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Tears of the Water Faerie

The origins of precious minerals such as jade, agate or pearl have different versions in Chinese lore. It was said that pearls were tears of the water faeries that lived in the ocean beyond the South China Sea. They were able to breathe in the water like fish and could weave a kind of silk which was as thin as human hair. When they cried their tears would turn into beautiful pearls.

The shape of the pearls accords with the waxing and waning of the moon. Li Shangyin, poet of the Tang Dynasty, wrote this tale into his poem Jin Se. In some foreign myths pearls are dewdrops or rain drops into shells when they ascend to the surface of the sea.