Moonlight Over Cassia Peak - Chinese Folktale

Way back in the time of the Tang Dynasty, when Emperor Xuan-zong (713-741 A.D.) reigned, the people of Hangzhou enjoyed a heady evening at the annual Autumn Festival on a fine full moon night.

The monks of Lingyin Temple slept soundly after the festivities but deep in the night one alone stirred, cleaning the kitchen things in preparation for the morning meal. De Ming had been the kitchen hand at Lingyin Temple since his novice days and now he was head cook. By habit he woke not long after midnight to begin the meals of the following day.


Being accustomed to the curious noises of the night he worked in peace, that was, until he noticed that the sky had darkened and a sound like heavy rain made a rough clatter outside in the courtyard. Thinking that a storm had blown up he rushed out to close the doors against the weather, but to his surprise what fell from the sky was not rain but pearls in a rainbow of colours. As he stood marveling at the sight, he noticed that the gems quickly disappeared after striking the ground.

Acting fast, he ran back inside, emptied a bag of rice and hurried back into the courtyard to capture a hoard of the precious drops. He held the bag open and caught them from the sky and, as luck would have it, they did not vanish. De Ming ran hither and thither about the courtyard holding the bag above his head. Then abruptly it stopped raining and the sky cleared. To his joy, De Ming found he had collected a whole bag of coloured pearls. Knowing he must show the Abbot, he padded quickly across the silent courtyard and through the bright temple grounds.

The Reverend Zhi Yi was very reluctant to be woken, but on hearing the urgency in Brother De Ming's voice, he struggled out to see him. De Ming excitedly explain what had happen, showing the Reverend his bag of pearls. The old Abbot looked into the bag and smiled with a sparkle of recognition in his eyes.

"These are not pearls," he said. " They are the brilliant seeds of the giant cassia tree on the moon.

Turning his watery eyes up towards the moon, he continued. "Many years ago the immortal Wu Gang got very drunk on a night much like this one. In that stupor he got it into his head to chop some wood and he cut down a whole grove of cassia trees. Unfortunately, Wu Gang was still in the Heavenly Queen Mother of the West's garden, where he had been an invited guest for the Autumn Festival. He had mistakenly chopped down a whole grove of precious ten thousand year old trees.

"As punishment he was sent to the moon to chop down the giant cassia tree there." The old monk looked down for a moment and seemed think of something far away. De Ming leaned in closer to catch the Abbot's next words.

"Wu Gang is strong," the Reverend continued softly. "He chopped down that great tree, but the next morning there it stood again. He is doomed to cut that tree every night." The Abbot sighed. Looking over at the younger Brother he smiled gently at him.

"But this is a great boon and a sacred thing," the Reverend laughed. "Our temple has been much bless by these seeds. Wu Gang must have enjoyed the wine last night and took his axe to the tree with enthusiasm. So, tomorrow after prayers, Brother, you must take these seeds and plant them all over the mountain and around the Temple grounds."

De Wing eagerly agreed.

The seeds De Wing planted grew miraculously fast and by the time the next Autumn Festival came, many groves of coloured Cassia bloomed upon the mountain around Lingyin Temple. The Reverend gave the privilege of naming the trees to De Wing. De Wing called the orange ones the Golden Cassia; the pink ones he called the Rouge Cassia; and the white ones were named the Silver Cassia.

Even yet to this day the people of Hangzhou call the place where the first Cassia seeds fell, Moonlight-Over-Cassia Peak.

********

Moonlight Over Cassia Peak has been adapted from the book Folk Tales of the West Lake, Wang Hui-Ming, Foreign Language Press, Beijing, 1982.

I love how this story is a story within a story: telling the classic tale of Wu Gang within the folk history of an actual place.

Unfortunately, I was unable to find any Chinese pictures that suited this tale. Not that they don't exist, rather my searches did not reveal what I needed. Oddly, I often come across many related works after I've posted the story. However, the images selected here have shaped the storytelling, especially the wonderful Korean mask used to portray De Ming. I could see him in my mind running around the courtyard catching the pearls that fell from the moon.

