There once were two young brothers, orphans. They had no family in this world, and so they kept to themselves.
One day, as they were playing together out in a field, an old man in the area, Waluwalun, called out to them: "Hey, boys! Come over here. I noticed you two are all alone. Let me teach you how to work and to take care of yourselves!"
The boys looked at each other; true, they had no family, no one wanted to care for them, so they nodded and off they went to live with Waluwalun.
The next morning, Waluwalun said, "All right, boys. Ready for the first lesson? Today you're going off to the forest to cut down some branches so that we can make clubs. So, off with you!" He then stayed home to make rope.
Soon the brothers came home with branches.
"Uncle!" one of the two cried. "There are many people out working on the land!"
"Never mind that," Waluwalun said. "Now I need you to go out and gather some animal bones."
The boys picked up a bamboo basket and went off to gather bones.
Soon they returned with a basket full of animal bones.
"Uncle!" one of them cried. "How are these?"
"You don't have enough yet. Better go back out and gather more."
"Why do you keep braiding rope, Uncle?"
"Never you mind. Now go out and get some more bones."
By and by, the boys returned with more animal bones.
"All right," said Waluwalun, "here's what we shall do. We'll take the clubs, bones, rope, and these cucumber seeds out to our field."
So off the three of them went. Once they got to the field, the old man had the boys stick one club in each corner of the field and then had them use the rope to cordon the area off, wrapping the rope around each club. They now stood in the center of a large rectangular plot of land. He told them to bury the animal bones in the soil. He next had them gather stones to build some low stone walls, next to which they planted the cucumber seeds.
"That's it for today, boys! Now let's go home."
And so they went home.
A few days later, Waluwalun said, "Go out to our field and take a look at it. Let me know if everything seems fine."
The boys rushed out and soon came back, one beaming and the other, less so.
"Well?"
"Uncle! The seeds have sprouted!" one brother said.
"Yes, but Uncle," the other brother said, "the millet others planted is now ready to harvest . . ."
"Ahh, no doubt but don't worry about it," the old man said.
The next day, Waluwalun taught the two brothers how to catch and skin a boar, not an easy task for an adult, let alone a child.
Once the boar had been skinned, Waluwalun told them, "Well, you've been so concerned about what others were doing, with their breaking up the land, their millet sprouting and such. Why don't you two take a little stroll with the boar's heart and feet. Let all the others take a gander at what you have done!"
The boys liked that idea, so they did precisely that.
Little did they know that the reaction they would receive would not be the one they had expected.
They passed a gaggle of villagers, who, instead of being amazed at the boar's heart and feet, started jeering the boys, laughing and pointing at them.
"Ha ha!" one of the village rabble laughed. "That 'uncle' of yours! Don't you know he's just a bird?"
"What did you just say?" asked one of the brothers.
"That old man who takes care of you is . . . is . . . a bird!" said one of the rabble.
"Chirp! Chirp! Tweet! Tweet! The old man's only a bird in human form!" laughed another.
The brothers were surprised, shocked, embarrassed. They quickly ran home.
"Uncle! Uncle!" one of the two cried. "The villagers all say you're just a bird, a bird in human form!"
Waluwalun shrugged his shoulders. "And what of it? Do you care what others think? Does it matter to you?"
"Well . . . no, I guess it doesn't . . ."
"Fine, then. Let's not hear any more of it."
The boys said nothing more about it and ran outside. Once again they encountered people from the village who laughed at them.
"Having a bird for an uncle! Can you believe it?"
"I wonder if he has them sleep in some nest in that hut!"
On and on the rabble, some of whom were doubled over, laughing until tears fell from their eyes, ridiculed the two brothers. The two brothers ran back home again. They found Waluwalun in the back of the hut, cooking something. Once again, they told the old man what others from the village had said.
'They kept saying you're a bird!" said one.
"Yes! They kept laughing at us and said that we slept in a nest!" said the other.
"Enough!" said Waluwalun. "Enough! I don't need to hear this anymore! I can leave this place." Next, with a loud gua gua, he turned into an actual bird right before their very eyes. Flapping his wings, he said one last thing in the language of people: "Pigs to feed and grain seeds to plant--I don't need to worry about such things anymore! They're all your chores now! Good bye and good luck!"
He then flew away from the back of his hut where, just moments before, he had been standing as a human, and now, never to be seen again.
from
Lin Daosheng, Vol. 2; pp. 97-100. See the bibliographic citation for 7/4/17.
Paiwan tribal land takes up most of Taiwan's southern peninsula.
This story shows a theme we can see in indigenous Taiwanese folklore: transformation or metamorphosis into an animal through mimicry, sheer frustration or rage without restoration to human form at the conclusion of the narrative. For example, in one tale a lazy man turns into a monkey simply by attaching an artificial tale to his own bottom (Lin Daosheng, Vol. 1, p. 24). In another example, an angry child becomes an eagle by attaching feathers to his body to punish his mother who had given him chore after chore while reneging on a promise to allow him some leisure time (Lin Daosheng, Vol. 1, pp. 25-26). Why a bird, though? What animal better symbolizes a longing to be free, unshackled than a bird? ("Hope is a thing with feathers," wrote American poet Emily Dickinson.) This longing to be free is one of the three reasons Boris Riftin posits for the abundance of transformation-into-bird tales. The other two reasons are, respectively, the many opportunities to observe birds in tropical and semi-tropical locations as opposed to catching glimpses of the stealthier forest predators, and the popular belief that one's soul becomes a bird upon death (Riftin, 從神話鬼話, 1999; pp. 310-311). Moreover, what other animal possibly better reconciles earth and heaven than a bird which navigates both realms (see Hans Dieckmann, Twice-Told Tales: The Psychological Use of Fairy Tales; Boris Matthews, trans.; Wilmette, Ill.: Chiron, 1986; p. 38)? Similar tales of transformation into birds and other forest creatures can be found in the folk literature of Filipino tribal peoples (See Mable Cook Cole, Philippine Folk Tales; N.p.: Forgotten Books, 2007; Damiana Eugenio, Philippine Folk Literature: The Myths; Quezon City: University of the Philipines Press, 1993).
In their fascinating book Hopi Stories of Witchcraft, Shamanism, and Magic (Lincoln, Neb.and; London: University of Nebraska Press, 2001), Ekkehart Malotki and Ken Gary suggest some shamanistic motifs of Hopi tales that might also be universal. Among these is a transformation into an animal (e.g., bird), a motif found here as well as in other indigenous Taiwanese folktales and legends.
The themes of minding one's own business and being grateful for what one has are difficult to miss in this story!
Motifs: B211.3, "Speaking bird"; D159, "Transformation: man to bird"; cQ281.1, "Ungrateful children punished."
Sunday, July 16, 2017
Wednesday, July 12, 2017
The Price of Being Beautiful (Puyuma)
Note: This is a rather grim tale probably not suitable for younger kids. The Brothers Grimm (no pun intended) would have probably approved of it, as would have Alfred Hitchcock.
In Lu Family Village, there once lived an exceedingly beautiful maiden--lovelier than peonies or jade--and her name was Jun. While all the young lads in the village practically lined up to ask her hand in marriage, the rest of the village girls resented her from the deep pits of their stomachs. Jun thus found herself constantly the target of spiteful rumors and innuendos.
The ringleader of the malicious girls, Paishim, feigned friendship for Jun and invited her to go swimming--just the two of them.
"Just we two, Paishim?" asked Jun.
"That's right, you and me and not the rest! Well, are you up to it?"
"Yes, let's go!"
