Chapter XVI: Miscellaneous Legends (2)

Before leaving he acknowledged to the King that he had no great confidence in his own powers, and suggested that he should be allowed to take with him Chou-pien and Tzu-hua as commissioners of justice and finance. The King gave his consent, and issued the necessary instructions. The day of departure having arrived, both the King and the Queen came to see Ch'un-yue and his wife off, and to Ch'un-yue the King said: "The province of Nan-k'o is rich and fertile; and the inhabitants are brave and prosperous; it is by kindness that you must rule them." To her daughter the Queen said: "Your husband is violent and fond of wine. The duty of a wife is to be kind and submissive. Act well toward him, and I shall have no anxiety. Nan-k'o, it is true, is not very far--only one day's journey; still, in parting from you my tears will flow." Ch'un-yue and his bride waved a farewell, and were whirled away toward their destination, reaching Nan-k'o the same evening.

Once settled in the place, Ch'un-yue set himself to become thoroughly acquainted with the manners and customs of the people, and to relieve distress. To Chou-pien and Tzu-hua he confided all questions of administration, and in the course of twenty years a great improvement was to be noticed in the affairs of the province. The people showed their appreciation by erecting a monument to his honour, while the King conferred upon him an estate and the dignity of a title, and in recognition of their services promoted Chou-pien and Tzu-hua to very high posts. Ch'un-yue's children also shared their father's rewards; the two sons were given office, while the two daughters were betrothed to members of the royal family. There remained nothing which could add to his fame and greatness.

He meets with Disasters

About this period the state of T'an-lo made an incursion on the province of Nan-k'o. The King at once commanded that Chou-pien should proceed at the head of 30,000 men to repel the enemy. Chou-pien, full of confidence, attacked the foe, but sustained a disastrous defeat, and, barely escaping with his life, returned to the capital, leaving the invaders to plunder the country and retire. Ch'un-yue threw Chou-pien into prison, and asked the King what punishment should be visited upon him. His Majesty granted Chou-pien his pardon; but that same month he died of disease.

A few days later Ch'un-yue's wife also fell ill and died, whereupon he begged permission to resign his post and return to Court with his wife's remains. This request was granted, and Tzu-hua was appointed in his stead. As Ch'un-yue, sad and dejected, was leaving the city with the funeral _cortege_, he found the road lined with people giving loud expression to their grief, and almost ready to prevent his taking his departure.

He returns Home

As he neared the capital the King and Queen, dressed in mourning, were awaiting the bier in tears. The Princess, after a posthumous title had been conferred upon her, was buried with great magnificence a few miles to the east of the city, while Ch'un-yue remained in the capital, living in such state, and gaining so much influence, that he excited the King's jealousy; and when it was foretold, by means of signs in the heavens, that ruin threatened the kingdom, that its inhabitants would be swept away, and that this would be the work of an alien, the prophecy seemed to point to ambitious designs on the part of Ch'un-yue, and means were taken to keep him under restraint.

Ch'un-yue, conscious that he had faithfully filled a high office for many years, felt greatly grieved by these calumnies--a result which the King could not avoid noticing. He accordingly sent for Ch'un-yue, and said: "For more than twenty years we have been connexions, although my poor daughter, unfortunately, has not been spared to be a companion to you in old age. Her mother is now taking care of her children; your own home you have not seen for many years; return to see your friends; your children will be looked after, and in three years you will see them again." "Is not this my home? Whither else am I to go?" was Ch'un-yue's reply. "My friend," the King said laughingly, "you are a human being; you don't belong to this place." At these words Ch'un-yue seemed to fall into a deep swoon, and he remained unconscious for some time, after which he began to recall some glimpses of the distant past. With tears in his eyes he begged that he might be allowed to return to his home, and, saying farewell, he departed.