Images:

1. Kannon Temple at Abuto, Bingo Province, Hiroshige Ando - Heisuke Koshimuraya, December 1853, colour woodblock print, Japan. Dimensions 34 x 22.7 cm (image). Minneapolis Institute of Arts.


2. Mii Temple, Shinsui Ito - Published by Shozaburo Watanabe, July 1916, colour woodblock print, Japan. Dimensions 29.85 x 20 cm (image). Minneapolis Institute of Arts.


3. Mask, Choson Period, 18th Century, wood, Korea. Musee National des Arts asiatiques-Guimet. (image on the Korean collection homepage)


4. Bearded Beshimi No Mask, 19th century, Japan. Kyoto National Museum. (select Online Collection, then search the catagory No Masks.)


5. Moon Through Leaves, Hiroshige Ando - Kihe Sanoya, c. 1832, coloured woodblock print, Japan. Dimensions 38.2 x 17.5 cm (image). Minneapolis Institute of Arts.


6. Large White Flower, Hogyoku Yamada - Soemon Iseya, c. 1830, colour woodblock print, Japan. Dimensions 23.4 x 29.4 cm. Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

Tags: moon light over cassia peak, Chinese folktale, folktale, Japanese art, Korean mask, Japanese mask, woodblock prints, Wu Gang, gaint cassia tree on the moon, art, CrackleMountain, Crackle Mountain, legends, Florence Forrest, artist, storyteller

The Princess Lily - Chinese Folktale

Once there lived a gentleman by the name of Tou Hsun who lived in Chiao-chou, he was known to be a kindly man with an extraordinary love of flowers. One day after spending a few hours tending his beloved garden he lay down for an afternoon nap. It was but a moment after when there, beside his bed, stood a man in serge clothing beckoning to him as with some urgent communication.

The fellow had a friendly look and so Tou asked, "Who is it that summons me?"

"Please Sir," the servant begged. "My Master wishes to meet you, he's not far off."
Intrigued, Tou agreed and went with the servant. It was not long until they came to a bustling town of white houses. They were all built closely together and had the strangest doors, unlike anything he had seen or read about. Tou was enchanted by the beautiful place - planted out with flowers of many variety and Lemon groves. Truly this was a blessed place he thought.

The people he passed all smiled and called out hello as if they had been expecting him. When he reached the gates of the palace a mandarin met them and bowed in greeting.
"The Prince will be very happy to hear you have come, he has long wanted to make your acquaintance," smiled the mandarin.
Tou smiled back holding his sleeve up to cover his reddening cheeks. "That's very kind of you to say, but I feel at a loss, as I do not know who your Prince is?"
"You will met him shortly and see for yourself."

Two girls will red flower banners came forward and escorted them to the Throne room. There Tou saw a sage Prince of dignified and handsome countenance. Above, on a scroll, was written The Cassia Court.

The Prince's eyes lit up at seeing his guest, and quite unexpected came down to greet Tou Hsun saying, "There is a deep bond between us, being neighbours as it were, I am honoured that you have chosen to come to us. Please let us put aside any suspicions and feast your arrival."

Tou was so amazed by this grand treatment that he could only nod as he was led to the place of honour by the Prince's side. After the drinking cup had passed many times the Prince called to his court, "let us set a couplet to memorialise this special occasion, I offer to begin: Genius seeks the Cassia Court."

The courtiers all sat for a moment composing an antithesis when Tou offered, "Refinement loves the Lily flower." The Prince looked exceedingly pleased and all the courtiers agreed that is was a most fitting reply.
"How strange you should mention the Lily! I have a daughter named Lily and you shall meet her."

Very soon a tinkling of hair ornaments was heard as the Princess was escorted gently into the hall. There came a fragrance of flowers such as only breathes upon the first spring nights. Tou was already intoxicated by her, but when she appeared all else seemed to slip away and he was entranced by the delicate vision before him. As if a cloud came over him he became faint, the last thing he heard was the voice of the Prince speaking of looking for a suitable consort for the Princess, before darkness came to him...And then, a light.

He woke from his summer bed to find he had slept through the night. The morning sun was already rosy and the insects had begun there morning songs. Tou, sat up, he felt his heart was breaking to be torn away from Princess Lily. Though he knew it was only a strange dream, he could smell her perfume in the folds of his clothes. He got up and went out into his garden and stared longingly at the lilies that grew there.