Jun and Paishim went to the river bank, where they both took off their clothes. They both then jumped into the river and began swimming. When Jun took in some water and began coughing, Paishim, swimming next to her, ignored her distress. At the worst moment of the crisis, Paishim simply swam back to the river bank as Jun thrashed about and began to sink.
Paishim climbed back onto land. With Jun's having disappeared from sight, Paishim donned Jun's clothes, buried her own, and headed to Jun's hut.
In the darkness of the night and interior of the poorly lit hut, Jun's parents thought their daughter had returned home for their evening meal.
Hmm, why, when my daughter normally eats like a sparrow, thought the mother, is she now eating like a starving hound?
How strange, thought the father. Jun's voice is usually as soft as twinkling chimes. Why does her voice now sound like a blade sawing through a log?
The mother and then the father leaned in and took a closer look at the one who claimed to be their daughter. They then both turned to each other with stern expressions and nodded to each other as Paishim continued to eat away as if there were no tomorrow.
The parents had instantly thought the same things: She's an impostor, an evil shapeshifter from the forest who's taken our daughter's form and clothing, probably after having murdered her. And now here she is, before us, wearing our Jun's clothes. Letting her live would unleash ten thousand disasters upon our heads and those of other villagers . . . She must die!
The mother and father again exchanged looks and realized they had come to the same conclusion.
With grave determination, the parents set about doing the task. They arose and slowly approached the unsuspecting Paishim, still eating . . .
"What is it?" she asked. "What's wrong . . . ?"
While this was going on, Jun, instead of floating dead in the river, was drying off in a farmer's house, having been rescued by this passing farmer from a nearby settlement across the river.
"May I at least return home, along with you, to my parents to let them know I am all right?" she asked him.
"No, I already told you. I rescued you, and so you belong to me!"
"But--"
"No!"
She tried telling him how she missed her parents and how worried they must be about her not returning home. All the urging and begging she did turned out to be futile; the farmer demanded that she belong to him.
So there Jun stayed, a guarded prisoner in the farmer's house, with no apparent way to escape and return to her parents and her own home. She spent every waking moment thinking of ways to flee from her captor. If only there was a way . . .
One day, in frustration, she took the bamboo comb she was using and flung it out the window. A small plant grew from the patch of ground where it had landed. This plant, in time, grew into a great tree with mighty branches. In several years' time, the branches reached all the way across the river.
When she was alone for a few moments one day, Jun opened the window, climbed up the tree, and walked on the branches over the river back to her village and to her home. There, she found both her parents on the verge of death, both continuing to mourn the daughter they believed had surely been murdered and nearly replaced by a deadly forest shapeshifter. How joyful they now were to see Jun need not be detailed but only imagined! They had their daughter back, their spirits revived, and here the story ends.
from
Shi Cuifeng, ed. 台湾民间故事. [Taiwan folktales]. N.p.: Hebei Shaonian Ertong Chubanshe, 2005; pp. 245-246.
Much of this story seems like an urban legend; much, however, especially with the clueless characters like Paishim, who thinks she can impersonate Jun and the robotic parents who don't immediately grasp they have an impostor in their midst, reads like a folktale.
The concept of forest/mountain shapeshifters still exists among both the indigenous Taiwanese and the Han Chinese Taiwanese.
The Puyuma, or Binan, live on the southeast side of Taiwan, just above the peninsula.
Motifs: D1072.1, "Magic comb"; cF1071.1, "Crossing the river with the help of a fig tree whose branches reach the opposite bank"' K1931, "Impostor abandons or kills companion and usurps his (her) place": cK1931.1, "Impostor throws hero overboard into sea (river)"; Q261, "Treachery punished"; Q262, "Impostor punished."
In Lu Family Village, there once lived an exceedingly beautiful maiden--lovelier than peonies or jade--and her name was Jun. While all the young lads in the village practically lined up to ask her hand in marriage, the rest of the village girls resented her from the deep pits of their stomachs. Jun thus found herself constantly the target of spiteful rumors and innuendos.
The ringleader of the malicious girls, Paishim, feigned friendship for Jun and invited her to go swimming--just the two of them.
"Just we two, Paishim?" asked Jun.
"That's right, you and me and not the rest! Well, are you up to it?"
"Yes, let's go!"
Jun and Paishim went to the river bank, where they both took off their clothes. They both then jumped into the river and began swimming. When Jun took in some water and began coughing, Paishim, swimming next to her, ignored her distress. At the worst moment of the crisis, Paishim simply swam back to the river bank as Jun thrashed about and began to sink.
Paishim climbed back onto land. With Jun's having disappeared from sight, Paishim donned Jun's clothes, buried her own, and headed to Jun's hut.
In the darkness of the night and interior of the poorly lit hut, Jun's parents thought their daughter had returned home for their evening meal.
Hmm, why, when my daughter normally eats like a sparrow, thought the mother, is she now eating like a starving hound?
How strange, thought the father. Jun's voice is usually as soft as twinkling chimes. Why does her voice now sound like a blade sawing through a log?
The mother and then the father leaned in and took a closer look at the one who claimed to be their daughter. They then both turned to each other with stern expressions and nodded to each other as Paishim continued to eat away as if there were no tomorrow.
The parents had instantly thought the same things: She's an impostor, an evil shapeshifter from the forest who's taken our daughter's form and clothing, probably after having murdered her. And now here she is, before us, wearing our Jun's clothes. Letting her live would unleash ten thousand disasters upon our heads and those of other villagers . . . She must die!
The mother and father again exchanged looks and realized they had come to the same conclusion.
With grave determination, the parents set about doing the task. They arose and slowly approached the unsuspecting Paishim, still eating . . .
"What is it?" she asked. "What's wrong . . . ?"
While this was going on, Jun, instead of floating dead in the river, was drying off in a farmer's house, having been rescued by this passing farmer from a nearby settlement across the river.
"May I at least return home, along with you, to my parents to let them know I am all right?" she asked him.
"No, I already told you. I rescued you, and so you belong to me!"
"But--"
"No!"
She tried telling him how she missed her parents and how worried they must be about her not returning home. All the urging and begging she did turned out to be futile; the farmer demanded that she belong to him.
So there Jun stayed, a guarded prisoner in the farmer's house, with no apparent way to escape and return to her parents and her own home. She spent every waking moment thinking of ways to flee from her captor. If only there was a way . . .
One day, in frustration, she took the bamboo comb she was using and flung it out the window. A small plant grew from the patch of ground where it had landed. This plant, in time, grew into a great tree with mighty branches. In several years' time, the branches reached all the way across the river.
When she was alone for a few moments one day, Jun opened the window, climbed up the tree, and walked on the branches over the river back to her village and to her home. There, she found both her parents on the verge of death, both continuing to mourn the daughter they believed had surely been murdered and nearly replaced by a deadly forest shapeshifter. How joyful they now were to see Jun need not be detailed but only imagined! They had their daughter back, their spirits revived, and here the story ends.
from
Shi Cuifeng, ed. 台湾民间故事. [Taiwan folktales]. N.p.: Hebei Shaonian Ertong Chubanshe, 2005; pp. 245-246.
Much of this story seems like an urban legend; much, however, especially with the clueless characters like Paishim, who thinks she can impersonate Jun and the robotic parents who don't immediately grasp they have an impostor in their midst, reads like a folktale.
The concept of forest/mountain shapeshifters still exists among both the indigenous Taiwanese and the Han Chinese Taiwanese.
The Puyuma, or Binan, live on the southeast side of Taiwan, just above the peninsula.
