Li Tieguai, also known as Li with the iron crutch, is one of the eight immortals of Taoist mythology. Legends goes that Li was born in the Yuan Dynasty (1271－1368) and his original name was Li Yuan.
It was said that when he was young, he was a very handsome man. But why he was later described as an ugly old man walking with the aid of an iron crutch?
There are different versions of how Li came to have a crippled leg. One story goes that after he attained immortality, his soul left his body to travel to Mount Hua. Before he left, he asked one of his pupils to take care of his body and told the pupil to burn his body if he did not return within seven days. However, on the sixth day, the pupil burned the body as he was eager to go home to see his dying mother. On the seventh day, Li’s soul returned but only found his body burned to ashes. Having no body to inhabit, his soul was forced to enter the lame, crippled body of a beggar who had just died. Later, Lao Zi gave him a crutch to help him walk.
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