Outside the palace he found the same two officials in purple clothes who had led the way so many years ago. A conveyance was also there, but this time it was a mere bullock-cart, with no outriders. He took the same road as before, and noticed the same hills and streams. The two officials were by no means imposing this time, and when he asked how far was his destination they continued to hum and whistle and paid no attention to him. At last they passed through an opening, and he recognized his own village, precisely as he had left it. The two officials desired him to get down and walk up the steps before him, where, much to his horror, he saw himself lying down in the porch. He was too much bedazed with terror to advance, but the two officials called out his name several times, and upon this he awoke. The servants were bustling about the house, and his two companions were still washing their feet. Everything was as he had left it, and the lifetime he had lived in his dream had occupied only a few moments. Calling out to his two friends, he made them follow him to the locust-tree, and pointed out the opening through which he had begun his journey in dream-land.

An axe was sent for, and the interior of the trunk thrown open, whereupon a series of galleries was laid bare. At the root of the tree a mound of earth was discovered, in shape like a city, and swarming with ants. This was the capital of the kingdom in which he had lived in his dream. A terrace surrounded by a guard of ants was the residence of the King and Queen, two winged insects with red heads. Twenty feet or so along another gallery was found an old tortoise-shell covered with a thick growth of moss; it was the Tortoise-back Hill of the dream. In another direction was found a small mound of earth round which was coiled a root in shape like a dragon's tongue; it was the grave of the King's daughter, Ch'un-yue's wife in the vision. As he recalled each incident of the dream he was much affected at discovering its counterpart in this nest of ants, and he refused to allow his companions to disturb it further. They replaced everything as they had found it; but that night a storm of wind and rain came, and next morning not a vestige of the ants was to be seen. They had all disappeared, and here was the fulfilment of the warning in the dream, that the kingdom would be swept away.

Ch'un-yue Regenerate

At this time Ch'un-yue had not seen Chou-pien and Tzu-hua for some ten days. He sent a messenger to make inquiries about them, and the news he brought back was that Chou-pien was dead and Tzu-hua lying ill. The fleeting nature of man's existence revealed itself to him as he recalled the greatness of these two men in the ant-world. From that day he became a reformed man; drink and dissipation were put aside. After three years had elapsed he died, thus giving effect to the promise of the ant-king that he should see his children once more at the end of three years.

Why the Jung Tribe have Heads of Dogs

The wave of conquest which swept from north to south in the earliest periods of Chinese history [49] left on its way, like small islands in the ocean, certain remnants of aboriginal tribes which survived and continued to exist despite the sustained hostile attitude of the flood of alien settlers around them. When stationed at Foochow I saw the settlements of one of these tribes which lived in the mountainous country not very many miles inland from that place. They were those of the Jung tribe, the members of which wore on their heads a large and peculiar headgear constructed of bamboo splints resting on a peg inserted in the chignon at the back of the head, the weight of the structure in front being counterbalanced by a pad, serving as a weight, attached to the end of the splints, which projected as far down as the middle of the shoulders. This framework was covered by a mantilla of red cloth which, when not rolled up, concealed the whole head and face, The following legend, related to me on the spot, explains the origin of this unusual headdress.

Two Tribes at War

In early times the Chief of a Chinese tribe (another version says an Emperor of China) was at war with the Chief of another tribe who came to attack his territory from the west. The Western Chief so badly defeated the Chinese army that none of the generals or soldiers could be induced to renew hostilities and endeavour to drive the enemy back to his own country. This distressed the Chinese Chief very much. As a last resort he issued a proclamation promising his daughter in marriage to anyone who would bring him the head of his enemy, the Chief of the West.

The Chief's Promise

The people in the palace talked much of this promise made by the Chief, and their conversation was listened to by a fine large white dog belonging to one of the generals. This dog, having pondered the matter well, waited until midnight and then stole over to the tent of the enemy Chief. The latter, as well as his guard, was asleep; or, if the guard was not, the dog succeeded in avoiding him in the darkness. Entering the tent, the dog gnawed through the Chief's neck and carried his head off in his mouth. At dawn he placed it at the Chinese Chief's feet, and waited for his reward. The Chief was soon able to verify the fact that his enemy had been slain, for the headless body had caused so much consternation in the hostile army that it had already begun to retreat from Chinese territory.

