The Chinese Fairy Book — Richard Wilhelm
Wilhelm (Ed.) and Frederick H. Martens (Trans.). You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org . If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook. Title : The Chinese Fairy Book Editor : Richard Wilhelm Release date : September 8, 2009 [eBook #29939] Most recently updated: January 5, 2021 Language : English Other information and formats : www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/29939 Credits : Produced by David Edwards, Sam W. and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) *** START OF R. WILHELM TRANSLATED AFTER ORIGINAL SOURCES BY FREDERICK H. MARTENS WITH SIX ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOR BY GEORGE W. HOOD NEW YORK FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY PUBLISHERS Copyright, 1921, by Frederick A. Stokes Company ——— All Rights Reserved BOOKS IN THE “FAIRY SERIES” The English Fairy Book The Welsh Fairy Book The Irish Fairy Book The Scottish Fairy Book The Italian Fairy Book The Hungarian Fairy Book The Indian Fairy Book The Jewish Fairy Book The Swedish Fairy Book The Chinese Fairy Book “THE CROWS COME FLYING AND FORM A BRIDGE OVER WHICH THE WEAVING MAIDEN CROSSES THE SILVER RIVER.” — Page 40 PREFACE The fairy tales and legends of olden China have in common with the “Thousand and One Nights” an oriental glow and glitter of precious stones and gold and multicolored silks, an oriental wealth of fantastic and supernatural action. And yet they strike an exotic note distinct in itself. The seventy-three stories here presented after original sources, embracing “Nursery Fairy Tales,” “Legends of the Gods,” “Tales of Saints and Magicians,” “Nature and Animal Tales,” “Ghost Stories,” “Historic Fairy Tales,” and “Literary Fairy Tales,” probably represent the most comprehensive and varied collection of oriental fairy tales ever made available for American readers. There is no child who will not enjoy their novel color, their fantastic beauty, their infinite variety of subject. Yet, like the “Arabian Nights,” they will amply repay the attention of the older reader as well. Some are exquisitely poetic, such as “The Flower-Elves,” “The Lady of the Moon” or “The Herd Boy and the Weaving Maiden”; others like “How Three Heroes Came By Their Deaths Because Of Two Peaches,” carry us back dramatically and powerfully to the Chinese age of Chivalry. The summits of fantasy are scaled in the quasi-religious dramas of “The Ape Sun Wu Kung” and “Notscha,” or the weird sorceries unfolded in “The Kindly Magician.” Delightful ghost stories, with happy endings, such as “A Night on the Battlefield” and “The Ghost Who Was Foiled,” are paralleled with such idyllic love-tales as that of “Rose of Evening,” or such Lilliputian fancies as “The King of the Ants” and “The Little Hunting Dog.” It is quite safe to say that these Chinese fairy tales will give equal pleasure to the old as well as the young. They have been retold simply, with no changes in style or expression beyond such details of presentation which differences between oriental and occidental viewpoints at times compel. It is the writer’s hope that others may take as much pleasure in reading them as he did in their translation. Fredrick H. Martens. CONTENTS PAGE Preface v NURSERY FAIRY TALES CHAPTER I Women’s Words Part Flesh and Blood 1 II The Three Rhymsters 4 III How Greed for a Trifling Thing Led a Man to Lose a Great One 6 IV Who Was the Sinner? 9 V The Magic Cask 10 VI The Favorite of Fortune and the Child of Ill Luck 11 VII The Bird with Nine Heads 13 VIII The Cave of the Beasts 17 IX The Panther 20 X The Great Flood 24 XI The Fox and the Tiger 27 XII The Tiger’s Decoy 28 XIII The Fox and the Raven 29 XIV Why Dog and Cat are Enemies 30 LEGENDS OF THE GODS XV How the Five Ancients Became Men 35 XVI The Herd Boy and the Weaving Maiden 37 XVII Yang Oerlang 42 XVIII Notscha 44 XIX The Lady of the Moon 53 XX The Morning and the Evening Star 55 XXI The Girl with the Horse’s Head or the Silkworm Goddess 56 XXII The Queen of Heaven 58 XXIII The Fire-God 61 XXIV The Three Ruling Gods 62 XXV A Legend of Confucius 64 XXVI The God of War 66 TALES OF SAINTS AND MAGICIANS XXVII The Halos of the Saints 71 XXVIII Laotsze 73 XXIX The Ancient Man 75 XXX The Eight Immortals (I) 76 XXXI The Eight Immortals (II) 82 XXXII The Two Scholars 84 XXXIII The Miserly Farmer 88 XXXIV Sky O’Dawn 90 XXXV King Mu of Dschou 95 XXXVI The King of Huai Nan 99 XXXVII Old Dschang 102 XXXVIII The Kindly Magician 107 NATURE AND ANIMAL TALES XXXIX The Flower-Elves 119 XL The Spirit of the Wu-Lian Mountain 124 XLI The King of the Ants 125 XLII The Little Hunting Dog 127 XLIII The Dragon After His Winter Sleep 130 XLIV The Spirits of the Yellow River 131 XLV The Dragon-Princess 137 XLVI Help in Need 142 XLVII The Disowned Princess 151 XLVIII Fox-Fire 161 GHOST STORIES XLIX The Talking Silver Foxes 165 L The Constable 168 LI The Dangerous Reward 174 LII Retribution 177 LIII The Ghost Who Was Foiled 180 LIV The Punishment of Greed 184 LV The Night on the Battlefield 186 LVI The Kingdom of the Ogres 189 LVII The Maiden Who Was Stolen Away 196 LVIII The Flying Ogre 199 LIX Black Arts 201 HISTORIC LEGENDS LX The Sorcerer of the White Lotus Lodge 209 LXI The Three Evils 212 LXII How Three Heroes Came By Their Deaths Because of Two Peaches 215 LXIII How the River God’s Wedding Was Broken Off 218 LXIV Dschang Liang 220 LXV Old Dragonbeard 223 LXVI How Molo Stole the Lovely Rose-Red 231 LXVII The Golden Canister 235 LXVIII Yang Gui Fe 240 LXIX The Monk of the Yangtze-Kiang 243 LITERARY FAIRY TALES LXX The Heartless Husband 251 LXXI Giauna the Beautiful 261 LXXII The Frog Princess 271 LXXIII Rose of Evening 280 LXXIV The Ape Sun Wu Kung 288 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS “The crows come flying and form a bridge over which the Weaving Maiden crosses the Si