During the Qing Dynasty, Du Tian-shui brought an exploration team from Fujian to Puli. As the flat land had already been claimed and developed, they decided to look for a suitable place in the mountains. Finally, they found a plot of fertile land on the upper reaches of the Wu River that was suitable for settling down and cultivating.

One day, as everyone was busy planting the fields, a volley of arrows was fired at them. Everyone fled and hid in their homes. Soon, a group of aboriginals had them surrounded, and their leader said,“The land here belongs to us. You cannot grow crops here, or I shall kill every single one of you.”Everyone felt terrified. But Aunt Tian-shui brought out a blue cloth bag. She offered it to the chief and said,“We only want to grow crops here. I have some silver, cloth and matchsticks. Could we trade these for your land?” The leader said, “No, this is too little.”Aunt Tian-shui said,“We can bring you more in exchange for your land. Is that okay?”The chief was afraid that the outsiders would go back on their word, so he said,“You will stay behind as hostage. Bring us the goods by August 15th.”So, Du Tian-shui quickly took his people home to gather the required goods.

On the night of August 14th, the leader grew angry as he did not see Du Tian-shui return with the goods. So, he had Aunt Tian-shui executed at dawn on the 15th. At noon, Du Tian-shui and his people arrived with the goods. When they saw Aunt Tian-shui’s corpse, they were so angry that they wanted to stab the chief with their knives. But Du Tian-shui stopped them from doing so and said sadly, “Aunt Tian-shui would have wanted us to co-exist peacefully with the natives. Let’s not settle this with war and bloodshed. Let us not sacrifice more lives in vain.”The chief realized he had been too hasty in assuming that Du Tian-shui would not return. He regretted killing innocent Aunt Tian-shui, so he told Du Tian-shui,“I have wronged all of you. To atone for my mistake, I will allow you and your people to use the land here. Let us coexist in harmony and build this place together.”Du Tian-shui’s people and the aboriginals soon became close friends, and they developed Puli into a beautiful agricultural village. A shrine was built to commemorate Aunt Tian-shui, and every Mid-autumn Festival people would bring mooncakes to thank Aunt Tian-shui for her contribution to the people.

　　 清朝時，杜天水帶領拓荒隊伍從福建來到埔里，由於平地都被開墾完了，他們就往山裡尋找，最後在烏溪上游發現一片適合居住與開墾的肥沃土地。
　　有一天，大家正忙著種田時，突然射來數十枝的弓箭，所有人趕緊往家裡逃，這時一群原住民把他們圍住，其中的首領說：「這裡的土地是我們的，你們不可以在這裡種田，否則把你們統統殺光。」大家嚇死了，這時，天水嬸拿著藍布袋對首領說：「我們只想在這裡種田，我這兒有些銀子、布料和火柴盒，跟你們交換田地？」首領說：「不行，太少了。」天水嬸說：「那我們再多拿一些東西來交換，好嗎？」首領怕他們反悔，就說：「你留下來當人質，八月十五日是最後期限。」杜天水趕緊帶人回家鄉準備。
　　到了八月十四日晚上，杜天水還沒出現，首領越等越生氣，十五日天一亮，就下令將天水嬸處死。中午時杜天水一群人挑著貨物到了，大家一看到天水嬸的屍體，氣得拿刀要去砍首領，這時杜天水擋住人群，忍住悲傷說：「天水嬸希望大家能和平共處，不要用武力解決，千萬不要白白犧牲生命。」首領知道是自己太衝動，誤殺好人，就對杜天水說：「我誤會你們了，為了補償我的過錯，以後你們可以在這裡耕種，讓我們和平相處，共同來開發這裡。」後來他們就變成好朋友，一起把埔里開發成美好的農村，同時也蓋了義女祠，每到中秋節，居民就會帶著月餅祭拜義女－天水嬸，來感謝她的貢獻。