A Strange Contract

The dog then reminded the Chief of his promise, and asked for his daughter's hand in marriage. "But how," said the Chief, "can I possibly marry my daughter to a dog?" "Well," replied the dog, "will you agree to her marrying me if I change myself into a man?" This seemed a safe promise to make, and the Chief agreed. The dog then stipulated that he should be placed under a large bell and that no one should move it or look into it for a space of 280 days.

The Chiefs Curiosity

This was done, and for 279 days the bell remained unmoved, but on the 280th day the Chief could restrain his curiosity no longer, and tilting up the bell saw that the dog had changed into a man all except his head, the last day being required to complete the transformation. However, the spell was now broken, and the result was a man with a dog's head. Since it was the Chief's fault that, through his over-inquisitiveness, the dog could not become altogether a man, he was obliged to keep his promise, and the wedding duly took place, the bridegroom's head being veiled for the occasion by a red mantilla.

The Origin of a Custom

Unfortunately the fruit of the union took more after their father than their mother, and though comely of limb had exceedingly ugly features. [50] They were therefore obliged to continue to wear the head-covering adopted by their father at the marriage ceremony, and this became so much an integral part of the tribal costume that not only has it been worn ever since by their descendants, but a change of headgear has become synonymous with a change of husbands or a divorce. One account says that at the original bridal ceremony the bride wore the red mantilla to prevent her seeing her husband's ugly features, and that is why the headdress is worn by the women and not by the men, or more generally by the former than the latter, though others say that it was originally worn by the ugly children of both sexes.

And of a Worship

This legend explains the dog-worship of the Jung tribe, which now consists of four clans, with a separate surname (Lei, Chung, Lang, and Pan) to each, has a language of its own, and does not intermarry with the Foochow natives. At about the time of the old Chinese New Year (somewhere in February) they paint a large figure of a dog on a screen and worship it, saying it is their ancestor who was victorious over the Western invader.

Conclusion

If the greatness of nations is to be judged by the greatness of their myths (using the word 'great' in the sense of world-famous and of perennial influence), there would be few great nations, and China would not be one of them. As stated in an earlier chapter, the design has been to give an account of Chinese myth as it is, and not as it might have been under imaginary conditions. But for the Chinese philosophers we should in all probability have had more Chinese myths, but philosophy is unifying, and without it we might have had a break-up of China and perhaps no myths at all, or none specially belonging to China as a whole and separate independent nation. Had there been great, world-stirring myths there could hardly but have been also more wars, more cruelty, more wounding of the "heart that weeps and trembles," more saturating of the earth with human blood. It is not a small thing to have conquered myth with philosophy, especially at a time when the Western world was still steeped in the grossest superstition. Therefore we may be thankful that the Chinese were and are a peace-loving, sober, agricultural, industrial, non-military, non-priest-ridden, literary, and philosophical people, and that we have instead of great myths a great people.

But if the real test of greatness is purity and justice, then Chinese myth must be placed among the greatest of all; for it is not obscene, and it is invariably just.

The Pronunciation of Chinese Words

During the course of Chinese history the restriction of intercourse due to mountain-chains or other natural obstacles between various tribes or divisions of the Chinese people led to the birth of a number of families of languages, which again became the parents of numerous local dialects. These dialects have in most cases restricted ranges, so that that of one district may be partially or wholly unintelligible to the natives of another situated at a distance of only a hundred miles or less.

The Court or Government language is that spoken in Peking and the metropolitan district, and is the language of official communication throughout the country. Though neither the oldest nor the purest Chinese dialect, it seems destined more than any other to come into universal use in China. The natives of each province or district will of course continue to speak to each other in their own particular dialect, and foreign missionaries or merchants, for example, whose special duties or transactions are connected with special districts will naturally learn and use the dialects of those districts; but as a means of intercommunication generally between natives of different provinces, or between natives and foreigners, the Court language seems likely to continue in use and to spread more and more over the whole country. It is to this that the following remarks apply.