Motifs: D1072.1, "Magic comb"; cF1071.1, "Crossing the river with the help of a fig tree whose branches reach the opposite bank"' K1931, "Impostor abandons or kills companion and usurps his (her) place": cK1931.1, "Impostor throws hero overboard into sea (river)"; Q261, "Treachery punished"; Q262, "Impostor punished."
Thursday, July 6, 2017
She Who Married a Snake (Rukai)
Before the front door of the local clan chief's stone-slab house, a hive of bees and baibudao vipers stood guard. Any intruder attempting to enter would surely be either stung or bitten to death--probably both.
Now in this heavily guarded royal household of hereditary chiefs lived a maiden named Ba'leng, a young woman so beautiful that the lake god Ai'didi'nan himself had fallen in love with her. The god planned to visit Ba'leng's house and ask her parents for her hand in marriage. The lake god did not know that in order not to scare away potential suitors, Ba'leng had instructed anyone seeking her hand to make an appointment to give time to the attendants to move the beehive and to round up the
vipers.
Well, Ai'didi'nan paid a visit in the morning nonetheless, somehow bypassing the vipers and bees. Ba'leng's family members and attendants awoke to find the floor of their house--in the house itself, mind you-- crawling with baibudao snakes, frightening them nearly out of their minds. The chief of these vipers was a magnificent shining white baibudao coiled around Ba'leng.
And there, standing inside the house amidst the slithering, coiling vipers was Ai'didi'nan himself, lake god and, something previously unknown to Ba'leng's family, king of the baibudao vipers.
He had come to ask the chief and his wife for their blessings to wed their daughter. Could they say no? Would they say no?
The chief and his wife did not want to agree to this marriage proposal; however, they thought over the circumstances. Ai'didi'nan seemed to have them over a barrel. What's more--the chief and his wife recalled how, according to Rukai traditions, the chief's very own family was descended from a baibudao. The proposal thus seemed to be one between equals.
The chief and his wife agreed to let Ai'didi'nan wed Ba'leng.
Ai'didi'nan was delighted and recalled his troop of baibudao vipers to leave the chief's house and to return with him to the lake. He had gifts to prepare.
Finally, the day of the wedding arrived. Ai'didi'nan, invisible, showed up with his gifts for the bride's family: a ceramic pot, an iron skillet, and multicolored glazed pearls--all typical gifts the members of royalty would exchange with each other. Each object floated through the air into Ba'leng's house, carried by the lake god's likewise now invisible baibudao attendants.
Now that she was married to Ai'didi'nan, Ba'leng had her husband make himself visible to only her and insisted his baibudao retinue stay invisible so as not to shock and frighten the village guests. Only Ba'leng could see her favorite form of her husband, that of an extremely handsome young man, a vision she savored for herself.
The time came for Ba'leng's friends and family members to escort her to her new home, the lake. They carried with them some of the wedding banquet. Once at the lake, they saw Ba'leng, smiling, happy, horizontally supported in the air by invisible arms, twirling around and around by the shore, singing this song:
Now in this heavily guarded royal household of hereditary chiefs lived a maiden named Ba'leng, a young woman so beautiful that the lake god Ai'didi'nan himself had fallen in love with her. The god planned to visit Ba'leng's house and ask her parents for her hand in marriage. The lake god did not know that in order not to scare away potential suitors, Ba'leng had instructed anyone seeking her hand to make an appointment to give time to the attendants to move the beehive and to round up the
vipers.
Well, Ai'didi'nan paid a visit in the morning nonetheless, somehow bypassing the vipers and bees. Ba'leng's family members and attendants awoke to find the floor of their house--in the house itself, mind you-- crawling with baibudao snakes, frightening them nearly out of their minds. The chief of these vipers was a magnificent shining white baibudao coiled around Ba'leng.
And there, standing inside the house amidst the slithering, coiling vipers was Ai'didi'nan himself, lake god and, something previously unknown to Ba'leng's family, king of the baibudao vipers.
He had come to ask the chief and his wife for their blessings to wed their daughter. Could they say no? Would they say no?
The chief and his wife did not want to agree to this marriage proposal; however, they thought over the circumstances. Ai'didi'nan seemed to have them over a barrel. What's more--the chief and his wife recalled how, according to Rukai traditions, the chief's very own family was descended from a baibudao. The proposal thus seemed to be one between equals.
The chief and his wife agreed to let Ai'didi'nan wed Ba'leng.
Ai'didi'nan was delighted and recalled his troop of baibudao vipers to leave the chief's house and to return with him to the lake. He had gifts to prepare.
Finally, the day of the wedding arrived. Ai'didi'nan, invisible, showed up with his gifts for the bride's family: a ceramic pot, an iron skillet, and multicolored glazed pearls--all typical gifts the members of royalty would exchange with each other. Each object floated through the air into Ba'leng's house, carried by the lake god's likewise now invisible baibudao attendants.
Now that she was married to Ai'didi'nan, Ba'leng had her husband make himself visible to only her and insisted his baibudao retinue stay invisible so as not to shock and frighten the village guests. Only Ba'leng could see her favorite form of her husband, that of an extremely handsome young man, a vision she savored for herself.
The time came for Ba'leng's friends and family members to escort her to her new home, the lake. They carried with them some of the wedding banquet. Once at the lake, they saw Ba'leng, smiling, happy, horizontally supported in the air by invisible arms, twirling around and around by the shore, singing this song:
Dear parents and friends, I must soon say goodbye!
Look hard as you can,
And you might catch a glimpse of me as I enter my new home in the lake.
Then, you shall never see me again!
Her parents, especially her mother and her friends, sang in return:
Our dear Ba'leng!
Our dear daughter!
The huge gap you will be leaving behind in our lives!
Now you shall forever be in the lake,
And we shall never behold you again!
Please always remember us, your family and village!
Ba'leng now said, "It's time to eat the wedding banquet food. Please enjoy it! Please also make sure you save the cold food for the groom's kinsmen!"
Immediately, ripples appeared on the lake, growing bigger and bigger. From out of the lake came trays and trays of both hot and cold delicacies carried by invisible snakes. Everyone sat down to eat--humans and invisible snake guests, with the snakes eating the cold food, which snakes prefer.
Now came the time for Ba'leng to say her final farewell.
Just before entering the waters of the lake for good, Ba'leng said, "In the future, if you come back to the lake, remember to wear white clothes or plain, unadorned clothes, never anything in black. Let your hair be adorned with red decorations!"
Waving goodbye, she walked into the water until she could no longer be seen. And then, once she had disappeared, a final ripple spread over the water.
from
Lin Daosheng, vol. 1; pp. 72-74. See the previous story for citation.
The Rukai people live in southern-central Taiwan, just above the southern peninsula.
The baibudao snake, known to zoologists as Deinagkistrodon acutus, is a highly venomous snake found in Taiwan and southeast China. It is also known as the "Chinese moccasin." The snake is popularly known as the baibudao, or "hundred pacer," because its venom will cause a victim to stagger one hundred steps before falling down dead upon the ground. (An excellent and fascinating introduction to the baibudao and the many other snakes of Taiwan can be found at
www.snakesoftaiwan.com, accessed 7/6/17.)
