In the ancient past, there was a hero named Hou Yi who was an excellent archer. His wife was Chang'e. One year, the ten suns rose in the sky together, causing great disaster to people. Yi shot down nine of the suns and left only one to provide light. A god admired Yi and sent him the elixir of immortality. Yi did not want to leave Chang'e and be immortal without her, so he let Chang'e keep the elixir. But Peng Meng, one of his apprentices, knew this secret. So, on the 15th day of the 8th month in the lunar calendar, when Yi went hunting, Peng Meng broke into Yi's house and forced Chang'e to give the elixir to him. Chang'e refused to do so. Instead, she swallowed it and flew into the sky. Since she loved very much her husband and hoped to live nearby, she chose the moon for her residence. When Yi came back and learned what had happened, he felt so sad that he displayed the fruits and cakes Chang'e liked in the yard and gave sacrifices to his wife. People soon learned about these activities, and since they also were sympathetic to Chang'e they participated in these sacrifices with Yi.
This is now the Chinese Mid Autumn festival on september 15.
MMMMmmmm .... a sad story. I do not understand what is the moral of the tale. Why she swallowed the elixir?
BeantwoordenVerwijderenWas not she unfair to her husband? I do not really understand these Chinese stories, beyond the fact that the husband was very sad about what his wife did.
Obviously. I could enjoy your picture without knowing this story. Have a nice weekend, Hedwig!
Dear Roberto, the moral of the story is love. The wife is not unfaithful. She is attacked by the man who wants to steal the immortality elixer. She doesn't want a bad man to get immortal, and she doesn't want to be assaulted by this man. So she swallows the potion and immedaitely flies to the moon. This feast is specially celebrated by lovers. It is romantic!
VerwijderenDear Hedwig, I'm sorry but I can not reach that conclusion. At any time I see that the woman is unfaithful to her husband, nor is in danger of becoming so. When I said "unfair", I meant that it was not fair to leave her husband alone on earth. She should have let the thief take the elixir, and she still lived with her husband. That, to me, is more romantic... leaving something "wonderful" as inmortality to another human and they living together on earth until they die... (I repeat: I dont understand Chinese stories or legends)
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