Chinese Tales
Long, long ago, there was no Earth, or planets. There was only space. In the middle of it was a core as big as the egg yolk in a chicken egg. Inside the core was a young life. His name was Pangu. Pangu grew very slowly. All he did every day was sleep (I bet you would like that!). He slept for 18000 years.
One day, he suddenly woke up. When he opened his eyes and looked around, everything was dark. He wanted to move his body but he was held tight. Pangu felt very uncomfortable. He took a deep breath but his lungs began to feel uncomfortable, too. He suddenly realized that he was surrounded by space. Pangu didn't want to sleep anymore. He moved his arms and legs around to exercise. When he moved, he pushed the space away.
Bang! Streaks of blue smoke floated up beside him. Gushes of murky gas sinked down below him. As the blue smokes floated up, it became the sky, and the murky gas became the ground. Pangu stood up. His head held up the sky. His feet stood on the ground. The sky kept on going up and the ground kept on growing thicker. Pangu grew taller and taller. When the sky rose 90000 miles and the ground became 90000 miles thick, Pangu worried that the sky and ground will turn back into a core, so he stood there with his hands raised, supporting the sky and pressing the ground. He did that for 18000 years.
He was too tired! Boom! He fell to the ground. Pangu died. "Whooo!" he blew his last breath. This breath became the clouds and the wind. When he blew the breath, there was a sound. This became thunder. Pangu's left eye became the sun and his right eye became the moon. His beard and hair turned into the stars. Pangu's arms and legs became the four columns that separated the sky from the ground. His chest and stomach became five big, tall mountains. His muscles turned into soil. His skin and body hair changed into flowers, grass, and trees. His bones and teeth became gold, silver, copper, steel, and other metals. His sweat became raindrops.
Ever after that, we have the sky, ground, and everything that now exists.
Since Pangu seperated the sky and ground, a goddess named Nuwa came to Earth. There on Earth everything was very beautiful.
After a long time, Nuwa began to feel lonely. She took some mud from the bottom of a lake and made a lot of mud people. All of the mud people came alive! They all called Nuwa "Mama!" Nuwa was very happy.
Nuwa took the people to many different places and taught them how to live. The people learned how to farm. Every year, the ground was full of crops. The people also learned how to herd animals. The grass was covered with fat cows, sheep, and goats. Nuw and the people were all very happy.
Their happiness did not last long. The water god and the fire god had a quarrel and started fighting. The water god accidentally crashed into one of the four columns that supported the sky. The sky collapsed. It made holes on the Earth. The Silver River(Milky Way) fell onto the Earth. Many people were drowned. The ones who survived gathered around Nuwa and cried, "Mama! Mama!" Nuwa loved the people, she didn't want them to die.
She found many stones. The people got some firewood and put it around the stones. Nuwa lighted a fire. The fire burned for 9 days and 9 nights. The stones turned red, yellow, blue, white, and black. Then the stones turned into a thick paste. Nuwa took the paste and poured it into the sky. She kept on doing that for a long time until finally the hole in the sky was filled.
What will she use for a column to support the sky? Nuwa worried about this when a huge tortoise came out of the ocean. "My legs are thick and sturdy. It will surely support the sky," said the tortoise. He didn't wait for Nuwa to answer and bit off his legs. Nuwa felt very grateful and tore off peices of her dress to bandage the tortoise's wounds. The cloth turned into flippers so the tortoise could swim better than before. Nuwa took the tortoises legs and set it at the four corners of the Earth.
Everything was back to normal. The people danced around Nuwa, singing "Long live Mama!"
Nuwa was too tired. Amisdt the laughter, she quietly laid down and closed her eyes.
A long time ago, back when the animals were ferocious and the people were hunting them,there were no moon or stars in the sky. When it was night, the sky was all black. One night, there suddenly appeared a moon with sharp, pointy edges, that shot out burning moonlight. All the crops and plants died.
Below the big rock mountain, there lived a couple. The husband was a great hunter called Yala. His wife was a weaver called Nee-uh.
