Yǔ the Great (Dàyǔ 大禹) = a legendary emperor
Fángfēng 防风 = a minor god with a poor sense of time
His terrified followers
When Yǔ the Great (Dàyǔ 大禹), the first monarch of the fabled Xià 夏 dynasty (reign 02a-1), was busy controlling the floods that threatened the world, he called a meeting of all the gods, but one dillydallied and arrived late, a certain Fángfēng 防风 (“hurricane lamp”). Fángfēng’s nonchalant carelessness made Yǔ the Great very angry, so he ordered that Fángfēng be beheaded, which was done.
Yǔ the Great thought no more about it.
When at last the floods had been controlled, Yǔ the Great rode a chariot pulled by two dragons to make a tour of inspection over the earth, to see that people were living happily and peacefully now that the floods were gone.
At length he reached the tribe that had been governed by Fángfēng. For some reason they harbored resentment against the controller of the floods, and when they saw him in his dragon-drawn chariot, they shot arrows at him. They did not hit him, and with a clap of thunder Yǔ the Great returned to the heavens.
Killing an emperor can be a glorious thing. Trying unsuccessfully to kill an emperor is something else again. Terrified of the likely gruesome consequences of their assault upon Yǔ the Great, Fángfēng’s people decided it was far better to take their own lives than to die the lingering death that was sure to be in store for them. So each one took a knife and cut a large hole in his chest and died.
Yǔ the Great did indeed return with reinforcements, but seeing the sacrifices made by Fángfēng’s people, he decided they were great heroes, so he had them treated with an elixir of non-dying (bùsǐyào 不死药). The elixir brought them back to life, but it did not repair the huge holes they had cut in their chests. They and their children and their children’s children to this day all have large holes in their chests.
And therefore this land is called Guànxiōng Guó 贯胸国, which means “Land of the Penetrated Chests.” The holes are not without use, by the way. The people are often portrayed by artists showing the habits of odd and distant peoples, and sometimes one of them may be shown with a pole passed through the hole in his chest and a bearer holding each end of the pole so that he can be carried through the streets without the trouble of a sedan chair.