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THE CHINESE FAIRY BOOK - 73 Chinese folk and fairy tales
This book was especially republished to raise funds for these charities & many more...
33% of the publishers profit from the sale of this book will be donated to charities.
The fairy tales and legends of olden China have an oriental glow and glitter of precious stones and gold and multicolored silks, and an oriental wealth of fantastic and supernatural action, not too dissimilar to the tales in the Thousand and One Nights. The 73 stories herein embrace NURSERY FAIRY TALES, LEGENDS OF THE GODS, TALES OF SAINTS AND MAGICIANS, NATURE AND ANIMAL TALES, GHOST STORIES, HISTORIC FAIRY TALES, and LITERARY FAIRY TALES.
Like the Arabian Nights, they will fascinate the young listener and amply repay the attention of the older reader as well. Some are exquisitely poetic, such as THE FLOWER-ELVES, THE LADY OF THE MOON or THE HERD BOY AND THE WEAVING MAIDEN; others like HOW THREE HEROES CAME BY THEIR DEATHS BECAUSE OF TWO PEACHES, carry us back dramatically and powerfully to the Chinese age of Chivalry. The summits of fantasy are scaled in the quasi-religious dramas of THE APE SUN WU KUNG and NOTSCHA, or the weird sorceries unfolded in THE KINDLY MAGICIAN. Delightful ghost stories, with happy endings, such as A NIGHT ON THE BATTLEFIELD and THE GHOST WHO WAS FOILED, are paralleled with such idyllic love-tales as that of ROSE OF EVENING, or such Lilliputian fancies as THE KING OF THE ANTS and THE LITTLE HUNTING DOG.
It is quite safe to say that these Chinese fairy tales will give equal pleasure to the old as well as the young. They have been retold simply, with no changes in style or expression beyond such details of presentation which differences between oriental and occidental viewpoints at times compel. It is the writers hope that others may take as much pleasure in reading them as he did in their translation.
33% of the net profit from the sale of this book will be donated to charities. YESTERDAYS BOOKS RAISING FUNDS FOR TODAYS CHARITIES
Excerpt from THE CHINESE FAIRY BOOK - 73 Chinese folk and fairy tales
XXI THE GIRL WITH THE HORSES HEAD, OR; THE SILKWORM GODDESS
IN the dim ages of the past there once was an old man who went on a journey. No one remained at home save his only daughter and a white stallion. The daughter fed the horse day by day, but she was lonely and yearned for her father.
So it happened that one day she said in jest to the horse: If you will bring back my father to me then I will marry you!
No sooner had the horse heard her say this, than he broke loose and ran away. He ran until he came to the place where her father was. When her father saw the horse, he was pleasantly surprised, caught him and seated himself on his back. And the horse turned back the way he had come, neighing without a pause.
What can be the matter with the horse? thought the father. Something must have surely gone wrong at home! So he dropped the reins and rode back. And he fed the horse liberally because he had been so intelligent; but the horse ate nothing, and when he saw the girl, he struck out at her with his hoofs and tried to bite her. This surprised the father; he questioned his daughter, and she told him the truth, just as it had occurred.
You must not say a word about it to anyone, spoke her father, or else people will talk about us.
And he took down his crossbow, shot the horse, and hung up his skin in the yard to dry. Then he went on his travels again.
One day his daughter went out walking with the daughter of a neighbor. When they entered the yard, she pushed the horse-hide with her foot and said: What an unreasonable animal you werewanting to marry a human being! What happened to you served you right!
But before she had finished her speech, the horse-hide moved, rose up, wrapped itself about the girl and ran off.
Horrified, her companion ran home to her father and told him what had happened. The neighbors looked for the girl everywhere, but she could not be found.
At last, some days afterward, they saw the girl hanging from the branches of a tree, still wrapped in the horse-hide; and gradually she turned into a silkworm and wove a cocoon. And the threads which she spun were strong and thick. Her girl friend then took down the cocoon and let her slip out of it; and then she spun the silk and sold it at a large profit.
But the girls relatives longed for her greatly. So one day the girl appeared riding in the clouds on her horse, followed by a great company and said: In heaven I have been assigned to the task of watching over the growing of silkworms. You must yearn for me no longer! And thereupon they built temples to her in her native land, and every year, at the silkworm season, sacrifices are offered to her and her protection is implored. And the Silkworm Goddess is also known as the girl with the Horses Head.
Note: This tale is placed in the times of the Emperor Hau, and the legend seems to have originated in Setchuan. The stallion is the sign of the zodiac which rules the springtime, the season when the silkworms are cultivated. Hence she is called the Goddess with the Horses Head. The legend itself tells a different tale. In addition to this goddess, the spouse of Schen Nung, the Divine Husbandman, is also worshiped as the goddess of silkworm culture. The Goddess with the Horses Head is more of a totemic representation of the silkworm as such; while the wife of Schen Nung is regarded as the protecting goddess of silk culture, and is supposed to have been the first to teach women its details. The spouse of the Yellow Lord is mentioned in the same connection. The popular belief distinguishes three goddesses who protect the silkworm culture in turn. The second is the best of the three, and when it is her year the silk turns out well.