Yala was so angry at the moon that he climbed to the top of the rock mountain with his bow and arrows and shot at the moon, but it would always fall short. Yala sighed. Suddenly, a huge rock split open. Out stepped a white bearded old man. "My child," he sid, "you must find the Big Tiger in the South Mountain and the High Deer in the North Mountain." Then he said,"Eat the tiger's meat, drink the deer's blood, then use the tiger's veins to make the string for the bow, and the deer's antler to make the arrows. Then you can shoot at the moon." With that, the old man disappeared.
But the hides of the tiger and the deer are too tough, an arrow won't go through. Nee-uh said, "Use my hair to make nets." Nee-uh's hair is very strange, as soon as you cut some, more grows in. The net took three days to make.
Yala and Nee-uh climbed up the South Mountain. They found the cave where the Big Tiger lived and strung the net over the opening. The Big Tiger leaped out and caught in the net. Then Yala and Nee-uh climbed the North Mountain. They found the High Deer's cave and used the same idea to catch the deer.
When he ate the tiger meat and drunk the deer's blood. Yala suddenly had the power and strength of a god. He took the bow made of tiger veins and the arrows made of deer antler and climbed the rock mountain again. He shot with all his might at the moon. The arrow hit the moon so hard that sparks flew out. The sparks became stars.
Yala kept on hitting until the moon became round. But the moonlight was still burning hot! Yala climbed down the mountain and said to Nee-uh, "If only there were something to cover the moon". Nee-uh was weaving a cloth. She weaved a tree with herself and a herd of sheep under it. She didn't have time to weave Yala on it before Yala attached it to his arrow and shot at the moon. The moon was covered. It wasn't hot anymore. It gave out a soft soothing light instead.
The people began to celebrate. Suddenly, the Nee-uh on the moon became alive, and so did the tree and the herd of sheep. The Nee-uh on the moon waved at the Earth, and the Nee-uh on Earth floated up onto the moon. The two Nee-uhs' became one! Yala began to worry. "Nee-uh! I'm right here! Hurry up and come down!", he called. Nee-uh was worried, too. She thought of an idea. She stretched her hair longer, braided it, and let it down. Yala got hold of the braid and climbed to the moon. The shadows on the moon you see now is Nee-uh weaving under the tree and Yala herding the sheep.
A long time ago, there was a worker boy called San Lang. Everyday he would work for a miser called Wang, and never got much rest.
One day, San Lang was going up the mountain to chop some firewood. While crossing a stone bridge, he dropped his axe into the huge lake. Without an axe, he wouldn't be able to chop wood! San Long started to cry.
Suddenly, a fairy floated down from the sky to one end of the bridge. The fairy asked, "Little Brother, what is troubling you?" San Lang replied,"My axe fell into the lake." The fairy walked into the middle of the lake, and stuck her hand into the water. In just a little while, she pulled out a shiny axe. "Is this your axe?" she asked. San Lang saw that it was silver, and replied, "No, it isn't mine." After a while, she pulled out another shiny axe, and asked, "Is this your axe?" San Lang saw that it was a gold axe, and replied, "No, that isn't mine either." Then the fairy took out a steel axe. San Long looked at it and said, " That axe is mine! That axe is mine!" San Lang took the axe and turned to thank the fairy, but she was already gone.
San Lang went to chop wood. Somehow, the axe was very sharp and easy to handle. after a short while, he already had a lot of wood. San Lang went home early that day. The miser scolded him for being lazy. San Lang said, "I wasn't lazy, look at how much wood I chopped." Then San Lang told the miser about the fairy and the axe. When the miser heard, he thought of a wicked plan.
The next day, the miser went across the stone bridge and dropped an axe into the lake. Then he pretended to sit down and cry. Suddenly, the fairy appeared. The miser quickly said, "My axe fell into the lake. Please get it out!" The fairy took out a silver axe from the water. "That isn't mine,but give it to me anyway!" said the miser. The fairy took out a gold axe. "That's mine! That's mine!" yelled the miser. The fairy disappeared. The miser was so happy, he jumped with glee, but he tripped and fell into the lake, never to be seen again. San Lang became a rich man later in life, just because he was honest.
