What are the flower language and legends of the kalanchoe?
The flower language of the kalanchoe is great fortune and prosperity, longevity, and auspicious blessings. It symbolizes blessings and good luck, making it an ideal potted flower for gifting to relatives, friends, and elders. Besides its blessing-related flower language, the kalanchoe also has a beautiful legend.
Legend has it that long ago, this mountain was a "fairyland" governed by the Jade Emperor. On the mountain, flowers bloomed and grass stayed green all year round, butterflies swarmed everywhere, and patches of kalanchoe bloomed in brilliant red and fragrant beauty. At that time, this mountain was called "Wanxiang Mountain," and at its peak was a "Dragon King Pool." The water in the pool had three colors: the top layer was black water, the middle layer was green water, and the bottom was white water. Legend says that every year on the third day of the third month, after the Queen Mother of the West finished the Peach Banquet, the Jade Emperor would lead the immortals to Wanxiang Mountain to admire the kalanchoe. To prevent the kalanchoe from being stolen, the Jade Emperor ordered the Weaver Girl to weave seven layers of brocade to cover the mountaintop, and dispatched a black dragon to live in the pool and guard the kalanchoe.
The Black Water Dragon King had three daughters. The eldest and second princesses were both married, and only the third princess was still an unmarried maiden. The third princess was fair-featured and elegant, as lovely as the kalanchoe itself. She especially loved to play, spending all day roaming from the front palace to the back palace. As time went on, she grew somewhat tired of playing in the Black Water Palace. One day she heard that the surface of the pool had amusing scenery and that a kind of "kalanchoe" grew there; if eaten, it could grant eternal youth. She kept longing to go up and play. However, the Jade Emperor feared that creatures from the pool would go up to the surface and cause trouble, so he sent Lord Laozi to sprinkle a layer of black water on top, and listed this matter in the heavenly laws. Anyone who violated it would be demoted.
In the Jade Emperor's palace there was a Silver Dragon King, who was the Black Water Dragon King's co-brother-in-law. His second prince was about the same age as the third princess and had a similar temperament. Once, he secretly went to the mortal world and was caught by Lord Laozi, who said he had violated the heavenly laws and reported him. The Jade Emperor was furious and demoted the second prince to the Black Water Pool to undergo three years of hard cultivation. When the second prince arrived at the Black Water Pool, he quickly became familiar with the third princess. How they longed to go up to the water's surface to see the kalanchoe! One day, the second prince came up with a good idea and said to the princess, "I must make the Jade Emperor agree to rescind his decree."
The next morning, as soon as the Black Water Dragon King arrived at the Black Water Palace, he saw shrimp soldiers and crab generals all sprawled crookedly, as if they had lost their souls. When they saw the Black Water Dragon King, they all knelt down and said: "Dragon King, oh no!" When the Black Water Dragon King saw the soldiers and generals in this state, he was startled and quickly asked: "What has happened to you?" The soldiers and generals said: "Because we have gone year after year without even seeing a trace of sunlight, our cultivation has diminished. If we never see sunlight again, our cultivation will be completely gone." The crab crone also said: "Let us go to the surface of the pool..." The Black Water Dragon King was originally unwilling, but on further thought, he feared that if the shrimp soldiers and crab generals really lost all their cultivation, who would be left to protect the kalanchoe? So he reported to the Jade Emperor: "The cultivation of all the soldiers and generals in the Black Water Pool has diminished considerably, making it very difficult to guard the Black Water Pool and the kalanchoe." The Jade Emperor asked: "Why has their cultivation diminished?" The Black Water Dragon King said: "The soldiers and generals in the pool stay underwater all year round and cannot receive the essence of the sun and moon, so their cultivation has diminished. I beseech Your Majesty's heavenly grace to let them see sunlight every day." The Jade Emperor thought this made sense and agreed to let them see one shichen of sunlight on the surface of the pool each day.
When the soldiers and generals in the Black Water Pool heard this, they were overjoyed. The third princess and the second prince were even more delighted, and they played to their hearts' content on the surface of the pool every day. One day, on their way back to the palace, they suddenly heard a howling cry from beside the path. The third princess asked: "What monster is making such a racket here?" "Princess, do not be angry. I am a sable from the mortal world. My mother is ill, and I came to pick kalanchoe, but I was caught and brought into the pool. Because I miss my mother, I cry out every day." When the princess heard that he was an animal from the mortal world, she said: "You must know a lot about the mortal world. Tell me about it." The sable said: "The mortal world is a hundred times better than Wanxiang Mountain. By day there is the sun, by night there is the moon. The land stretches endlessly, and the sky has no edge. There are flowers, grass, trees, and the five grains, everything you could want. Men plow and women weave, passed down through generations, not cold and desolate at all like the Black Water Pool."
The second prince said from the side: "The mortal world is far better than here. That time I went to the mortal world, if I hadn't run into Lord Laozi, I wouldn't have come back at all! It's just that mortals don't live long." The third princess asked again: "Why is that?" The sable said: "Most die of illness." The third princess said to the second prince: "Cousin, we have kalanchoe here. Its roots can cure a hundred diseases, dispel a hundred plagues, and extend life. If only we had a day to descend to the mortal world and bring some to them, how wonderful that would be." The sable jumped for joy: "That's easy. Once you leave the Three Rivers mouth, you're in the mortal world." The third princess said: "You don't know. This pool mouth has three sluice gates, locked with three golden locks. The keys are kept in a treasure chest. Only when my father goes up to heaven on business can we steal the keys, put on the water-patrolling treasure robe, and take the water-patrolling treasure sword to get out of the water!" When the sable heard this, he couldn't help but think of his worries. Tears plopped from his eyes as he said: "Princess, if I cannot pick the kalanchoe, my mother will not recover, and my brothers and sisters at home will all be doomed." The second prince said: "Third sister, we cannot stand by and watch him die. Besides, if we could bring the kalanchoe to the mortal world and help mortals cure their illnesses, how wonderful that would be!"
One day, when the third princess heard that the Black Water Dragon King had gone up to heaven again, she hurriedly ran to the Black Water Rear Palace and said to the Black Water Queen: "Mother, something terrible has happened! The sable has bitten a hole in the treasure chest. If he damages the treasure robe, it will be awful!" When the Black Water Queen heard this, she quickly took out a small gourd from her pocket and chanted: "Gourd open, gourd open, spit out the treasure chest key!" She chanted it three times, and with a golden flash, a key flew out of the gourd. The Queen quickly handed it to the third princess and said: "This is the treasure chest key. Go quickly and take a look. Do not delay!" The princess said "Yes," turned, and ran out.
The third princess took the treasure chest key, opened the chest, took out the water-patrolling treasure robe and the water-patrolling treasure sword, found the second prince and the sable, and together they rushed out. Some fish, turtles, shrimp, and crabs in the pool followed them out through the Three Rivers mouth, and from then on, many fish and shrimp grew in the Three Rivers. When the third princess and the second prince arrived in the mortal world, they quickly took out kalanchoe seeds from their bosoms and scattered them to the wind. In the blink of an eye, bright red kalanchoe bloomed everywhere. The sable said happily: "Princess, you have truly done a good deed."
Extended reading: How to grow kalanchoe, kalanchoe blooming period