The essentials of correct pronunciation of Chinese are accuracy of sound, tone, and rhythm.

Sound

_Vowels and Diphthongs_

_a_ as in _father_.

_ai_ as in Italian _amai_.

_ao_. Italian _ao_ in _Aosta_: sometimes _a-oo,_ the _au_ in _cauto_.

_e_ in _eh_, _en_, as in _yet_, _lens_.

_ei_. Nearly _ey_ in _grey_, but more as in Italian _lei_, _contei_.

_e_. The vowel-sound in _lurk_.

_ei_. The foregoing _e_ followed enclitically by _y_. _Money_ without the _n_ = _mei_.

_erh._ The _urr_ in _purr_.

_i_. As a single or final syllable the vowel-sound in _ease_, _tree_; in _ih_, _in_, _ing_, as in _chick_, _thing_.

_ia_ generally as in the Italian _Maria_.

_iai_. The _iai_ in the Italian _vecchiaia_.

_iao_ as in _ia_ and _ao_, with the terminal peculiarity of the latter.

_ie_ as in the Italian _siesta_.

_io_. The French _io_ in _pioche_.

_iu_ as a final, longer than the English _ew_. In _liu, niu_, almost _leyew, neyew_. In _chiung, hsiung, iung_, is _eeyong_ (_o_ in _roll_).

_o._ Between vowel-sound in _awe_ and that in _roll_.

_ou._ Really _eo_; _ou_ in _round_.

_ue._ The vowel-sound in the French _tu, eut_.

_uea._ Only in _uean_, which in some tones is _ueen_. The _u_ as above; the _an_ as in _antic_.

_uee_. The vowel-sounds in the French _tu es_.

_ueo_. A disputed sound, used, if at all, interchangeably with _io_ in certain syllables.

_u_. The _oo_ in _too_; in _un_ and _ung_ as in the Italian _punto_.

_ua_. Nearly _ooa_, in many instances contracting to _wa_.

_uai_ as in the Italian _guai_.

_uei._ The vowel-sounds in the French _jouer_.

_ue._ Only in final _uen_ = _u-un_; frequently _wen_ or _wun_.

_ui._ The vowel-sounds in _screwy_; in some tones _uei_.

_uo._ The Italian _uo_ in _fuori_; often _wo_, and at times nearly _oo_.

_u._ Between the _i_ in _bit_ and the _u_ in _shut_.

_Consonants_

_ch_ as in _chair_; but before _ih_ softened to _dj_.

_ch'_. A strong breathing. _Mu_ch-ha_rm_ without the italicized letters = _ch'a_.

_f_ as in farm.

_h_ as _ch_ in Scotch _loch_.

_hs_. A slight aspirate preceding and modifying the sibilant, which is, however, the stronger of the two consonants; _e.g. hsing_ = _hissing_ without the first _i_,

_j_. Nearly the French _j_ in _jaune_; the English _s_ in _fusion_.

_k_. _c_ in _car_, _k_ in _king_; but when following other sounds often softened to _g_ in _go, gate_.

_k'_. The aspirate as in _ch'_. _Ki_ck-ha_rd_ without the italicized letters = _k'a_; and _ki_ck-he_r_ == _k'e_.

_l_ as in English.

_m_ as in English.

_n_ as in English.

_ng_. The italicized letters in the French mo_n ga_lant = _nga_; mo_n gai_llard = _ngai_; so_n go_sier = _ngo_.

_p_ as in English.

_p'_ The Irish pronunciation of _p_arty, _p_arliament. _Sla_p-ha_rd_ without the italicized letters = _p'a_.

_s_ as in English.

_sh_ as in English.

_ss_. Only in _ssu_. The object of employing _ss_ is to fix attention on the peculiar vowel-sound _u_ (see above).

_t_ as in English.

