Once upon a time, there was a young man called Ma Liang (马良). He was poor and kind and helped a rich man to herd the cattle. He liked drawing and drew pictures everywhere.

One night, he dreamed that an old man gave him a magic paintbrush and asked him to use it to draw for the poor. When he woke up, he found the magic paintbrush in his desk. He took the paintbrush to draw a cock on the wall, the cock was then alive. It jumped down from the wall.

From that day on, he used the paintbrush whenever people needed help. When he saw that people had no water to use in the fields, he drew a river and the river came to life. People could bring water from the river to the field and save a lot of time and energy.

He draw farm cattle for a farmer. And it could plough for the farmer. So when he saw the peoples' troubles, he would use his magic paintbrush to help. Then many people knew about the magic paintbrush.

But a few days later, the officer heard that the magic paintbrush could turn everything to life. The officer told it to the emperor. The emperor sent some soldiers to Ma Liang's home and got the paintbrush. Ma Liang was then sent to the prison.

The emperor was avaricious to get money, so he used the paintbrush to draw golden mountains. Unluckily, these golden mountains turned into stones at last. He had to ask Ma Liang how to get the gold.

When Ma Liang came, the emperor said to him, "If you draw some pictures for me and turn them to life, I will set you free." Of course he did not want to help him. He said to the emperor, "I can help you, but you should obey your words."

The emperor felt very happy and said, "I want a golden mountain. I will go there to gather gold." The young man drew a sea first. The emperor was angry and said," Why did you draw a sea? I do not want this. I want a golden mountain. Draw it quickly."

Then Ma Liang drew a golden mountain which was far away from the sea. The emperor saw that and felt very happy. He said, "Draw a big ship quickly. I want to go there to gather gold." Ma Liang smiled quietly and drew a big ship.

The emperor jumped into the ship first and a lot of his family and friends followed. When the ship sailed to the middle of the sea, the young man drew a large wave and it destroyed the ship. So all the members on the ship died.

After that, Ma Liang lived with his family happily and kept on helping the poor. So the magic paintbrush was known by everyone.