Tale of the Lady Chang’e who lives in the moon
Here is a myth from China featuring a beautiful woman who lives in the moon and her husband, an exceptionally skilled archer. The story made a colourful subject for me to illustrate.
Long ago when the world was young, there were ten suns which took turns to shine in the sky. However one day all the suns rose together at the same time threatening to burn up the earth. The gods called upon Hou Yi, an excellent archer for help. He shot down nine of the suns, leaving one to give the world the light and warmth it needed.
Hou Yi was rewarded for this achievement with the elixir of immortality which he took home in a bottle, saying “ I will share this with my wife Chang’e and we shall choose a suitably romantic moment to take it.”
The couple didn’t consume the elixir immediately but stored it away in their house.
The archer’s apprentice Fengmeng heard about the elixir and sneaked into the house when his master was out hunting. Chang’e observed Fengmeng furtively moving about, aware of what he was looking for and in a panic she swallowed all of the potent elixir at once. She then felt lightheaded and went outside for fresh air. Suddenly she began to levitate, hovering above her house then gently floating upwards all the way to the moon. Here she lived forever afterwards with a rabbit who she found up there grinding the magic elixir with a pestle & mortar.
Hou Yi was angry with his wife at first, then sad. He made sacrifices of sweet foodstuffs to the moon. Some versions of the tale suggest the couple were eventually reunited.
The Chinese still celebrate Chang’e, their beautiful moon lady, with pastries at the mid autumn Moon Festival.
Long ago when the world was young, there were ten suns which took turns to shine in the sky. However one day all the suns rose together at the same time threatening to burn up the earth. The gods called upon Hou Yi, an excellent archer for help. He shot down nine of the suns, leaving one to give the world the light and warmth it needed.
Hou Yi was rewarded for this achievement with the elixir of immortality which he took home in a bottle, saying “ I will share this with my wife Chang’e and we shall choose a suitably romantic moment to take it.”
The couple didn’t consume the elixir immediately but stored it away in their house.
The archer’s apprentice Fengmeng heard about the elixir and sneaked into the house when his master was out hunting. Chang’e observed Fengmeng furtively moving about, aware of what he was looking for and in a panic she swallowed all of the potent elixir at once. She then felt lightheaded and went outside for fresh air. Suddenly she began to levitate, hovering above her house then gently floating upwards all the way to the moon. Here she lived forever afterwards with a rabbit who she found up there grinding the magic elixir with a pestle & mortar.
Hou Yi was angry with his wife at first, then sad. He made sacrifices of sweet foodstuffs to the moon. Some versions of the tale suggest the couple were eventually reunited.
The Chinese still celebrate Chang’e, their beautiful moon lady, with pastries at the mid autumn Moon Festival.
Comments
Post a Comment