One night after a party at his neighbour's he fell to sleep with a very heavy head. When in walked an official from the Cassia Court announcing that Tou Hsun was invited for another visit with the Prince. Tou jumped up and quickly made his way to the palace with his guide. Upon being given entrance to the Throne room he bowed low to the floor and thanked the Prince for being able to return. The Prince raised him and said, "It has become known to me that you would be in favour of a marriage to my daughter. If this is so we will arrange for the marriage banquet at once."

Tou was overjoyed his one true wish would be fulfilled. A merry feast was had by all and in the morning when Tou awoke to find himself still in the marriage chamber he jumped out of bed and squeezed his treasured wife around the waist while she was at her mirror.
"Oh!" She cried sweetly, "What has come over you."
"I'm just so happy to be here with you I thought it might be but a dream," he laughed.
But their joy was cut short when a summons arrived for the Princess and Tou to come to the Throne room.

"I'm very sorry to interrupt the two of you but an urgent dispatch has arrived and I'm afraid disaster has struck our kingdom, " said the Prince, the picture of concern. He handed the dispatch to Tou to read. It read as follows:

'The Grand Secretary of State, Black Wings, to His Royal Highness, announcing the arrival of an extraordinary monster, and advising the immediate removal of the Court in order to preserve the vitality of the empire.

A report has just been received from the officer in charge of the Yellow Gate stating that, ever since the 6th of the 5th moon, a huge monster, 10 000 feet in length has been lying coiled outside the entrance to the palace, and that it has already devoured 13, 800 and odd of your Highness's subjects, and is spreading desolation far and wide.

On receipt of this information your servant proceeded to make a reconnaissance, and there beheld a venomous reptile with a head as big as a mountain and eyes like vast sheets of water. Every time it raised its head, whole buildings disappeared down its throat; and, on stretching itself out, walls and houses were alike laid in ruins. In all antiquity there is no record of such a sourge. The fate of our temples and ancestral halls is now a mere question of hours; we therefore pray Your Royal Highness to depart at once with the Royal Family and seek somewhere else a happier abode.'*

Tou felt his heart freeze with horror but with never a moment to speak, a courtier rushed in screaming, "The monster is here!"
The Royal Household fell to crying. The Princess clung to Tou, "Don't desert us, dear husband, there must be somewhere we can go!"
"You are all most welcome to find refuge at my humble home, though it is no palace, " said Tou supporting the Princess in his arms.
"There is no need to fuss about such things at a time like this," said the Prince. "Take us there before it is too late."

With a whoosh of light and wind Tou found himself and the Royal Household in his old garden. The Prince proclaimed it most pleasant. The Princess much relieved looked up to her husband and said, "Now you must furnish it so that we can continue in the old way." But before he could offer an answer he woke cold and wet in the morning dew of his own garden. He got to his feet and heard a familiar buzzing sound, looking down at his clothes he saw a little bee and not far from that one bee another few bees. Try as he might to shoo them away they would not go.

He ran to his neighbour and described to him the dreams and showed him the bees.
"I suppose you should get a hive for the bees," chuckled his bemused friend.

Tou had a hive constructed that very day and no sooner was it finished the bees flew from his clothes into the hive. Tou heard a loud buzzing behind him, he turned to see a swam of bees fly over the fence and into his newly built hive. He ran next door to tell his doubting friend what had happened. His neighbour then agreed to go with Tou and find where the bees had come from.

After asking around they learned of a very old man who had been keeping the bees for over thirty years. They went to see the old man and told him of the remarkable happenings. The old man strangely did not doubt the remarkable story and went to inspect his hive. They found all the bees had gone. Breaking it open they found a huge snake that measured about 10 feet in length. They at once recognised it as the monster that had attacked The Cassia Court. They seized it and the old man cut it in two.

As for the bees, the understanding old man allowed them to remained with Tou Hsun. The honey from the hive of Princess Lily had the sweetest honey and the grateful bees filled his garden with many more rich hives as the years passed.


