嫦娥奔月的神话故事 英文版

The story begins around 2170 B. C. after the great flood in the Hsia dynasty. Yu, king

of many kingdoms, was credited with stopping the flood, and with teaching farmers

how to cultivate their fields, thus commencing a prosperous epoch.

At the same time in Heaven the Jade Emperor wished to help the farmers raise animals

and cultivate their fields. He gave orders to his ten sons to become ten suns and

travel across the sky one at a time, each taking one day. The ten young men disobeyed;

all ten of them came out every day, and the heat from ten suns shining all at once

made the earth intolerably hot. People and animals died of heat, rivers dried up,

land became barren and forests scorched and burned.

The farmers prayed, giving sacrifices and burning incense to Heaven for deliverance.

The Jade Emperor heard their prayers and saw the destruction caused by his sons. He

sent Hou Yi, his bravest god, down to earth to solve the problem of the ten suns and

end the catastrophe. Hou Yi was a good, courageous god with a beautiful wife, Chang

Er. Deeply in love with each other, they were known as the Divine Couple. Chang Er

didn' t like the thought of going down to earth, but she was unwilling to be separated

from her husband, so together they descended to earth and became mortals among the

Eastern clans.

Hou Yi was a great archer and brought his magic bow from heaven with him. Knowing

that Hou Yi came from heaven, the people of the clans proclaimed him to be their leader.

Seeing how much suffering and destruction were caused by the heat of the ten suns,

Hou Yi climbed to the top of Tienshan mountain and began negotiating with the suns

to have pity on the unfortunate people. He pleaded to the suns to take turns and make

their journeys across the sky singly, one for each day, and explained the white blaze

of ten suns is much too much for the land to bear. He also told them how much Heaven

loves all living things.

But the ten audacious suns considered it dull and boring to go across the sky one

at a time and that much more fun was to be had by coming out together, so they refused

to listen. They increased their heat and caused even more suffering. This angered

Hou Yi. He took out his magic bow and arrows and shot down nine of the suns; the last

sun begged for his life and promised obedience at performing his task of separating

night from day.

Finally the earth was at peace and people enjoyed their work and lives. However, when

Hou Yi made his report to the Jade Emperor, he was furious at Hou Yi for killing his

nine sons, and refused to let the Divine Couple return to Heaven.

As leader of the clans, there was much for Hou Yi to do on earth. He taught the people

many ways to defend their land and themselves. He was so busy with his duties he became

neglectful of his lovely and lonely wife. Chang Er was especially unhappy to be an

earthly mortal with all of mortality' s suffering, aging and death in particular. Also,

she was angry at Hou Yi for shooting down the Jade Emperor' s nine sons, and the couple

became unhappy and estranged.

To avoid arguing with his wife, Hou Yi spent his time travelling about the land alone.

He became familiar to its people, performing many good deeds wherever he travelled.

He also killed a gigantic, 100, 000-foot snake and a nine-headed monster that had

caused much distress and thousands of lives. Many times he prayed to the Jade Emperor

to let himself and his wife return to Heaven, but the Emperor refused his plead and

so Hou Yi and Chang Er remained as mortals, suffering as ordinary human beings do.

In his travel he chanced to meet a beautiful mortal woman, Mi Fei. She was the wife

of Feng Yee, the God of Water, who had a reputation as a womanizer and for ignoring

his wife. Both lonelyd, Mi Fei and Hou Yi became friends and later lovers. In legend,

such things never remain unpunished. When Feng Yee returned and discovered his wife' s

infidelity, he was furious and transformed himself into a white dragon, roaring and

plunging in the water, destroying fields and killing many people. Hou Yi thought the

dragon was an evil sea monster. He took up his bow and shot, blinding Feng Yee in

one eye. Thereupon, the god of waters registered a complaint with the Jade Emperor.

The Emperor considered all the good deeds that Hou Yi had done for the mortals, and

since he was already under punishment, the Emperor merely ordered Hou Yi to go home

to Chang Er and never see Mi Fei again.

Hou Yi had no choice but to return home. Chang Er was angry with him for his

unfaithfulness and unhappiness came between the once "divine" couple. Hou Yi knew

that he had wronged his wife and tried to soothe her, telling her that tears would

make her age faster, as they were now mortals. Chang Er looked at her reflection in

the water, for in those days there were no mirrors. She was terrified to see wrinkles

appearing around her eyes, and demanded that Hou Yi find some way to restore her

immortality.

Hou Yi was desolate and dared not stay at home, but he couldn' t violate the Jade Emperor

ís order by going to Mi Fei. He became violent and drunk. In his drunkenness he treated

the people cruelly. There were two men among the people who began to plot against

him, Feng Meng and Han Cho. Both were opportunists. Han Cho told Hou Yi that the Royal

Goddess resided on top of Kunlun Mountain and had a pill of immortality.

Hou Yi decided that for the saje of peace at home he would climb Kunlun Mountain and

begg the Royal Goddess for the pill of immortality. The Goddess, taking pity on him,

gave him her one remaining pill. She instructed Hou Yi that if one person took the

pill he would ascend to Heaven, but if he cut the pill into two halves and shared

it with another, they could live forever. The pill had to be taken on the 15th night

of the eighth month when the moon was fullest. Hou Yi was very happy and thanked the

Royal Goddess exuberantly and went home to Chang Er. They decided to divide the pill

and take it at the proper time so that they could both attain immortality.

Three days before the 15th day of the eighth month, Hou Yi heard of a medicinal solution

called "jade elixir" that could be found on Tienshan mountain, an elixir that could

could prevent women from aging and allow them to stay eternally beautiful. Hou Yi

wished to please Chang Er and resume a happy life at home, so he decided that he could

make the trip in three days to obtain this wonderful medicine and to surprise his

wife. He left for Tienshan immediately.

On the 15th of the eighth month, Chang Er saw no sign of Hou Yi. She waited and later

grew impatient, and sought out Feng Meng the schemer and asked where her husband was.

Feng Meng lied and told Chang Er that Hou Yi had gone to see Mi Fei. Chang Er believed

him and became furious at her unfaithful husband. As the moon rose Chang Er went into

the garden, looking up to heaven and remembering the contentment in the life of

immortality and the happiness of heaven, and then she thought of the sorrows of the

earth. She was confused and filled with emotion. Thinking that Hou Yi had abandoned

her, she swallowed the whole pill and at once she felt her body becoming lighter,

rising upwards towards the sky. At this moment Hou Yi arrived back with the jade elixir

and saw Chang Er ascending faster and faster.

The gods and goddesses in heaven despised Chang Er because she had abandoned her

husband. Chang Er had to change her direction and head toward the cold palace in the

moon. Hou Yi watched from the earth and took out his magic bow to shoot down the moon.

He aimed but he could not bear to kill his wife. Frustrated and saddened, he destroyed

his magical weapons and took to drink.

Hou Yi' s enemy Feng Meng watch and waited until Hou Yi was senselessly drunk, then

he attacked Hou Yi then and killed him. When Chang Er arrived at the cold palace in

the moon and saw how her husband had been cruelly murdered she deeply mourned what

she had done. She was cut off from the happy life in heaven and committed to eternity

alone in the moon, becaming the moon goddess.

Each year on the 15th day of the eighth month, when the moon is at its fullest and

brightest, people look at the moon and try to see in it the image of a beautiful maiden.

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