This tale belongs to the animal groom cycle of stories, which like its female counterpart, the animal bride/supernatural wife tales, are found worldwide. Perhaps the most famous version is "Beauty and the Beast," A southeastern Chinese and Han Taiwanese version of that particular story is "The Bride of Lord Snake," in which an old woodcutter and widower innocently picks some flowers for his unwed daughters and is accosted by a rather grim, stern but handsome young man of the upper class who then threatens the old man with death if he is not allowed to choose a bride from among the woodcutter's daughters. In that tale, Lord Snake's ability to shapeshift is mentioned but only occurs once when he turns himself into a bee, not a snake, to observe the woodcutter's daughters for the first time (see my e-book, Taiwan Folktales). In addition, there is a Hmong version of the above tale in which the groom does appear as a snake and, later, as a man (see the blog postings for 11/1/11, 11/22/11, and 12/18/11, respectively, parts one, two, and three). Another animal groom tale is the Mongolian/Manchu "The Bird Khan," similar to the Russian "Finn the Keen Falcon" or "The Feather of Finist, the Bright Falcon" (see the posting for 8/3/07). One of my favorites in the cycle is "The Princess Who Married a Dog" (see the posting for 7/6/12).
Perhaps a common factor in all these stories of men who must exist in animal form is the suggestion from Bruno Bettelheim that the male nature has the potential for being base, animalistic, and essentially repulsive, and that true love, like Ba'leng's, can overcome these hurdles. Many of the stories in this cycle do not have happy endings since they are metaphors that emphasize the permanent loss of Eden and of the primeval paradises that are a part of many traditions. We just cannot go back to what once was, and any attempt to do so, such as the union of a mortal and a god/spirit, is bound to end tragically. This story ends with what will seem to be a happy marriage, though the bittersweet finality of the bride's farewell cannot be denied. Ba'leng's parents pay a huge price for their daughter's betrothal to Ai'didi'nan--permanent separation. Such an outcome is perhaps the best that can be expected.
Motifs: A132.1, "Snake-god"; B576.1, "Animal as guard of person or house"; B604.1, "Marriage to snake"; D391, "Transformation: serpent to person"; D1980, "Magic invisibility"; F420.1.3.9, "Water-spirit as snake."
Perhaps a common factor in all these stories of men who must exist in animal form is the suggestion from Bruno Bettelheim that the male nature has the potential for being base, animalistic, and essentially repulsive, and that true love, like Ba'leng's, can overcome these hurdles. Many of the stories in this cycle do not have happy endings since they are metaphors that emphasize the permanent loss of Eden and of the primeval paradises that are a part of many traditions. We just cannot go back to what once was, and any attempt to do so, such as the union of a mortal and a god/spirit, is bound to end tragically. This story ends with what will seem to be a happy marriage, though the bittersweet finality of the bride's farewell cannot be denied. Ba'leng's parents pay a huge price for their daughter's betrothal to Ai'didi'nan--permanent separation. Such an outcome is perhaps the best that can be expected.
Motifs: A132.1, "Snake-god"; B576.1, "Animal as guard of person or house"; B604.1, "Marriage to snake"; D391, "Transformation: serpent to person"; D1980, "Magic invisibility"; F420.1.3.9, "Water-spirit as snake."
Tuesday, July 4, 2017
The Two Brothers and the Ogres (Amis)--Part Two
The two brothers followed the Kaluciluzai up the tree and down again. Then they chased the Kaluciluzai into the foothills until the wounded monster leaped onto a boulder and disappeared behind it. The brothers had to haul themselves up more slowly and continued the chase.
It was a good while, much later, in fact, before they came to a stream. A young woman happened to be washing a huge load of utterly filthy clothes there. The two brothers slowed down to catch their breath.
"Miss," asked the younger brother, "what in the world are you doing in this dangerous place?"
"What am I doing here? I am washing these Kaluciluzai clothes. Believe me--if I hadn't been kidnapped and made to do this, I wouldn't be here."
"Where are the Kaluciluzai now?" asked the older brother.
"Oh, in their house--a house made of boulders, just down the bend. They should be taking their afternoon naps by now. Why do you ask?"
"We're going to kill them," said the younger brother.
"Have you lost your mind?" asked the girl. "You can't kill them. They'll end up killing you!"
The younger brother just smiled. He turned to his older brother and asked, "Well, Older Brother, shall we take care of them?"
The older brother just stood there and said nothing.
After a while, the younger brother shrugged his shoulders and headed off alone towards the bend and the house made of boulders. Soon, he reached the very house, an ominous building, dark inside. He crept up to the open window and looked in; sure enough, a group of Kaluciluzai were lying on the floor and snoring away inside. He looked above the sleeping ogres. Above them, dangling from hooks on the walls, were human remains--arms, legs, heads, muscles, intestines.
The younger brother unsheathed his long curved knife and inched his way into the house and the great room where these man-eating monsters lay sleeping on the floor. All of them that had been near the old woman's house, including the ogre with the broken arm, lay on the floor, unaware that the younger brother was in the same room, his knife held above them . . .
He was upon them! Within seconds--kacha! kacha! kacha! The heads of the Kaluciluzai were rolling upon the stone floor.
The younger brother stood back and sheathed his knife.
Then, unbelievably, each Kaluciluzai head rolled back towards its neck to rejoin its body. These monsters that had been dead seconds ago were groggily coming back to life.
He swiftly unsheathed his knife and once again cut each Kaluciluzai head off. This time each head stopped moving, and the body to which it had been attached slowly died.
The younger brother returned to the banks of the stream where he had last seen his brother and the young woman; however, both were gone. The younger brother looked around for the two and, unable to find them, decided to return to the old woman's hut.
"Auntie," he asked the old woman, "did you happen to see my brother and a young lady pass by?"
"Yes," she said, "I saw them. They passed by here earlier, holding hands."
The younger brother thanked the old woman for her information and then let her know that the Kaluciluzai would never again menace anyone. Needless to say, the old woman was overjoyed. She thanked him for his help as he waved goodbye and headed back to his village.
He discovered his brother was not at home in the village. In fact, according to a neighbor, the older brother had taken the young woman to the palace of the Emperor, for she was none other than a princess who had been abducted the evil Kaluciluzai.
The older brother had brazenly presented himself to the Emperor, saying, "Your Majesty, here is your daughter, the Princess. I personally rescued her from her kidnappers, the Kaluciluzai."
"For your bravery and meritorious service, you shall wed my daughter!" said the Emperor.
The older brother was ecstatic! There was only one problem, though. His younger brother had now also arrived at the palace and had been ushered into the room to see the Emperor.
"Your Majesty," said the younger brother, "my older brother here escorted the Princess back to the palace as I was in the process of killing all the Kaluciluzai, removing them as a threat forever! My killing those monsters made it possible for my brother to bring the Princess home. My older brother didn't tell Your Majesty the whole truth. He is, it seems, a liar."
"Yes," said the Emperor, "a liar just as you are a true hero."
The Emperor instantly revised his plans. He named the younger brother as the one to wed his daughter, making him, the younger brother, a Prince of the dynasty, and, in time, a future Emperor.
And the disgraced older brother? What of him? He was commanded to be his younger brother's personal valet for the rest of his days.
from
Lin Daosheng, pp. 129-134. For the full bibliographic citation, please refer to part one.
The Amis people live along the coast of eastern Taiwan.
This is a lengthier version of a tale that appears in my e-book, Taiwan Folktales; that story, however, does not have the motifs of cannibalistic giants and rolling heads. "Emperor" here is not specified as either the Chinese or Japanese emperor. Originally, the "Emperor" might well have been just a very powerful tribal chief.
The "rifles" the brothers use to hunt could also be javelins or spears. They might be primitive flintlocks. "Rifle" might be an attempt by contemporary storytellers to "update" the story.
