The (Wo)man on the Moon
Happy Mid-Autumn Festival to all! Whether you're currently eating moon cakes or asking: "What the heck is mid-autumn festival," you're a lucky winner! I come bearing a story, a legendary and magical story. Claim your prize behind the cut...
Title: Chang Er, the Moon Palace Mistress
Genre: Myth/legend
Word Count: 606
Chang Er, the Moon Palace Mistress-Ziasudra's version
Once upon a time, there were ten suns scorching over China. Now, I'm sure you can think back on how uncomfortable the hottest day of the summer was. Imagine that, times ten. Needless to say, the Chinese people weren't happy. They looked far, wide, and everywhere for a solution to their quite literally burning problem.
In the sky palace, the Emperor was furious. It turned out that the ten suns were all his sons. They were supposed to take turns shining over the earth, but had somehow decided to play such a deadly pranks on the poor inhabitants of Earth.
The Emperor commissioned Hou Yi, a god skilled in archery, to go help the earthlings. Hou Yi decided to take his wife, Chang Er, along. Once on earth, Hou Yi and Chang Er were struck by the wretched living conditions of the earthlings. He tried to convince the suns to back down, but they refused. This forced Hou Yi to resort to his bow and arrows-he would shoot down all the suns.
Hou Yi was indeed a skilled archer. Shot after shot, he pierced through the stubborn suns with his arrows. And one by one, the suns fell from the sky, defeated. He continued shooting, and the people cheered. When he reached for his tenth arrow, however, Hou Yi realized that his quiver was empty. An earthling had taken his last arrow. The earthling pleaded Hou Yi to leave them with one sun, and Hou Yi agreed.
The Emperor heard what Hou Yi did, and instead of being happy, he was furious. He did not want Hou Yi to kill nine of his ten sons. So he banished Hou Yi and his wife Chang Er to live mortal lives on earth.
Feeling sorry for involving Chang Er in his misfortune, Hou Yi searched all over the earth for mortality's cure. At last he reached the palace of the Queen of the West, who felt bad for Hou Yi and Chang Er and gave him a pack of magical herbs. Whoever ate the herbs would become immortal and ascend to heaven. But since Hou Yi and Chang Er were two people, they would have to split the herbs, which would make them immortal but would not return them back to heaven.
Hou Yi returned home with the happy news. He didn't care that he couldn't go back to heaven, as long as he and Chang Er could spend eternity together.
But Chang Er had other thoughts. She wasn't content with just being immortal. She wanted to return to heaven. So that night, after Hou Yi was fast asleep, Chang Er mixed the entire packet of herbs with water and drank it all.
As soon as she swallowed, Chang Er began to float. Hou Yi woke up too late to stop her ascension, and could only watch in desperation as his wife flew farther and farther from him, all the way to the moon. Because he loved Chang Er so much, he vowed to never shoot the moon down.
That night happened to be the fifteenth of the eighth month. As Hou Yi stared at the moon, he thought that it was especially full that night, and if he squints really hard, he could make out the shadow of Chang Er, now the mistress of the Moon Palace, looking down sadly at him from the moon.
This became the foundation of mid-autumn festival. The moon is indeed fullest and roundest on the fifteenth of the eighth month of the lunar calendar. And if you look real hard, perhaps you can catch a glimpse of Chang Er too!
[Note: multiple versions of the legend exist. This is the most common one I've heard. Some feature a more likable Chang Er, some make Hou Yi into a heroic warrior of the earth. A chacun son goût, I suppose.]
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Title: Chang Er, the Moon Palace Mistress
Genre: Myth/legend
Word Count: 606
Chang Er, the Moon Palace Mistress-Ziasudra's version
Once upon a time, there were ten suns scorching over China. Now, I'm sure you can think back on how uncomfortable the hottest day of the summer was. Imagine that, times ten. Needless to say, the Chinese people weren't happy. They looked far, wide, and everywhere for a solution to their quite literally burning problem.
In the sky palace, the Emperor was furious. It turned out that the ten suns were all his sons. They were supposed to take turns shining over the earth, but had somehow decided to play such a deadly pranks on the poor inhabitants of Earth.
The Emperor commissioned Hou Yi, a god skilled in archery, to go help the earthlings. Hou Yi decided to take his wife, Chang Er, along. Once on earth, Hou Yi and Chang Er were struck by the wretched living conditions of the earthlings. He tried to convince the suns to back down, but they refused. This forced Hou Yi to resort to his bow and arrows-he would shoot down all the suns.
Hou Yi was indeed a skilled archer. Shot after shot, he pierced through the stubborn suns with his arrows. And one by one, the suns fell from the sky, defeated. He continued shooting, and the people cheered. When he reached for his tenth arrow, however, Hou Yi realized that his quiver was empty. An earthling had taken his last arrow. The earthling pleaded Hou Yi to leave them with one sun, and Hou Yi agreed.
The Emperor heard what Hou Yi did, and instead of being happy, he was furious. He did not want Hou Yi to kill nine of his ten sons. So he banished Hou Yi and his wife Chang Er to live mortal lives on earth.
Feeling sorry for involving Chang Er in his misfortune, Hou Yi searched all over the earth for mortality's cure. At last he reached the palace of the Queen of the West, who felt bad for Hou Yi and Chang Er and gave him a pack of magical herbs. Whoever ate the herbs would become immortal and ascend to heaven. But since Hou Yi and Chang Er were two people, they would have to split the herbs, which would make them immortal but would not return them back to heaven.
Hou Yi returned home with the happy news. He didn't care that he couldn't go back to heaven, as long as he and Chang Er could spend eternity together.
But Chang Er had other thoughts. She wasn't content with just being immortal. She wanted to return to heaven. So that night, after Hou Yi was fast asleep, Chang Er mixed the entire packet of herbs with water and drank it all.
As soon as she swallowed, Chang Er began to float. Hou Yi woke up too late to stop her ascension, and could only watch in desperation as his wife flew farther and farther from him, all the way to the moon. Because he loved Chang Er so much, he vowed to never shoot the moon down.
That night happened to be the fifteenth of the eighth month. As Hou Yi stared at the moon, he thought that it was especially full that night, and if he squints really hard, he could make out the shadow of Chang Er, now the mistress of the Moon Palace, looking down sadly at him from the moon.
This became the foundation of mid-autumn festival. The moon is indeed fullest and roundest on the fifteenth of the eighth month of the lunar calendar. And if you look real hard, perhaps you can catch a glimpse of Chang Er too!
[Note: multiple versions of the legend exist. This is the most common one I've heard. Some feature a more likable Chang Er, some make Hou Yi into a heroic warrior of the earth. A chacun son goût, I suppose.]
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