Pan Gu

I've always rather liked this passage. I first came across it in Sukie Colegrave's The Spirit of the Valley. It gives a little perspective to life.

…Pan Gu (P’an Ku). Born from the original Yin-Yang polarity, this primordial giant grew ten feet each day for eighteen thousand years, pushing the heavens away from the earth. When he died the various parts of his body were transformed into the world. His breath became the wind and the clouds, his voice the thunder and his sweat the rain. His left eye became the sun and his right eye the moon. From his body issued the great mountains. His blood and bodily fluids became the rivers and the seas, and his nervous and venous systems became the layers of the earth. The fields were the transformation of his flesh and the stars and planets developed from the hairs on his head. Metals and stones were the produce of his teeth and bones. His semen became the pearls and his bone marrow turned into jade. The human race developed from the fleas of his body.