神农尝百草

After Fuxi drew the Eight Trigrams, people began to observe the sky, the water, and the mountains carefully.

However, life was still not easy. People had to eat every day. When someone got sick, they did not know what to do.

At that time, people often went into the mountains and fields to find food.

Some fruits were very sweet, and people felt happy after eating them. Some fruits were very bitter, and eating them would cause stomach pain. There were also some grasses that looked ordinary but could make people dizzy.

People did not know which ones could be eaten and which could not.

There was a man named Shennong. He often went into the mountains with people, and often squatted on the ground to look at grasses and trees.

He saw that birds would eat a kind of small grain. After eating, the birds flew to the trees and chirped. So Shennong picked up this small grain and looked at it in his palm.

He also saw that some grasses were passed by cattle and sheep without being eaten. So Shennong remembered these grasses and first did not let people touch them.

Shennong did not just look. He also tasted.

He put a tiny piece of leaf into his mouth and slowly tasted it. Some grasses were very bitter, some were very fragrant. Some caused no effect on his body after eating. Some immediately numbed his mouth as soon as he swallowed.

Every time after tasting, he would write it down.

Which kind could be eaten, and which could not. Which kind would cause discomfort, and which could make the body feel a little better. He meticulously recorded all of them.

One day, a child had a stomachache.

The child's mother was very worried. Shennong remembered that he had tasted a kind of grass. That grass tasted bitter, but after eating it, the stomach would gradually feel better.

He washed the grass clean and boiled it in water. The water turned a light green. The child drank a little, and after a while, his complexion slowly improved.

Only then did people realize that the grasses and trees in the mountains and fields were not just edible. Some of them could also help sick people.

Later, Shennong began to distinguish grains.

He saw some plants that produced small seeds. Birds ate them, and humans could also eat them. So Shennong collected these seeds and brought them to a place where the soil was relatively loose.

He used a piece of wood to turn over the soil, put the seeds in, and then gently covered them with soil.

After it rained, the soil became wet. After some time, new seedlings grew from the ground. The seedlings slowly grew taller and produced more small seeds.

The people were extremely happy.

In this way, people no longer had to just search for food everywhere. They could also put seeds into the soil and wait for them to grow.

Later, Shennong discovered more grains.

Some grew tall, some had small seeds. Some were suitable for boiling, some could be ground into flour. People called these important grains the Five Grains.

Shennong led the people to plant and record simultaneously.

Where the soil was good, where water was plentiful. When to sow, when to harvest. Which plants were edible, which plants could help the body. He had people write all of these down.

Gradually, people had more ways to survive.

They knew that growing grain was more stable than foraging everywhere. When they were sick, they knew they could look for herbal medicine.

These methods were still early and very simple.

But from that time on, people began to observe their own bodies. They also began to use grasses and trees to help the body. Later, these methods were gradually passed down and called traditional Chinese medicine.

Shennong traveled many mountain paths and tasted many plants.

Legend says that one day, he tasted a kind of grass. That grass was highly toxic.

That time, he never returned to the people.

The people were very sad. But they remembered what Shennong had taught them.

The methods left by Shennong were passed down from generation to generation. Later, they became the earliest beginning of traditional Chinese medicine.