥人，一个又一个的小人在女娲脚边又跑又叫，世界一下子热闹起来了。忽然，女娲心想：“我这样一个一个地捏，实在太慢了，用什么办法，能让我做得快一些呢？”她找来一条绳子，沾上黄土，用力一甩，甩出去的泥点子一落地，一个一个都变成了小人。女娲甩呀甩呀，她造出了很多很多小人。小人慢慢长成了大人，大人又生了很多孩子。从此，世界上的人就越来越多了。