The Chinese culture has many myths and legends, some explaining natural occurrences, and others for entertainment. Anything can be explained by a myth or legend. One of the most famous legends is the legend about the woman on the moon. This legend is told around the time of the Mid-Autumn Festival. There are many versions to every legend, so one person's version may be different from another person's version, as these legends are passed on by telling them.
The Woman On The Moon
Long, long ago in China, there lived a brave warrior. At this time, there were ten Suns in the sky, shining brightly every day, and causing the people who lived on the land below to be constantly in the heat of the Suns. The land was dry and the plants were not able to flourish. The Emperor at the time was very worried for his people, and decided to get rid of some of the Suns in order for the people to lived comfortably. The Emperor decided to hold an archery contest for brave warriors, offering a great reward for the warrior who could shoot down nine of the brightest, hottest Suns. Many warriors tried and failed, but this certain warrior was successful. From that day on, the people no longer had to live under the intense heat of ten Suns, but only one Sun, which was enough to provide light and heat to sustain life. The brave warrior was greatly honoured, and became very prideful. He was very proud of himself, and had a large sum of money as a reward. the brave warrior now became very conceited, and evil. He decided that he was too good to be a normal human being, and wanted to become immortal. So the warrior ordered the best medicine man in his village to create a medicine to keep him alive forever. The medicine man did as he was told, and before long, presented a bottle with a special pill inside of it, which would keep the warrior alive for the rest of eternity. The warrior was delighted, and became even more prideful and treated everyone in a cruel way. He hid the pill in a secret place, so no one would be able to steal it from him. The warrior had a beautiful wife, and she overheard her husband's evil plan to live forever. She had also seen where he had hidden the pill. She knew that an evil man like him would only cause terrible problems if he were to live forever, so she thought of a plan. One night, when the warrior was out of the house, the beautiful wife took the pill from its hiding place. Just as she had the pill in her hand, she heard her husband's footsteps were coming closer. Needing to get rid of the pill, she swallowed it. She suddenly felt very light. Before she knew it, her feet were lifting off of the ground, and she was flying into the air, rising up. Her husband stepped into the room and saw her. He knew that she must have eaten his special pill, and reached out to pull her down on the ground again. However, she kept rising higher and higher into the sky, until finally she was as high as the moon. There, she stopped. To this day, the beautiful wife is still living on the moon, looking down at the earth from her home in the heavens. |
