Once upon a time, in a small village surrounded by old pine trees, there lived a little girl named Xiao Luo. She loved to sit on the big millstone at the village entrance, staring into the misty forest in the distance—everyone said terrible monsters hid in those woods, but Xiao Luo thought there might be some very special friends living there instead.
One evening, Xiao Luo was carrying a clay pot to fetch water from the stream when she suddenly heard soft sighs coming from the forest. She summoned up her courage and walked in, pushing aside waist-high wild wormwood, only to see a huge beast she had never seen before: it had the body of a lion and the horns of a goat, with snow-white fur as fine as salt, and a bright, shimmering character "Wang" (meaning "king") on its forehead.
"Oh my!" Xiao Luo was so startled she nearly dropped her pot, but the beast spoke in a gentle voice: "Don't be afraid, little girl. I'm Baize—I'm not a man-eating monster at all!"
Baize's voice was as warm and comforting as the gurgle of tea boiling on an old grandmother's stove. Xiao Luo slowly calmed down, squatted down, and asked: "Then why are you sighing?"
"Alas—" Baize drooped its ears, "I know the names and secrets of all things in the world, and I help people avoid disasters. But lately, the 'Confusion Mist' in the forest has grown thicker and thicker, clouding my eyes! If this goes on, evil energy from the mist will plague the whole village."
Xiao Luo thought of the strange things happening in the village lately: chickens had stopped laying eggs, well water tasted bitter, and even the wisest old village chief had grown dull and drowsy. She hurried to ask: "What can we do to drive away the Confusion Mist?"
Baize wagged its tail: "To disperse it, we need three things—honey from marigolds on the hillside, clear spring water beneath the old millstone, and a pure heart willing to help others."
Xiao Luo nodded at once: "I have a pure heart! Let me find the other two things!"
Early the next morning, Xiao Luo set off for the hills with a bamboo basket. The marigolds grew on steep cliff edges—her hands were scratched and bleeding by thorns, but she carefully picked the flowers and squeezed out their golden honey. Then she ran back to the village entrance, knelt down, and dug through the dirt under the millstone until she found the bubbling spring water.
When she returned to the forest with the two items, Baize was using its horns to hold back the surging white mist. Xiao Luo poured the honey and spring water into the clay pot, then pressed her palm against the opening—and something magical happened! A bright, sparkling light rose from the pot, shining like a little sun and clearing away the Confusion Mist completely.
After the mist dissipated, Baize smiled and told everyone: "This mist was sent by the old tree spirit in the forest. It was upset because people kept cutting branches for firewood, so it made the mist to teach us a lesson. Now the evil energy is gone—if we take good care of the woods from now on, the tree spirit will even give us sweet fruits!"
The village was lively again in no time. Chickens started laying red-shelled eggs once more, and the well water was sweet and clear. As for Baize, it did not leave right away—it told stories to the village children every day, teaching them which herbs could heal sickness and which fruits were not safe to eat. When it finally had to leave to help people elsewhere, it gave Xiao Luo a carved jade pendant, saying: "Whenever you need help, call my name to this pendant, and I will come to you!"
Even now, the old folks in that village still point to the mist on the hillside and say: "Look—there's Mr. Baize, busy helping others somewhere far away. As long as we keep kind hearts, we will never lose our way!"