Table of Contents for THE CHINESE FAIRY BOOK - 73 Chinese folk and fairy tales
| ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS |
| PREFACE |
| CONTENTS |
| LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS |
| NURSERY FAIRY TALES |
| I WOMENS WORDS PART FLESH AND BLOOD |
| II THE THREE RHYMSTERS |
| III HOW GREED FOR A TRIFLING THING LED A MAN TO LOSE A GREAT ONE |
| IV WHO WAS THE SINNER? |
| V THE MAGIC CASK |
| VI THE FAVORITE OF FORTUNE AND THE CHILD OF ILL LUCK |
| VII THE BIRD WITH NINE HEADS |
| VIII THE CAVE OF THE BEASTS |
| IX THE PANTHER |
| X THE GREAT FLOOD |
| XI THE FOX AND THE TIGER |
| XII THE TIGERS DECOY |
| XIII THE FOX AND THE RAVEN |
| XIV WHY DOG AND CAT ARE ENEMIES |
| LEGENDS OF THE GODS |
| XV HOW THE FIVE ANCIENTS BECAME MEN |
| XVI THE HERD BOY AND THE WEAVING MAIDEN |
| XVII YANG OERLANG |
| XVIII NOTSCHA |
| XIX THE LADY OF THE MOON |
| XX THE MORNING AND THE EVENING STAR |
| XXI THE GIRL WITH THE HORSES HEAD, or; THE SILKWORM GODDESS |
| XXII THE QUEEN OF HEAVEN |
| XXIII THE FIRE-GOD |
| XXIV THE THREE RULING GODS |
| XXV A LEGEND OF CONFUCIUS |
| XXVI THE GOD OF WAR |
| TALES OF SAINTS AND MAGICIANS |
| XXVII THE HALOS OF THE SAINTS |
| XXVIII LAOTSZE |
| XXIX THE ANCIENT MAN |
| XXX THE EIGHT IMMORTALS (I) |
| XXXI THE EIGHT IMMORTALS (II) |
| XXXII THE TWO SCHOLARS |
| XXXIII THE MISERLY FARMER |
| XXXIV SKY ODAWN |
| XXXV KING MU OF DSCHOU |
| XXXVI THE KING OF HUAI NAN |
| XXXVII OLD DSCHANG |
| XXXVIII THE KINDLY MAGICIAN |
| NATURE AND ANIMAL TALES |
| XXXIX THE FLOWER-ELVES |
| XL THE SPIRIT OF THE WU-LIAN MOUNTAIN |
| XLI THE KING OF THE ANTS |
| XLII THE LITTLE HUNTING DOG |
| XLIII THE DRAGON AFTER HIS WINTER SLEEP |
| XLIV THE SPIRITS OF THE |
| YELLOW RIVER |
| XLV THE DRAGON-PRINCESS |
| XLVI HELP IN NEED |
| XLVII THE DISOWNED PRINCESS |
| XLVIII FOX-FIRE |
| GHOST STORIES |
| XLIX THE TALKING SILVER FOXES |
| L THE CONSTABLE |
| LI THE DANGEROUS REWARD |
| LII RETRIBUTION |
| LIII THE GHOST WHO WAS FOILED |
| LIV THE PUNISHMENT OF GREED |
| LV THE NIGHT ON THE BATTLEFIELD |
| LVI THE KINGDOM OF THE OGRES |
| LVII THE MAIDEN WHO WAS STOLEN AWAY |
| LVIII THE FLYING OGRE |
| LIX BLACK ARTS |
| HISTORIC LEGENDS |
| LX THE SORCERER OF THE WHITE LOTUS LODGE |
| LXI THE THREE EVILS |
| LXII HOW THREE HEROES CAME BY THEIR DEATHS BECAUSE OF TWO PEACHES |
| LXIII HOW THE RIVER-GODS WEDDING WAS BROKEN OFF |
| LXIV DSCHANG LIANG |
| LXV OLD DRAGONBEARD |
| LXVI HOW MOLO STOLE THE LOVELY ROSE-RED |
| LXVII THE GOLDEN CANISTER |
| LXVIII YANG GUI FE |
| LXIX THE MONK OF THE YANGTZE-KIANG |
| LITERARY FAIRY TALES |
| LXX THE HEARTLESS HUSBAND |
| LXXI GIAUNA THE BEAUTIFUL |
| LXXII THE FROG PRINCESS |
| LXXIII ROSE OF EVENING |
| LXXIV THE APE SUN WU KUNG |
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