_t'_ The Irish _t_ in _t_orment. _Hi_t-ha_rd_ without the italicized letters = _t'a_.

_ts_ as in _jetsam_; after another word softened to _ds_ in _gladsome_.

_ts'._ The aspirate intervening, as in _ch'_, etc. _Be_ts-ha_rd_ without the italicized letters = _ts'a_.

_tz_. Employed to mark the peculiarity of the final _u_; hardly of greater power than _ts_.

_tz'_ like _ts'_. This, _tz_, and _ss_ used only before _u_.

_w_ as in English; but very faint, or even non-existent, before _ue_.

_y_ as in English; but very faint before _i_ or _ue_.

Tone

The correct pronunciation of the sound (_yin_) is not sufficient to make a Chinese spoken word intelligible. Unless the tone (_sheng_), or musical note, is simultaneously correctly given, either the wrong meaning or no meaning at all will be conveyed. The tone is the key in which the voice is pitched. Accent is a 'song added to,' and tone is emphasized accent. The number of these tones differs in the different dialects. In Pekingese there are now four. They are best indicated in transliteration by numbers added to the sound, thus:

_pa_ (1) _pa_ (2) _pa_ (3) _pa_ (4)

To say, for example, _pa_ (3) instead of _pa_ (1) would be as great a mistake as to say 'grasp' instead of 'trumpet.' Correctness of tone cannot be learnt except by oral instruction.

Rhythm

What tone is to the individual sound rhythm is to the sentence. This also, together with proper appreciation of the mutual modifications of tone and rhythm, can be correctly acquired only by oral instruction.

NOTES

[1] The inventions of the Chinese during a period of four thousand years may be numbered on the fingers of one hand.

[2] _East of Asia Magazine_, i, 15-16.

[3] _Cf_. Aristotle's belief that bugs arose spontaneously from sweat.

[4] For the Buddhist account see _China Review_, xi, 80-82.

[5] Compare the Japanese legend, which relates that the Sun-goddess was induced to come out of a cave by being tempted to gaze at herself in a mirror. See _Myths and Legends of Japan_, F. Hadland Davis, pp. 27-28.

[6] See _Myths of the Norsemen_, by H. A. Guerber. These resemblances and the further one--namely, the dualism in the prechaotic epoch (a very interesting point in Scandinavian mythology)--illustrate the danger of inferring identity of origin from similarity of physical, intellectual, or moral results. Several remarkable parallelisms of Chinese religious and mythological beliefs with those recorded in the Hebrew scriptures may also be briefly noted. There is an age of virtue and happiness, a garden with a tree bearing 'apples of immortality,' guarded by a winged serpent (dragon), the fall of man, the beginnings of lust and war (the doctrine of original sin), a great flood, virgin-born god-men who rescue man from barbarism and endow him with superhuman attributes, discipleship, worship of a Virgin Mother, trinities, monasticism, celibacy, fasting, preaching, prayers, primeval Chaos, Paradise, etc. For details see _Chinese Repository,_ vii, 520-521.

[7] _Cf._ the dwarfs in the Scandinavian myth.

[8] See Legge, _Shu ching_, ii, 320, note.

[9] In order to avoid misunderstanding, it is as well to note that the mention of the _t'ai chi_ in the _Canon of Changes (I ching_) no more constituted monism the philosophy of China than did the steam-driven machinery mentioned by Hero of Alexandria constitute the first century B.C. the 'age of steam.' Similarly, to take another example, the idea of the earth's rotundity, though conceived centuries before Ptolemy in the second century, did not become established before the sixteenth century. It was, in fact, from the _I ching_ that the Chinese derived their _dualistic_ (not their monistic) conception of the world.

[10] "Formerly, I, Chuang Chou, dreamt that I was a butterfly, flying about and feeling that it was enjoying itself. I did not know that it was Chou. Suddenly I awoke and was myself again, the veritable Chou. I did not know whether it had formerly been Chou dreaming that he was a butterfly, or whether it was now a butterfly dreaming that it was Chou." _Chuang Tzu_, Book II.

