The Moon Lady (
æ϶ð±¼Ô )
There are many Moon festival stories that explain how the Lady came to live in the Moon. On the 15th of August, Chinese parents tell their children stories about her. The dance Kita performs is based on the one below:
Hou-Yi shoots the Sun
Long, long ago, there were ten different Suns. They came out one by one, so that on each day, only one sun was in the sky. But the suns began to feel lonely when they were out in the sky, because they were always on their own with no playmates. So one night they hatched a plan. Each day for the next ten days, after the sun came out, it didn't go home to bed, but stayed burning brightly in the sky. After ten days, all the suns were shining all day and night long. The Chinese people were feeling very worried about this, as they were very hot and they couldn't sleep without the cool darkness of night. Plants began to die from the heat and the water began to dry up.
The people called upon the famous archer, Hou- Yi, to save them by shooting the suns down from the sky. Hou Yi did as requested and shot nine of the suns down so that order was restored to the land again. The people were so grateful to him for saving them that they made him their King. Unfortunately, Hou-Yi did not use his kingly power wisely and began to treat his people very badly. He enjoyed being King so much that he began to look for the secret to eternal life, so that he could stay in power for ever. He got a chemist to make a special tablet, the Pill of Immortality, so that he would never die. Hou-Yi's wife Chang Er was very worried about this tablet, as Hou-Yi was such a cruel and despotic King. She thought that if Hou-Yi stayed King forever, he would eventually starve or kill all of his people. When the chemist produced the Pill for Hou-Yi, Change Er quickly took it and swallowed it before Hou-Yi had the chance to take it. Her body became so light that she floated up to the Moon, where she lives forever as the Lady in the Moon Palace . Chinese people look up Chang Er, the Moon Lady, and feel grateful because she saved their lives. Living with Chang-Er in the Moon Palace are many beautiful Fairies. They are dressed in silk robes, so that when they move, the silk floats and looks like clouds. In Kita's dance, the silk ribbons symbolize the silk robes worn by the Fairies in the Moon.
Here is another story about The Moon Lady. It has the same characters, but the events are quite different.
A long, long time ago, there was a beautiful lady named Chang Er who was married to the heavenly archer Hou Yi. They did a lot of very brave and kind things together to help the people on earth, the most famous being saving the earth from the ten suns that scorched the earth. One time, after they built a big new jade palace for the Queen Mother of the West (XiWangMu), she rewarded them by giving them a special magic Pill of Immortality, saying, 'If you eat this magic pill, you will live forever. But you can't eat it right away. It has very strong magic, so you have to wait one year and eat special foods and sit quietly (fast and meditate) to get your body ready for the magic.'
Hou Yi took the pill home and told Chang Er about it. Then he put it in a secret hiding place until they were ready to eat it. But after three or four days, Chang Er wanted to take a closer look at the magic pill. So she took the box out from its hiding place and opened it up and took out the pill. It was so beautiful, like a pearl, glowing white from the inside with a rainbow of colour shimmering just under the surface, and it smelled like peaches.
Hou Yi came in and found her holding the pill and asked, 'What are you doing?'. Chang Er hid the pill behind her back and said, 'Nothing'. He said, 'Are you eating the Pill of Immortality? We're not supposed to eat it until after one year. It's too strong.' She said, 'No, I'm not eating it.' He said, 'Let me see your hands.' She took one hand out from behind her back. He said, 'Let me see your other hand.' She switched the pill and showed him the other hand. He said, 'Let me see both hands.'
She didn't know where else to hide the pill, so she hid it in her mouth and showed him both hands and mumbled, 'See, nothing.' She was so afraid of getting in trouble that she began to run away from him. He chased her around the room-on top of the tables and under the chairs and around and around-until, 'gulp,' she accidentally swallowed the magic pill.
Her body suddenly felt weightless, and it began to glow with a bright light and she started to rise up into the air. He said, 'Where are you going? Come back down!' She said, 'I'm sorry, it was an accident! I didn't mean to swallow it. I was just looking at it!'
The window was open and she floated out the window. He couldn't reach her, but he saw her pet, Jade Rabbit, sitting on the porch looking up at her, and he tossed the rabbit up to her so that she wouldn't be all alone wherever she was going. She caught Jade Rabbit in her arms and shouted, 'Bye bye!' And she floated up to the moon, where she lives until this day in the Cold Palace of the Moon.
People say that when the moon is full, you can see them there. The Jade Rabbit is busy pounding a new elixir of immortality. And on the night of the Moon Festival, you can look up at her on the moon and ask Chang Er for a secret wish¡ |
