Once upon a time, the phoenix had to fly to the sun’s home every morning, to wake the sun up. The phoenix had magnificent plumage, a melodious voice, and strong wings. Everyone who saw it was captivated by its beauty. Every day, the phoenix loved to admire its beautiful reflection by the lake. It sighed and said, “It feels wrong to be this pretty! How can there be feathers as lovely as mine in this world? Oh~ how can I look so beautiful!”

One day, the phoenix was so busy arranging its feathers that it forgot to wake the sun, causing the sun to oversleep. As the earth was still dark, the god of heaven felt puzzled, and thought to himself, “Why is it still so dark when it is time for the sun to be out?” When he found out what had happened, he became very angry and told the phoenix, “You were so busy admiring your beautiful feathers, that you forgot to do your important job. This is unforgivable. As punishment, I will take away your beautiful feathers, melodious voice, and your ability to fly. From now on, you will only be able to walk on the ground.”

With this, the god of heaven pointed his finger at the phoenix, and the phoenix lost its colorful feathers, melodious voice, and  became flightless. Additionally, to help the phoenix to understand how tough life is on the ground, the god of heaven sent the phoenix to live on earth. From then on, to make sure the sun did not oversleep again, the phoenix had to crow each morning: “Sun! It is time to wake up! Wake up! Wake up!”  People called the bird that crowed each morning “rooster”.

很久以前，鳳凰每天早上都要負責飛到太陽的家，叫太陽起床。鳳凰擁有美麗的羽毛、好聽的聲音、強健的翅膀，每一個看過鳳凰的人，都會被牠所吸引。牠每天都要對著湖水欣賞自己美麗的羽毛，並感嘆著說：「唉～太美麗也是一種過錯啊～這個世界上，怎麼會有我這麼漂亮的羽毛呢？啊～我怎麼可以長得這麼美呢？」。

有一天，鳳凰因為過於專心在整理自己的羽毛，忘記去叫太陽起床，害太陽睡過了頭。大地上沒有了陽光，讓天神覺得非常奇怪，心想：「為什麼時間到了，天卻還沒有亮呢？」當他知道事情的經過後，就非常的生氣，他告訴鳳凰：「你因為沉溺在欣賞自己美麗的羽毛，而忘記重要的工作，真是不可原諒。為了處罰你，我決定讓你失去美麗的羽毛和好聽的聲音，還要拿走你飛翔的能力，讓你從此以後只能用兩條腿在地上走。」

說完，天神輕輕一指，美麗的鳳凰不再擁有五彩的羽毛，也失去好聽的聲音，更沒辦法再飛行了。此外，天神為了讓鳳凰體會地上生物生活的辛苦，所以將鳳凰打落凡間。從此以後，為了怕太陽又睡過頭，鳳凰每天早上都會大叫：「太陽起床啦！快起床！快起床！」人們便稱這種每天早上大叫的鳥為「公雞」。