There is a story here of a time when the mountain had no water, and the villagers were starving. A kind spirit gave a peasant a magical vessel that multiplied whatever was put into it, and the villagers were saved. When greedy officials came to seize the treasure, the peasant leapt from the summit, and where his body and shards of the vessel fell, freshwater springs appeared.

　　关于这泉水还有个故事：历史上一段时间，崂山地区很久没有降水，村民们马上就要渴死了。善良的神仙给一个农民赠了一只有魔力的器皿，不管放进什么东西，神器都能将它变成两倍。村民们获救了。当贪婪的官吏抢夺这件珍宝时，那个农民从山顶跳下，他的身体和神器碎片坠落的地方涌出了清冽的泉水。

　　By the Qin dynasty and for centuries after that, emperors made pilgrimages here, hoping to meet the beings who controlled the wind and the rain and bore such gifts.

　　在秦朝及其之后的世纪里，皇帝们不断来崂山朝圣，希望能遇到掌握风雨的神灵，并为国家带来风调雨顺的好运。

　　The mountain regularly appeared as a backdrop in stories and songs about unexplained happenings. In the 17th century, the author known in writing circles as the Last of the Immortals, Pu Songling, lived on the Taiqing Palace’s grounds and wrote tales of entanglements with magic on the mountain. In one, a lonely poet befriends two sisters whose lives are tied to the fates of flowers. In another, a Taoist priest grants a boastful disciple the gift of walking through walls — only to take it back at the worst time.

　　崂山经常成为无法解释的故事及歌曲的背景。17世纪，以作品《聊斋志异》著称的作家蒲松龄曾在太清宫一带居住，并撰写了与这座山有关的神鬼故事。其中一个是，一名孤独的诗人与两姐妹交朋友，她俩的命运与花朵密切相关。另一个故事中，一名道士给喜欢吹牛的信徒赋予了一种可以穿墙的异能，后来又在最不合适的时间将它收回。

　　I had spent the days before my hike wandering in the city of Qingdao, which is so close to Laoshan that on a clear morning, Laoshan’s peaks appear like a golden mirage, wavering in the distance. To most in the city, Laoshan is no longer a physical place but a symbol of everything that is not urban. That makes the mountain a very marketable brand. In the old part of town, street vendors along the steps of Huangdao sell fragrant mushrooms and sweet cherries grown in the foothills of Laoshan. In the central business district, waiters in upscale restaurants recommend the tuji — chickens that are free to scratch on the mountainside — at double the price of a regular chicken. In five-star hotels, the bottled water is always Laoshan Mineral Water brand.

　　在徒步之前，我在青岛市区呆了几天。青岛距离崂山非常近，天晴的时候崂山的顶峰像金色的海市蜃楼一样，在远方的天空招摇。对市区的大多数人来说，崂山不只是一个具体的地名，而是指所有与城市无关的一切。这让崂山成为一个极有市场价值的品牌。在青岛的老城区，游商小贩沿着黄岛区的台阶，兜售从崂山脚下采来的香菇和甜樱桃。在中心商务区，高档饭店的服务员向顾客推荐土鸡(可以在山坡上自由刨食的鸡肉)，价格是普通鸡肉的两倍。五星级酒店提供的瓶装水品牌，永远是崂山矿泉水。