[11] See the present writer's _China of the Chinese_, chapter viii.

[12] See Du Bose, pp. 282, 286, 361, 409, 410, and _Journal of the North China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society_, xxxiv, 110-111.

[13] Du Bose, p. 38.

[14] He is sometimes represented as a reincarnation of Wen Chung; see p. 198.

[16] See footnote, p. 107.

[17] _Religion_, p. 177.

[18] See _Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists_, by Sister Nivedita and Ananda Coomaraswamy.

[19] The native accounts differ on this point. _Cf._ p. 16.

[20] For further details concerning T'ai I see _Babylonian and Oriental Record_, vi, 145-150.

[21] _Cf._ Chapter I.

[22] She is the same as Ch'ang O, the name Heng being changed to Ch'ang because it was the tabooed personal name of the Emperors Mu Tsung of the T'ang dynasty and Chen Tsung of the Sung dynasty.

[23] See p. 45.

[24] In Sagittarius, or the Sieve; Chinese constellation of the Leopard.

[25] See Chapter XIV.

[26] See Chapter XII.

[27] This pagoda is distant about twenty _li_ (seven miles) from Peking. It is on the top of the hill, while the spring is at the foot, half a _li_ distant. The imperial family used the water from this spring, whence it was carried to Peking in carts.

[28] See Chapter XII.

[29] See Chapter IV.

[30] This has reference to the change of Kuan Yin from the masculine to the feminine gender, already mentioned.

[31] There is evidently a mistake here, since the King was twenty when he ascended the throne and fifty at the birth of Miao Shan.

[32] _An Illustrated Account of the Eight Immortals' Mission to the East_.

[33] A record of a journey to the Western Paradise to procure the Buddhist scriptures for the Emperor of China. The work is a dramatization of the introduction of Buddhism into China.

[34] See p. 329.

[35] See p. 195.

[36] Literally 'golden oranges.' These are skilfully preserved by the Cantonese, and form a delicious sweetmeat for dessert.

[37] Only slave-girls and women of the poorer classes and old women omit this very important part of a Chinese lady's toilet.

[38] Alluding probably to the shape of the 'shoe' or ingot of silver.

[39] Slave-girls do not have their feet compressed.

[40] Wherein resides an old gentleman who ties together with a red cord the feet of those destined to become man and wife. From this bond there is no escape, no matter what distance may separate the affianced pair.

[41] This proceeding is highly improper, but is 'winked at' in a large majority of Chinese betrothals.

[42] The usual occupation of poor scholars who are ashamed to go into trade and who have not enterprise enough to start as doctors or fortune-tellers. Besides painting pictures and fans, and illustrating books, these men write fancy scrolls in the various ornamental styles so much prized by the Chinese; they keep accounts for people, and write or read business and private letters for the illiterate masses.

[43] Say about L10.

[44] Alchemy is first mentioned in Chinese history B.C. 133, and was widely cultivated in China during the Han dynasty by priests of the Taoist religion.

[45] Kuan Chung and Pao Shu are the Chinese types of friendship. They were two statesmen of considerable ability who flourished in the seventh century B.C.

[46] These are used, together with a heavy wooden _baton_, by the Chinese washerman, the effect being most disastrous to a European wardrobe.

[47] To provide coffins for poor people has ever been regarded as an act of transcendent merit. The tornado at Canton in April 1878, in which several thousand lives were lost, afforded an admirable opportunity for the exercise of this form of charity--an opportunity which was largely taken advantage of by the benevolent.

[48] For usurping its prerogative by allowing Chia to obtain wealth.

[49] See Chapter I.

[50] Compare the legend of the tailed Miao Tzu tribes named Yao, 'mountain-dogs' or 'jackals,' living on the mountain ranges in the north-west of Kuangtung Province, related in the _Jih chi so chih_.

End of Project Gutenberg's Myths and Legends of China, by E. T. C. Werner