The cannibalistic monsters in the story exhibit similar qualities to the stupid ogres of worldwide folklore: obliviousness to danger and misperception coupled with viciousness. One of them assumes an old woman, not possibly anyone else who could be inside the hut, has broken his arm, and thus swiftly flees the scene. What's more, they all sleep at the same time in their unguarded rock house, allowing the younger brother to come in and eventually to dispatch all of them. These ogres seem to be literally cloddish chthonic beings with their inability to reason, their brute, raw strength, and their house of stone. If, as suggested by master sinologist and folklore expert Boris Riftin, they follow the traditions of such mythological or folklore entities, they eventually return to stone and even become hills or mountains upon death (see Riftin's [從神話到鬼話]; Taipei: Morning Star, 233).
The motif of the self-returning head is interesting if only for one reason: it indirectly references a bygone custom, headhunting, which in centuries past made Taiwan/Formosa infamous. In the East Asia/Pacific region, the severed head, to those tribes whose members collected the heads of their enemies, was considered the locus, the font, of one's manly essence and, hence, bravery and procreative power (see Jan Knappert's Pacific Mythology; London: Diamond Books, 1995; 111; and Weston LaBarre's Muelos: A Stone Age Superstition About Sexuality; New York: Columbia University Press, 1984; 3; 14-15; 29-30). Sympathetic magic teaches us that to obtain a head is to obtain what its owner once had.
Motifs: D1602.12, "Self-returning head"; G312, "Cannibal ogre(s)"; G512.1.2, "Ogre(s) decapitated"; K1710, "Ogre overawed"; K2211.0.1, "Treacherous older brother"; L161, "Lowly hero marries princess."
It was a good while, much later, in fact, before they came to a stream. A young woman happened to be washing a huge load of utterly filthy clothes there. The two brothers slowed down to catch their breath.
"Miss," asked the younger brother, "what in the world are you doing in this dangerous place?"
"What am I doing here? I am washing these Kaluciluzai clothes. Believe me--if I hadn't been kidnapped and made to do this, I wouldn't be here."
"Where are the Kaluciluzai now?" asked the older brother.
"Oh, in their house--a house made of boulders, just down the bend. They should be taking their afternoon naps by now. Why do you ask?"
"We're going to kill them," said the younger brother.
"Have you lost your mind?" asked the girl. "You can't kill them. They'll end up killing you!"
The younger brother just smiled. He turned to his older brother and asked, "Well, Older Brother, shall we take care of them?"
The older brother just stood there and said nothing.
After a while, the younger brother shrugged his shoulders and headed off alone towards the bend and the house made of boulders. Soon, he reached the very house, an ominous building, dark inside. He crept up to the open window and looked in; sure enough, a group of Kaluciluzai were lying on the floor and snoring away inside. He looked above the sleeping ogres. Above them, dangling from hooks on the walls, were human remains--arms, legs, heads, muscles, intestines.
The younger brother unsheathed his long curved knife and inched his way into the house and the great room where these man-eating monsters lay sleeping on the floor. All of them that had been near the old woman's house, including the ogre with the broken arm, lay on the floor, unaware that the younger brother was in the same room, his knife held above them . . .
He was upon them! Within seconds--kacha! kacha! kacha! The heads of the Kaluciluzai were rolling upon the stone floor.
The younger brother stood back and sheathed his knife.
Then, unbelievably, each Kaluciluzai head rolled back towards its neck to rejoin its body. These monsters that had been dead seconds ago were groggily coming back to life.
He swiftly unsheathed his knife and once again cut each Kaluciluzai head off. This time each head stopped moving, and the body to which it had been attached slowly died.
The younger brother returned to the banks of the stream where he had last seen his brother and the young woman; however, both were gone. The younger brother looked around for the two and, unable to find them, decided to return to the old woman's hut.
"Auntie," he asked the old woman, "did you happen to see my brother and a young lady pass by?"
"Yes," she said, "I saw them. They passed by here earlier, holding hands."
The younger brother thanked the old woman for her information and then let her know that the Kaluciluzai would never again menace anyone. Needless to say, the old woman was overjoyed. She thanked him for his help as he waved goodbye and headed back to his village.
He discovered his brother was not at home in the village. In fact, according to a neighbor, the older brother had taken the young woman to the palace of the Emperor, for she was none other than a princess who had been abducted the evil Kaluciluzai.
The older brother had brazenly presented himself to the Emperor, saying, "Your Majesty, here is your daughter, the Princess. I personally rescued her from her kidnappers, the Kaluciluzai."
"For your bravery and meritorious service, you shall wed my daughter!" said the Emperor.
The older brother was ecstatic! There was only one problem, though. His younger brother had now also arrived at the palace and had been ushered into the room to see the Emperor.
"Your Majesty," said the younger brother, "my older brother here escorted the Princess back to the palace as I was in the process of killing all the Kaluciluzai, removing them as a threat forever! My killing those monsters made it possible for my brother to bring the Princess home. My older brother didn't tell Your Majesty the whole truth. He is, it seems, a liar."
"Yes," said the Emperor, "a liar just as you are a true hero."
The Emperor instantly revised his plans. He named the younger brother as the one to wed his daughter, making him, the younger brother, a Prince of the dynasty, and, in time, a future Emperor.
And the disgraced older brother? What of him? He was commanded to be his younger brother's personal valet for the rest of his days.
from
Lin Daosheng, pp. 129-134. For the full bibliographic citation, please refer to part one.
The Amis people live along the coast of eastern Taiwan.
This is a lengthier version of a tale that appears in my e-book, Taiwan Folktales; that story, however, does not have the motifs of cannibalistic giants and rolling heads. "Emperor" here is not specified as either the Chinese or Japanese emperor. Originally, the "Emperor" might well have been just a very powerful tribal chief.
The "rifles" the brothers use to hunt could also be javelins or spears. They might be primitive flintlocks. "Rifle" might be an attempt by contemporary storytellers to "update" the story.
The cannibalistic monsters in the story exhibit similar qualities to the stupid ogres of worldwide folklore: obliviousness to danger and misperception coupled with viciousness. One of them assumes an old woman, not possibly anyone else who could be inside the hut, has broken his arm, and thus swiftly flees the scene. What's more, they all sleep at the same time in their unguarded rock house, allowing the younger brother to come in and eventually to dispatch all of them. These ogres seem to be literally cloddish chthonic beings with their inability to reason, their brute, raw strength, and their house of stone. If, as suggested by master sinologist and folklore expert Boris Riftin, they follow the traditions of such mythological or folklore entities, they eventually return to stone and even become hills or mountains upon death (see Riftin's [從神話到鬼話]; Taipei: Morning Star, 233).
The motif of the self-returning head is interesting if only for one reason: it indirectly references a bygone custom, headhunting, which in centuries past made Taiwan/Formosa infamous. In the East Asia/Pacific region, the severed head, to those tribes whose members collected the heads of their enemies, was considered the locus, the font, of one's manly essence and, hence, bravery and procreative power (see Jan Knappert's Pacific Mythology; London: Diamond Books, 1995; 111; and Weston LaBarre's Muelos: A Stone Age Superstition About Sexuality; New York: Columbia University Press, 1984; 3; 14-15; 29-30). Sympathetic magic teaches us that to obtain a head is to obtain what its owner once had.
Motifs: D1602.12, "Self-returning head"; G312, "Cannibal ogre(s)"; G512.1.2, "Ogre(s) decapitated"; K1710, "Ogre overawed"; K2211.0.1, "Treacherous older brother"; L161, "Lowly hero marries princess."
