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    Repairing the Sky, Tales of Myth and Magic from Old China
    Repairing the Sky, Tales of Myth and Magic from Old China
    Repairing the Sky, Tales of Myth and Magic from Old China
    Ebook107 pages1 hour

    Repairing the Sky, Tales of Myth and Magic from Old China

    By Dorothy Trench Bonett

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    A nun kidnaps a young girl and makes her into an unstoppable assassin. A scholar is put on trial by a gecko court. A goddess has to repair the sky and prop up the earth again after a damage caused by a primeval battle—If you love anime, manga or films such as Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, study martial arts, or just have an interest in Asian culture, you will enjoy this group of ancient Chinese tales retold by a prize-winning translator and long time Chinese language professor.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDorothy Trench Bonett
    Release dateFeb 20, 2016
    ISBN9781310621772
    Repairing the Sky, Tales of Myth and Magic from Old China

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      Book preview

      Repairing the Sky, Tales of Myth and Magic from Old China - Dorothy Trench Bonett

      Repairing the Sky

      Tales of Myth and Magic from Old China

      by

      Dorothy Trench Bonett

      Smashwords Edition

      Copyright ©2016

      Dorothy Trench Bonett

      All rights reserved

      I would like to thank my editor, Karen Gillum.

      TABLE OF CONTENTS

      Preface

      MYTHS

      Chang O Flies to the Moon

      Oxboy and the Weaving Maiden

      Repairing the Sky

      MARVELS

      The Gecko Court

      Treasure Under The Sea

      The Treasure Worth Fifteen Cities

      VENGEANCE

      Yin Niang, The Female Assassin

      The Human Tiger

      Cheng Ying Revenges the House of Zhao

      LOVE, ETERNAL AND PREDESTINED

      Red Cord

      The Soul of Qing Niang

      The White Snake

      The Dragon King’s Daughter

      About the Author

      Preface

      Why read ancient Chinese stories and legends?

      Well, they are a window on a fascinating culture. On several cultures, in fact. Do you want to know the stories behind festivals celebrated not just by the Chinese, but by Koreans? Japanese? Vietnamese? Do you want to understand the allusions in classic poetry in these lands? Are you curious about the code of honor you are learning in your Asian martial arts class--or do you have an interest in the more esoteric plots you come across when watching anime or reading manga? Do you love Chinese opera, or enjoy films like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon? Chinese tales and legends are the basis for many of these things. They are not usually just stories for children, although children can enjoy many of them.

      And the stories are interesting in their own right. Sometimes they touch things deep inside of the collective unconscious of all human beings everywhere, no matter what their background: the wish for love, the desire for vengeance, the urge towards material success. But other stories just are interesting, unusual—unique. In what other culture could you find a tale about a man being judged by a court of geckos? About a nun who kidnaps a seven year old girl and makes her into an unstoppable assassin? Or about a goddess forced to make repairs to the sky and prop the earth up again after the destruction made by a primeval battle?

      I have chosen stories from many different sources to make this collection. Some are ancient myths, as old as China; some are more recent legends; some were originally historical and some come from the first Chinese fiction collections, in the Tang dynasty. All have sunk their roots deep in the Chinese psyche and have been retold and rewritten and sung and acted again and again for hundreds of generations, up until modern times. I have retold them for you, in English, while trying to retain some of the more poetic Chinese expressions, and something of the rhythm of Chinese speech. My hope is that I will interest you enough to make you think about continuing to learn about the age old culture of China, through reading the classic poems and novels, as well as other tales.

      MYTHS

      Chang O Flies to the Moon

      Long, long ago, when Yao was ruler of the Middle Kingdom, a great disaster suddenly occurred. Ten suns appeared in the sky and all began to shine at once. The earth became very hot. The grass and trees became dry and caught fire, the rivers and oceans began to boil, and people hid in dark caves and deep caverns in order to live. And still the ten suns continued to shine. It began to seem as if they would shine until everything on earth was dead.

      Now Yao, the ruler of the Middle Kingdom, was a good and wise man. It troubled him to see the green earth becoming a dry and lifeless desert. So he went to the temple, and prayed to the Jade Emperor in Heaven to send him help, and the Jade Emperor heard his prayer. He sent the great archer Hou Yi down to earth to solve the problem of the ten suns.

      Hou Yi went unwillingly. He did not want to leave Paradise, and he did not want to try to solve the problem of the ten suns. The ten suns, you see, were the spoiled children of the Jade Emperor, and they had been ordered to take turns shining. One sun was to make the journey across the sky each day, while the others perched on a branch of the Fu Sang tree at the eastern edge of the world. But the suns preferred to be all together, so they would not listen to what their father had said.

      If they won’t even obey the Jade Emperor, Hou Yi thought, how can I expect them to obey me? But he had been given his orders, and so he had to go. He packed his bow and arrows, and took his wife Chang O with him down to earth.

      Hou Yi had been right about the suns. They only laughed at everything he said. We are the Jade Emperor’s children, they boasted, Why should we listen to you? We shall do as we like! Just try to stop us!

      They moved even closer to the earth than they had been before. If it had been hot then, it was ten times hotter now. Far to the north, where everything is always covered with snow, the snow melted and the ground began to catch fire.

      Hou Yi lost his temper, then. If you won’t listen to reason, he shouted, I’ll make you listen to force. You have killed many people. It’s your turn now.

      He took his long, black bow in hand and took aim with one of his sharp, white arrows. When the suns saw this, they began to be afraid. They knew that Hou Yi was a mighty archer.

      Wait—wait—! they cried and tried to hide from him, but it was too late. Hou Yi shot nine of them down from the sky. The tenth sun was so terrified by what had happened that he has behaved himself ever since. That is the sun that you see in the sky today.

      All of the people who lived on earth were grateful to Hou Yi. They praised him for having saved mankind from the great disaster and brought him many gifts. But the Jade Emperor was furious.

      You have killed my children! he told Hou Yi. "I can never forgive you for that. I will never allow you and your wife, Chang O, to return to Heaven.

      Hou Yi was unhappy when he heard this, but his wife, Chang O, was more unhappy still. Chang O was a beautiful woman, and perhaps she was also a little vain. She had always lived in Heaven, where there is no old age, no sickness and no death. She knew that if she remained on earth, she would grow old one day and lose her beauty. The thought of this terrified her.

      How could you be so stupid and selfish? she asked Hou Yi. How could you shoot the Jade Emperor’s children? You should have known that he would be angry if you did that. Now we must stay on this horrible earth until we die. It’s all your fault! And she began to cry.

      Chang O, do not worry, said Hou Yi, and please do not cry. I will find a way for us to return to our home in Paradise.

      He thought that if he did many brave deeds, perhaps the Jade Emperor would forgive him and let him return to Heaven with Chang O. So he took his bow and arrows, and went out to hunt the six ferocious beasts that tormented people on earth at that time. One of them was a cow with the face of a man and a horse’s hooves, which made a noise that sounded like a baby crying. When it had lured someone to its side, it killed them with its sharp hooves and devoured them. There was also a mile-long snake; a boar as big as a mountain; a beast that spit water and fire; a monster that swallowed people whole; and a hideous bird with teeth. Hou Yi killed them all, but the Jade Emperor still did not let him return to Heaven.

      Chang O cried all the time after that. She looked continually into her mirror, afraid that she was not as beautiful as she had been, and complained continually to her

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