Details:

The Princess Lily is originally by P'u Sung-ling (Ch'ing Dynasty) from his book Liao Chai Chih I. The Liao Chai (as it is informally known) consists of 431 short tales that P'u Sung-ling collected over many years from the folktales of the common people and storytellers of China. He rewrote them with sublty and imagination that has aided the endearing qualitiy of these stories.

I've sourced this tale from the book, Smearing the Ghost's Face With Ink: A Chinese Anthology, editor Raymond Van Over, Picador, London, 1973.

The translation, in the book mentioned above, is originally by Herbert Giles, or a derivative thereof.

* The section marked with the star* is a direct quotation from Smearing the Ghost's Face with Ink. I made the decision to quote directly rather than rework the dispatch due to the fascinating footnote that states the dispatch's form closely mimics the style of offical Government documents.


Images:

1. Lilies, Hokusia Katsushika, 1830-1831, wood block print, 24.9 cm X 36.1 cm, this one from the Minneapolis Institute of Art.

2. Uighur Prince - Detail of a Banner found at Qoco. Ninth Century (?). (width c. 14") I B 7323, Indische Kunstabteilung, Staatliche Museen, Berlin. From the book, Central Asian Painting: from Afganistan to Sinkiang, Albert Skira, Rizzloi International Publications, USA, 1979. ISBN 0-8478-0198-5, Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 63-20242.

3. Young Ladies Seated at a Table, one half of an attached pair of glass paintings. Qing Dynasty, 19th Century. Found on the website L'Assie Exotique

4. Folk Toys, Keisuke Serizawa (Shizuoka, Japan, 1895 - 1984), c. 1970, Original Hand-Stenciled Dye Print (Kataezome). This image found at http://www.artoftheprint.com/artistpages/keisuke_serizawa_folktoys.htm (this site does not seem to work when linked to, however, it will work if the URI is copied and pasted). It was this image that inspired me to adapt The Princess Lily for Crackle Mountain.

5. Medieval Beehive clipped from here.

*******

Finally, I'd like to dedicate this story to my mum because she loves beehives too.

Tags: The Princess Lily, Chinese folktale, bees, lilies, Hokusai, Keisuke Serizawa, Kataezome, beehive, folktales, fairytales, fairy stories, Crackle Mountain, CrackleMountain, Florence Forrest, artist, storyteller

The Ancestor of Tea - Chinese Folktale

Nestled in the high mountains sits the village of Dragon Well, once it was but a poor and isolated place.

In the poorest part of this poor village lived an old woman, all alone, a widow of many years and without sons or daughters to care for her. But she was of a good heart, and every day she would tend her scrawny tea bushes in memory of her husband even though the other villages would laugh at her folly - for her tea was bitter. "Old Wife's Tea" they called it, and to this day in China, poor quality tea is named so.

And so it was that one New Year's Eve night, in the middle of a harsh winter, as the old woman shuffled about the stove preparing her meager tea as an offering to her ancestors, there came a knocking at the door.

"What a dreadful night to be out in the cold, " the old woman said when she beheld a shivering man in her doorway, "Please come in, sit down and have some tea."
The strange man showed much thanks and took in his hand the warm cup of tea.
"I'm afraid my tea is not very good but it is all I have," the old woman explained as she worried over the guests needs.
"Why is that? You are a weathy woman," laughed her guest as he drank down the tea.
"Wealthy? You shouldn't play with an old woman like that sir, how can I be wealthy?"
"Outside your door is something of great wealth, and if you don't want it, I'd gladly pay for it."
The old woman went to the door and peeked outside, the old bench and table were there and the old millstone mortar full of years of cooking scraps and rubbish. "I don't see what he could mean," she thought.
The strange man on his way out pointed to the millstone mortar, "That is worth more than you could dream."
The old woman told him that he could have it, but the man refused to take it for nothing and promised to come back the following night to collect and pay for it.

The next morning the old woman went out to look at the mortar, and was so ashamed of its appearance she thought she would clean it up. She dug out the rubbish and spread it under her tea bushes, then she drew water from the well and washed the mortar, also pooring the muddied water under her tea bushes. When she was finished she was happy to think that her strange guest of the following evening would be pleasantly surprised.