The Two Brothers and the Ogres (Amis)--Part One
In an Amis community, two brothers were working out in the field. Around noontime they noticed a water deer creeping to the edge of the field from the safety of the thick forest. Then, when the two brothers went to the spring to draw some water, they again spotted the deer, this time not far behind them and apparently also headed to the spring.
Hmm . . . now isn't this interesting? they both thought.
The brothers slowly turned around and gingerly headed back to their home for their hunting rifles. Returning to the spring with their rifles, the two brothers saw the deer was still in the same spot. The older brother took aim and fired a shot at the deer but missed the creature, which then fled into the woods.
The next day, the brothers, taking a lunch break from working in the field, headed to the spring to eat. Once again, not far from them, stood the deer. And once again, very carefully and as quietly as possible, the two went back for their rifles. The deer was still there when they returned. The older brother took extra careful aim this time and fired. This time he hit the deer, which bounded away, leaving behind a thick, dark trail of blood. The brothers followed the trail the best they could until the blood became fainter and fainter and the trail dried up.
And so the deer had gotten away.
The two brothers weren't about to give up so easily, especially for a deer that had practically begged to be caught. The deer had been wounded, maybe mortally, they reasoned. It had to be around somewhere in the forest or on a mountain slope. They decided to keep looking for it before some scavenging beast got to it first.
Soon it would be nightfall. They decided to make camp in the woods and spend the night there.
The next morning at the break of day, the hunt continued.
The brothers thought they had again picked up the deer's tracks and followed them to a stream, where the tracks disappeared. Up the stream a bit was a fordable area, so the brothers crossed the stream and walked along a path until they came to a hut. They knocked on the door and an old woman appeared in the doorway.
"Auntie," asked the older brother, "have you seen a deer pass this way?"
"What's this about a deer?" she asked.
"Did a water deer come this way?" asked the younger brother.
"Friend, there's been no deer--water or otherwise--in this area. Forget about the deer!" The old woman then suddenly straightened her back, looked very serious, and whispered, "Stay out of this place. Go back to where you came from. If you tarry here, you shall both die."
"Why?" asked the older brother. "What's wrong with this place?"
The old woman frowned.
"Look inside my hut," she asked. The brothers then did so. They saw a huge mound of dough on her table, enough to make many cakes. "See the dough? I have to make big cakes out of all that dough and then bake them for the Kaluciluzai, or else it will eat me! It'll eat you both too if you don't get out of here now!"
The brothers said nothing, but shivers ran down their spines.
"Not long ago," the old woman continued, "a Kaluciluzai ate my son. Then, yesterday, it ate my husband. Now I'm the only one left."
The two brothers were now more angry than afraid.
"Auntie, go ahead and bake your biggest cake yet," said the older brother. "Make it nice and big and round!"
"Well, yes, I have to . . . Otherwise, they'll eat me . . ."
"No, you misunderstood. I have an idea how to help you. Just go ahead and start baking, please. We'll be right here with you."
The old woman then baked her grandest, roundest cake yet. The two brothers lugged it outside, just in front of the door. They looked at the cake; it was nice and moist and juicy. The two then munched on the baked cake, making sure to leave telltale teeth marks.
Just then they heard a noise coming from the forest.
"Now we're all in for it!" cried the old woman from inside. "I had told you two to get out of here while you had the chance!"
Quickly entering the old woman's hut with the younger brother, the older brother said, "Auntie, no matter what happens, just stay behind us. We'll take care of this."
The three crouched inside the dark hut as the floor and the ground beneath it rocked with the thunderous noise sha, sha, sha!
"It's the monster! It's the Kaluciluzai! It's here!" The old woman began to whimper.
From outside the hut just beyond the door roared a voice: "Who's . . . taken . . . a . . . bite . . . from
my . . . cake? When no answer came in reply, the voice roared, "All right, then, Old Woman! I shall eat you and then finish my cake!"
"Come on in, my love! I'm right here, sweetie, waiting for you!" shouted the younger brother, trying to imitate the old woman's voice.
"What?! You . . . dare . . . "
The enraged ogre didn't wait to break down the door but instead thrust his arm right through the bamboo wall of the hut to grab the old woman. The younger brother dodged the incoming arm, then jumped onto it and, using every ounce of his strength, broke the arm bones of the Kaluciluzai.
"Aiyo, aiyo, aiyo!" screamed the Kaluciluzai in pain. "That miserable old woman broke my arm at the shoulder! Ai, ai, ai! How could she be that powerful?"
Unknown to those in the hut, there was a group of these monsters not far away.
"Brothers! Sisters!" the injured monster cried. "That old woman is stronger than she looks! Look what she's done to my arm! Run, run for your lives!"
The monsters turned and fled. The Kaluciluzai with the broken arm struggled to run away as fast as he could. It was difficult for the creature, but he was still extremely strong and could still run swiftly and jump incredibly far. He could also still put his good arm to some use as well, such as by pulling himself up tree branches. The monster did precisely this--pull himself up a tree--when it caught sight of the two brothers in pursuit not far behind.
from
Lin Daosheng, ed. 原住民神話故事全集. [Complete collection of the stories and myths of the Taiwanese aboriginal peoples], Vol. 2. Taipei: Hann Colour, 2002.
Hmm . . . now isn't this interesting? they both thought.
The brothers slowly turned around and gingerly headed back to their home for their hunting rifles. Returning to the spring with their rifles, the two brothers saw the deer was still in the same spot. The older brother took aim and fired a shot at the deer but missed the creature, which then fled into the woods.
The next day, the brothers, taking a lunch break from working in the field, headed to the spring to eat. Once again, not far from them, stood the deer. And once again, very carefully and as quietly as possible, the two went back for their rifles. The deer was still there when they returned. The older brother took extra careful aim this time and fired. This time he hit the deer, which bounded away, leaving behind a thick, dark trail of blood. The brothers followed the trail the best they could until the blood became fainter and fainter and the trail dried up.
And so the deer had gotten away.
The two brothers weren't about to give up so easily, especially for a deer that had practically begged to be caught. The deer had been wounded, maybe mortally, they reasoned. It had to be around somewhere in the forest or on a mountain slope. They decided to keep looking for it before some scavenging beast got to it first.
Soon it would be nightfall. They decided to make camp in the woods and spend the night there.
The next morning at the break of day, the hunt continued.
The brothers thought they had again picked up the deer's tracks and followed them to a stream, where the tracks disappeared. Up the stream a bit was a fordable area, so the brothers crossed the stream and walked along a path until they came to a hut. They knocked on the door and an old woman appeared in the doorway.
"Auntie," asked the older brother, "have you seen a deer pass this way?"
"What's this about a deer?" she asked.
"Did a water deer come this way?" asked the younger brother.
"Friend, there's been no deer--water or otherwise--in this area. Forget about the deer!" The old woman then suddenly straightened her back, looked very serious, and whispered, "Stay out of this place. Go back to where you came from. If you tarry here, you shall both die."
"Why?" asked the older brother. "What's wrong with this place?"
The old woman frowned.
"Look inside my hut," she asked. The brothers then did so. They saw a huge mound of dough on her table, enough to make many cakes. "See the dough? I have to make big cakes out of all that dough and then bake them for the Kaluciluzai, or else it will eat me! It'll eat you both too if you don't get out of here now!"
The brothers said nothing, but shivers ran down their spines.
"Not long ago," the old woman continued, "a Kaluciluzai ate my son. Then, yesterday, it ate my husband. Now I'm the only one left."
The two brothers were now more angry than afraid.
"Auntie, go ahead and bake your biggest cake yet," said the older brother. "Make it nice and big and round!"
