Sleeping Beauty Rock Introduction
Green Island is an island formed by volcanic activity, with the eastern coast believed by scholars to have been created from an ancient volcanic crater. In addition to volcanic neck remnants, the differing resistance to weathering of the crater walls has also formed a series of geological landscapes in the surrounding area. From the observation point at Xiaochangcheng on Haisanping, there is a geological formation on the coast that resembles a woman sleeping on the shore, known as "Sleeping Beauty Rock." It is often mentioned alongside the nearby "Pug Rock," collectively referred to as "Sleeping Beauty and Pug." Various legends surround Sleeping Beauty and Pug; some say the loyal Pug guards the Sleeping Beauty who is cursed by a witch and cannot awaken, while others suggest that Pug and Sleeping Beauty are a loving couple who, after offending a deity, were cruelly turned to stone to stand guard on Green Island. Another tale suggests that Sleeping Beauty and Pug had a big argument, leading them to ignore each other. A more interesting version claims that Sleeping Beauty was originally a flying fish fairy. One day, while passing by Green Island, she found a stray Pug, transformed into human form, and the two became inseparable. However, while playing by the sea one day, the fairy accidentally turned back into her original form due to a wave, and the Pug bit her. This incident reached the Jade Emperor, who decreed that the flying fish fairy was punished for breaking heavenly rules and thus transformed into the present-day Sleeping Beauty. The Pug, having mistakenly bitten the flying fish fairy, was turned into a Pug to guard beside her, and from then on, dogs no longer liked to eat fish.
