Chinese Fairy Tales. Richard Wilhelm
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Название: Chinese Fairy Tales
Автор: Richard Wilhelm
Издательство: Eesti digiraamatute keskus OU
Жанр: Сказки
isbn: 9789949990504
isbn:
The raven, hearing this, was filled with joy and said: “I thank you! I thank you!”
And before he knew it, the meat fell to earth from his opened beak.
The fox caught it up, devoured it and then said, laughing: “Make note of this, my dear sir: if some one praises you without occasion, he is sure to have a reason for doing so.”
Traditionally narrated, it may be taken for granted that this is simply Aesop’s fable in Chinese dress. The manner of presentation is characteristically Chinese. For “the wisdom of Laotzse” compare, p. 30, “The Ancient’s Book of Wisdom and Life”: “Who sees his light, yet dwells in darkness.” Master Dsong was King Dsi’s most faithful pupil, renowned for his piety. The raven is known in China as “the bird of filial love,” for it is said that the young ravens bring forth the food they have eaten from their beaks again, in order to feed the old birds.
XIV
WHY DOG AND CAT ARE ENEMIES
ONCE upon a time there was a man and his wife and they had a ring of gold. It was a lucky ring, and whoever owned it always had enough to live on. But this they did not know, and hence sold the ring for a small sum. But no sooner was the ring gone than they began to grow poorer and poorer, and at last did not know when they would get their next meal. They had a dog and a cat, and these had to go hungry as well. Then the two animals took counsel together as to how they might restore to their owners their former good fortune. At length the dog hit upon an idea.
“They must have the ring back again,” he said to the cat.
The cat answered: “The ring has been carefully locked up in the chest, where no one can get at it.”
“You must catch a mouse,” said the dog, “and the mouse must gnaw a hole in the chest and fetch out the ring. And if she does not want to, say that you will bite her to death, and you will see that she will do it.”
This advice pleased the cat, and she caught a mouse. Then she wanted to go to the house in which stood the chest, and the dog came after. They came to a broad river. And since the cat could not swim, the dog took her on his back and swam across with her. Then the cat carried the mouse to the house in which the chest stood. The mouse gnawed a hole in the chest, and fetched out the ring. The cat put the ring in her mouth and went back to the river, where the dog was waiting for her, and swam across with her. Then they started out together for home, in order to bring the lucky ring to their master and mistress. But the dog could only run along the ground; when there was a house in the way he always had to go around it. The cat, however, quickly climbed over the roof, and so she reached home long before the dog, and brought the ring to her master.
Then her master said to his wife: “What a good creature the cat is! We will always give her enough to eat and care for her as though she were our own child!”
But when the dog came home they beat him and scolded him, because he had not helped to bring home the ring again. And the cat sat by the fireplace, purred and said never a word. Then the dog grew angry at the cat, because she had robbed him of his reward, and when he saw her he chased her and tried to seize her.
And ever since that day cat and dog are enemies.
“Why Dog and Cat are Enemies.” This fairy-tale is given in the current popular version.
LEGENDS OF THE GODS
XV
HOW THE FIVE ANCIENTS BECAME MEN
BEFORE the earth was separated from the heavens, all there was was a great ball of watery vapor called chaos. And at that time the spirits of the five elemental powers took shape, and became the five Ancients. The first was called the Yellow Ancient, and he was the ruler of the earth. The second was called the Red Lord, and he was the ruler of the fire. The third was called the Dark Lord, and he was the ruler of the water. The fourth was known as the Wood Prince, and he was the ruler of the wood. The fifth was called the Mother of Metals, and ruled over them. These five Ancients set all their primal spirit into motion, so that water and earth sank down. The heavens floated upward, and the earth grew firm in the depths. Then they allowed the waters to gather into rivers and seas, and hills and plains made their appearance. So the heavens opened and the earth was divided. And there were sun, moon and all the stars, wind, clouds, rain, and dew. The Yellow Ancient set earth’s purest power spinning in a circle, and added the effect of fire and water thereto. Then there came forth grasses and trees, birds and beasts, and the tribes of the serpents and insects, fishes and turtles. The Wood Prince and the Mother of Metals combined light and darkness, and thus created the human race as men and women. And thus the world gradually came to be.
At that time there was one who was known as the True Prince of the Jasper Castle. He had acquired the art of sorcery through the cultivation of magic. The five Ancients begged him to rule as the supreme god. He dwelt above the three and thirty heavens, and the Jasper Castle, of white jade with golden gates, was his. Before him stood the stewards of the eight-and-twenty houses of the moon, and the gods of the thunders and the Great Bear, and in addition a class of baneful gods whose influence was evil and deadly. They all aided the True Prince of the Jasper Castle to rule over the thousand tribes under the heavens, and to deal out life and death, fortune and misfortune. The Lord of the Jasper Castle is now known as the Great God, the White Jade Ruler.
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