"Well, yes, I have to . . . Otherwise, they'll eat me . . ."
"No, you misunderstood. I have an idea how to help you. Just go ahead and start baking, please. We'll be right here with you."
The old woman then baked her grandest, roundest cake yet. The two brothers lugged it outside, just in front of the door. They looked at the cake; it was nice and moist and juicy. The two then munched on the baked cake, making sure to leave telltale teeth marks.
Just then they heard a noise coming from the forest.
"Now we're all in for it!" cried the old woman from inside. "I had told you two to get out of here while you had the chance!"
Quickly entering the old woman's hut with the younger brother, the older brother said, "Auntie, no matter what happens, just stay behind us. We'll take care of this."
The three crouched inside the dark hut as the floor and the ground beneath it rocked with the thunderous noise sha, sha, sha!
"It's the monster! It's the Kaluciluzai! It's here!" The old woman began to whimper.
From outside the hut just beyond the door roared a voice: "Who's . . . taken . . . a . . . bite . . . from
my . . . cake? When no answer came in reply, the voice roared, "All right, then, Old Woman! I shall eat you and then finish my cake!"
"Come on in, my love! I'm right here, sweetie, waiting for you!" shouted the younger brother, trying to imitate the old woman's voice.
"What?! You . . . dare . . . "
The enraged ogre didn't wait to break down the door but instead thrust his arm right through the bamboo wall of the hut to grab the old woman. The younger brother dodged the incoming arm, then jumped onto it and, using every ounce of his strength, broke the arm bones of the Kaluciluzai.
"Aiyo, aiyo, aiyo!" screamed the Kaluciluzai in pain. "That miserable old woman broke my arm at the shoulder! Ai, ai, ai! How could she be that powerful?"
Unknown to those in the hut, there was a group of these monsters not far away.
"Brothers! Sisters!" the injured monster cried. "That old woman is stronger than she looks! Look what she's done to my arm! Run, run for your lives!"
The monsters turned and fled. The Kaluciluzai with the broken arm struggled to run away as fast as he could. It was difficult for the creature, but he was still extremely strong and could still run swiftly and jump incredibly far. He could also still put his good arm to some use as well, such as by pulling himself up tree branches. The monster did precisely this--pull himself up a tree--when it caught sight of the two brothers in pursuit not far behind.
from
Lin Daosheng, ed. 原住民神話故事全集. [Complete collection of the stories and myths of the Taiwanese aboriginal peoples], Vol. 2. Taipei: Hann Colour, 2002.
Monday, July 3, 2017
The Jade Mirror (Atayal)
There once were two sisters who lived all on their own. They had to be on their own, for their parents had passed away, and there was no one else to look out for them.
The older sister, Ya'ge, had not much going for her. True, she was not a great beauty who had to apply lots of makeup to keep up appearance, but that was not the problem. No, the real issue was her true ugliness--her narcissism, laziness and great temper--lay well beneath the skin and ran all the way to the bone.
The younger sister, Wuyang, was a complete contrast to her sister. She was pleasant to behold and as pretty inside. Unlike her older sister, she was a cheerful hard worker.
One day the two of them were at home. Wuyang was busy weaving fabric while Ya'ge was busy, busy in love with her image in a polished jade mirror.
"Wuyang," asked Ya'ge, turning away from the mirror, "am I not pretty? Come and tell me!"
"Oh, Ya'ge, please," said Wuyang. "Must you spend all day looking into the mirror? All the time you've spent so far could have gone toward planting crops or doing something useful! I'd appreciate some help! I can't do everything by myself."
Ya'ge had apparently not heard a thing.
"Ya'ge! You should do something to help out in case there's an emergency, instead of sitting around all day looking into the mirror. If we end up starving, will it matter then how pretty you are?"
"Huh! What kind of mean, nasty, big-mouthed sister are you? I'll spend time looking in the mirror all I like, thank you."
"Ya'ge, come on! If we keep ourselves busy doing something good, something useful, we'll be happier, healthier, won't we? We also won't starve if there's a--"
"Wuyang, didn't I just suggest to you to mind your own business?"
Wuyang was now sorry she had made Ya'ge cross.
"Big Sister," she said, "don't be mad. Can't we just be happy and enjoy each other's company?"
"I think perhaps not. No, I've been thinking about us for a while now. I have decided I don't want to be with a rude big mouth like you anymore. We need to split up."
"Ya'ge, don't joke that way. You can't be serious. Please forgive me for opening my big mouth when I shouldn't have. Go ahead and scold me. I deserve it."
"Scold you? Scold you? How dare I? Why, you're Little Miss Perfect--beautiful, skilled, well-mannered, not an ugly clod like me!"
"Ya'ge, I've never even said anything like that--"
Ya'ge shot Wuyang a withering stare. Wuyang had weathered Ya'ge's moodiness all her life, but this time she sensed Ya'ge was serious about their splitting up. She began to cry and plead with her older sister.
"Big Sister, please forgive me. We've been together since Father and Mother left. We've been through good times and bad times! Don't let something stupid I said--"
"Stop! Say no more! That's it! I've made up my mind, so this is it for us!"
And so it was.
Stubborn Ya'ge had, as they say, "a heart and guts made of iron." So what could these two young women who shared a single-room hut do to split up? They simply went their own ways, each taking care of herself and not acknowledging the presence of the other. In truth, only one of the pair really did anything to take care of herself, while the other spent most of her time doing what she loved to do best, studying herself in the mirror. Other than that, she scrounged around to feed herself.
One day, when Ya'ge was by herself, scrutinizing herself from every angle in the mirror, she heard a voice say, "You're ugly!"
"What? Who said that?" She looked around.
"Yes, you're ugly!" It was the mirror speaking to her. "Ugly, ugly, ugly, ugly, ugly! Ugly as disease! Ugly as a stench! Ugly as a nightmare!"
Ya'ge was dumbstruck. Was this all a dream? She stared at the mirror.
"Ahh, stop it!" cried the mirror. "Stop looking at me! It hurts! You're as ugly as a cockroach! You're hideous, but your sister is pretty, pretty, pretty!"
"You stupid bewitched mirror!" said Ya'ge, grabbing the mirror off the wall, preparing to smash it upon the floor. "Be gone--"
"Ya'ge, stop! What are you doing?" Wuyang had just returned from the vegetable patch. "The mirror belonged to our parents! You can't break it!"
"Oh, can't I? Shut up and mind your own business!" She raised the mirror over her head.
"Ugly, ugly, ugly!" said the mirror. "Ugly heart! Ugly eyes! Ugly temper! Did I already say, 'Ugly heart'? Wuyang is pretty, pretty, pretty! Pretty heart! Pretty eyes! Pretty--"
Ya'ge slammed the mirror onto the floor, shattering it into eight large pieces and silencing the voice.
"Ya'ge . . . Big Sister . . . how could you?"
Wuyang's tears flowed onto the floor as she knelt down to pick up the eight chunks. She then carried the pieces away and placed them under her pillow She remembered the day her father had brought this round, smooth jade stone home, having found it while hunting on a mountain ridge, seeing it lying upon a larger white jade rock. Wuyang remembered how she herself had further polished it to such a sheen that it could be used as a good usable mirror. How sad she was to see it had been broken into pieces. Every day she would come home from her chores and look at the remnants of the mirror. Then the tears would once again flow . . .
Many days and nights passed.
One evening, while Ya'ge was sleeping and snoring away, Wuyang sat on her bed, unable to sleep, upset about the loss of her parents, her poor relations with her sister, and the destruction of the only belonging left from her parents, the jade mirror. She heard a strange sound and saw a brilliant white light bleeding out from beneath her pillow.