That evening the stranger knocked on her door again. But this time the knock was much louder and more insistant. It was her guest of the night before and he was wanting to know what had happen to the treasure he came for. The old woman was perplexed and coming outside showed him the newly cleaned mortar.
"No," said the strange man (with just a hint of a twinkle in his eye), "That wasn't the treasure at all." So saying he turned and left never to be seen of in the village again.

That spring a wonderful thing happen. The old woman's tea bushes grew lush and tender leaves. The tea was so frangrant and lovely that all the villages wanted to share in her tea. She gladly gave them cuttings and seed. So all the tea bushes in Dragon Well were eventually planted from those bushes. The tea became famous through-out the land and instead of being called "Old wife's Tea" it coined a new name called "The Ancestor of Tea".





Notes:

I first heard a version this story on a documentary called "Robert Fortune: The Tea Thief" about the man who was sent into China by the British government to discover the secret of tea. The British were fawking over so much silver bullion for the stuff they had to find an alternative supply. Robert Fortune was a botanist not really the espionage type, but off he went in service to his country into the very heart of China. How did an English man get around China? Well, I encourage you to see the documentary. But it tells of how he comes to the village of Dragon Well and he is told the story of the old woman and the tea bushes. Not only did he have to discover how tea was processed, both green and black, but as a botanist he had find out what it was about the plants that made them special. He found that the tea bushes were all the same variety but that the taste of the tea depended on where the bushes were planted and what they were feed. He discovered, like the old woman in the tale, that it was the nutrience that made the tea taste good.

In the stories the man who comes to the door part is always a little different as is the case with storytelling. I've been reading Chinese tales for some time and have been reading "The Journey West" by Wu Cheng'en of the Ming Dynasty - "a mythological novel based on many centuries of popular tradition, put into its present form in the 1570s", known to most of us by the popular TV series Monkey. From these readings I have become used to the 'figure who appears to help out' usually some deity or demon. I was looking through my books for pictures to include for this tale when I stumbled upon the man pictured above. He is the ox-headed divine farmer Shen-nung, second of the Three Sovereigns, who taught the arts of agriculture as well as the use of herbal drugs. I immediately blinked, this would seem to be the perfect deity to pop in unexpectedly and generously teach the secrets of tea. Very serendipidous.

I wish to dedicate this story to my friend Rebecca Ward, because she's a composter from way back, maybe even from past lives.

Details:

Image 1: Landscape dated 1922 by Huang Binhong (1864-1955), hanging scroll; ink and colours on paper. 110.7 x 44.3 cm, Gugong Museum, Beijing. Taken from the book Chinese paintings of the Ming and Qing Dynasties 14th-20th Centuries: exhibition catalogue, Victoria, 1981, ISBN 09594122 0 4

Image 2: Shen-nung, engraving from San-tsai thu-hui (1607 edition), University of Hong Kong. Taken from the book Chinese Mythology, by Anthony Christie, The hamlyn Publishing group, 1968, ISBN 0 600 00637 9

Image 3: The Chinese Tea Pot by Wang Jia Nan (1990s?). Taken from the book, The Complete Oriental painting Course, by Wang Jia Nan and Cai Xiaoli with David Young, Quantum Books, London, 2004 (this edition) ISBN 1 86160 461 0

Image 4: Open work jade dragon, Western Han, 206 BC- AD 8, (5.5cm length, 6.5cm width), Shanghai Museum. Taken from the book Treasures from the Shanghai Museum, Exhibition Catalogue, Queensland Art Gallery, 1990, ISBN 0 7242 4060 8

*The Ancestor of Tea was based on the version found in the book, Folk Tales of the West Lake adapted by Wang Hui-Ming, Foreign Language Press, Beijing, 1982.

**The Journey West by Wu Cheng'en(1500-82), translated by W. J. F. Jenner, Foreign Language Press, Beijing, 1982 ISBN 0 8351 1003 6

Tags: Chinese folktales, Tea, Chinese art, folktales, legends, myths, Crackle Mountain, CrackleMountain, Dragon Well Tea, Florence Forrest, artist, storyteller