The LEGEND

The Legend of the Golden Dragonfly Society…

Some One has been asked many times about the origin of the Golden Dragonfly Society name.    He usually responds with some version of the story that follows although the details seem to vary from telling to telling.  Since Some One has no Chinese ancestors, many have questioned the veracity of this story.  When faced with these questioners Some One usually responds with, “When dealing with the human imagination, anything is possible.”  Judge for yourself.  Here in Some One’s own words is the story he tells.

“Many years ago in a small  Chinese village in the early years of the 20th century there lived a man whom I have always called Elder One.  Elder One was my great uncle.  He was a man of extraordinary mechanical abilities, who in the early 1920’s built his own home-made motorcycle.  He called this motorized two wheeler ‘The Dragonfly’ because of the dragonfly’s ability to quickly flit from place to place.  There was nothing like it in all of China, and most outside his village who heard of The Dragonfly did not believe that it existed.  Elder One was a very independent and spiritual man who followed Tao, so when the Chinese Communists began their attempt to overthrow the government in 1927, Elder One was very disturbed.  He foresaw the eventual outcome of this revolution many years in the future and began making plans to leave his homeland.  Because he loved the people of his village, many of whom were in his extended family, his planed departure quickly became a plan for the entire village.  Many villagers wanted to simply move to a more remote part of China away from the fighting near their province.  But Elder One eventually convinced almost everyone that they must leave all of China behind to avoid oppression in the communist way of life.  As part of the preparation for their journey all the travelers underwent spiritual training in the ways of Tao as taught by Elder One.  This training was necessary because they would be traveling mostly on foot, separately in small family groups, each on their own journey.  Their destination was an area of Eastern India that I have never heard of and to this day do not know the location of.  Because there was no likelihood that my great uncle would be able to obtain fuel for his motorcycle during his travels he could not use it for transportation nor could he possibly push it or carry it on this journey.  His solution to the motorcycle problem also helped him solve another problem:  namely, how to give his fellow villagers spiritual fortitude on their individual journeys.  He disassembled The Dragonfly into its smallest possible components and then packaged only those components unique to the motorcycle into what he called sacred tokens.  Bicycle parts including the wheels and the frame were to be left behind.  Each unique component was wrapped in a heavy weight golden colored cloth and bound up with straps and a metal buckle that Elder One had engraved with the image of a dragonfly.  The strap could not be removed without destroying the buckle and the person given the package was instructed not to open the package under any circumstances.  They were told that these sacred tokens would protect them on their journey by helping them remember and follow the teachings of Tao.  At the end of their journey when they all met up again in India the sacred tokens were to be returned to Elder One signifying the successful completion of their journey.  Elder One carried the largest package himself.  He believed that these sacred tokens would unite the individual travelers in a spiritual community that would transcend space and time.  The remarkable end to this story is that two years after their departure every single family group and every sacred token package had arrived in India safely.  All the packages were given to Elder One and a new home in India was established.  This new community was named Golden Dragonfly and I was told it still exists today……  and Elder One was able to reassemble The Dragonfly……and none of the villagers ever guessed what was in the packages.   After hearing this story from Elder One, it was little surprise that I chose the name Golden Dragonfly Society as the name for my imagined spiritual community.”