She lifted the pillow--the broken pieces of jade had somehow reformed themselves into a mirror, an intact, unbroken mirror. From the mirror now came rays of rainbow lights, filling the small hut, dancing on the walls, gradually forming themselves into a tight circle around Wuyang, making the already lovely young woman look radiant and beautiful.
With her trembling hands, Wuyang took the mirror and held it close to her bosom.
"Wuyang, don't be sad," said the mirror. "Continue to work hard. You'll have a meaningful, happy life. Good people like those who work hard, and those who work hard are rewarded in more ways than one. I like you and shall remain with you always. Would you like me to stay?"
"Oh, Mirror, yes, yes! I like you too, so please stay with me forever!"
That night, Wuyang enjoyed the deepest, sweetest sleep she had ever experienced.
Ya'ge, meanwhile, slept on.
From that day on, even though Wuyang always left the mirror under her pillow, the mirror would somehow show up wherever she was doing her chores--whether up in the mountains collecting firewood, planting crops in the patch, drawing water from the stream. Whenever Wuyang encountered danger, the mirror would be there right by her side, warding off any threat to Wuyang, protecting her every minute of the day and night. Once, for instance, the mirror suddenly appeared as she was gathering firewood. "Wuyang, drop what you have and leave now! A hungry black bear is just around the bend! Come this way!" On more than one occasion, the mirror thus saved Wuyang's life.
In the evening Wuyang could do her weaving with light supplied from the mirror. Gone was the need for candles or lanterns, for the mirror could illuminate the hut as brightly as the afternoon sun rays coming in through the window.
Ya'ge remained unaware of all this--sleeping day and night without a care in the world. The two sisters usually didn't meet, for Wuyang was an early riser and would return later at night. Anyway, Ya'ge would always be sound asleep. The mirror continued to dislike Ya'ge and would always hide itself from her, never allowing Ya'ge to know of its presence or magical powers. Wuyang chose to remain mum about it.
With the mirror's help and protection, Wuyang prospered. She was able to plant and harvest crops, gather and sell more firewood, and weave more fabric to sell. She built up a growing income. She became known far and wide as a good catch, and many eligible young men, prodded by their own parents and matchmakers, lined up to ask her for her hand in marriage.
"Mirror, whom do I choose?" she asked. "There are so many nice young men, and I'm swamped with offers. Please help me."
"Wuyang, choose Minglai," said the mirror. "He works hard, hunts, fishes, tends to his father's fields without complaint. He's honest and has a good heart. He shall love you and be considerate to you. He shall bring you great fortune. Let the choice be Minglai!"
So Wuyang indeed chose Minglai and they wed. Everyone in the nearby village helped the newlywed couple by constructing a home for them. In time, Wuyang gave birth to her first child. Wuyang now had a family again.
Everything was no so rosy for Ya'ge, however. You might say she slept her life away. When the time came that she wanted to get married too, there was, unfortunately, no one for her. She continued to sleep and sleep. If she worked half a day, she would then sleep for two full days. She also ate badly and neglected her health. Local people shunned her, regarding her as lazy, unproductive. Her life ended early, and she died all alone in her hut.
The Atayal people place a high value on those who work hard to better themselves and those around them. Thus, this story has been told from one generation to another and will continue to be told.
from
Cai Tiemin, ed. 高山族民间故事选. [Selection of folktales from the Taiwanese indigenous peoples]. Shanghai: Shanghai Wenyi Chubanshe, 1987; pp. 73-77.
This story shall be the first in a series of stories from the indigenous tribes of Taiwan.
The Austronesian Atayal live in north-central and eastern Taiwan.
What can a mirror do in folk literature? It may reflect the soul. It can tell the truth that dares not be spoken. It can also reveal the ugliness of narcissistic preoccupation with the self when no other person can. Here, the mirror to which Ya'ge retreats to delude herself turns on her, now emitting a harsh parental voice seemingly from beyond the grave, rather cruelly censuring her when her slothfulness and love for herself have become unbearable. Parental authority dies hard if it indeed can die at all, and here it is the inner chatter of the strict, relentless introjected parental voice, or superego itself, that cannot be stilled.
This story, like "Cinderella," deals with sibling rivalry, besides the mirror-gazing dangers of narcissism found in "Snow White." There are no animal helpers or fairy godmothers in this story; instead, there is the talking jade mirror to stand in for the parent or parents missing in Wuyang's life. The parents may be gone, but the presumed competition for their favor, perhaps for the father's love, lives on, though it would appear that the lazy Ya'ge has long given up her part in the struggle. Bruno Bettelheim, writing about "Cinderella" in The Uses of Enchantment, suggests that such rivalry stems not so much from the often customary dislike two siblings may have for each other but rather from the knowledge of one child that a parent favors the more industrious, more pleasing child (238). The sibling enmity is compounded by the fact that the parent is no longer physically around but the memory of his/her favoritism and the psychically generated voice that embodies it remain, in this case, lodged in a rock, a symbol of that which is tied to the earth.
Motifs: D1163, "Magic mirror"; D1311.2, "Mirror answers questions"; Q5, "Laziness punished; industry rewarded."
The older sister, Ya'ge, had not much going for her. True, she was not a great beauty who had to apply lots of makeup to keep up appearance, but that was not the problem. No, the real issue was her true ugliness--her narcissism, laziness and great temper--lay well beneath the skin and ran all the way to the bone.
The younger sister, Wuyang, was a complete contrast to her sister. She was pleasant to behold and as pretty inside. Unlike her older sister, she was a cheerful hard worker.
One day the two of them were at home. Wuyang was busy weaving fabric while Ya'ge was busy, busy in love with her image in a polished jade mirror.
"Wuyang," asked Ya'ge, turning away from the mirror, "am I not pretty? Come and tell me!"
"Oh, Ya'ge, please," said Wuyang. "Must you spend all day looking into the mirror? All the time you've spent so far could have gone toward planting crops or doing something useful! I'd appreciate some help! I can't do everything by myself."
Ya'ge had apparently not heard a thing.
"Ya'ge! You should do something to help out in case there's an emergency, instead of sitting around all day looking into the mirror. If we end up starving, will it matter then how pretty you are?"
"Huh! What kind of mean, nasty, big-mouthed sister are you? I'll spend time looking in the mirror all I like, thank you."
"Ya'ge, come on! If we keep ourselves busy doing something good, something useful, we'll be happier, healthier, won't we? We also won't starve if there's a--"
"Wuyang, didn't I just suggest to you to mind your own business?"
Wuyang was now sorry she had made Ya'ge cross.
"Big Sister," she said, "don't be mad. Can't we just be happy and enjoy each other's company?"
"I think perhaps not. No, I've been thinking about us for a while now. I have decided I don't want to be with a rude big mouth like you anymore. We need to split up."
"Ya'ge, don't joke that way. You can't be serious. Please forgive me for opening my big mouth when I shouldn't have. Go ahead and scold me. I deserve it."
"Scold you? Scold you? How dare I? Why, you're Little Miss Perfect--beautiful, skilled, well-mannered, not an ugly clod like me!"
"Ya'ge, I've never even said anything like that--"
Ya'ge shot Wuyang a withering stare. Wuyang had weathered Ya'ge's moodiness all her life, but this time she sensed Ya'ge was serious about their splitting up. She began to cry and plead with her older sister.
"Big Sister, please forgive me. We've been together since Father and Mother left. We've been through good times and bad times! Don't let something stupid I said--"
"Stop! Say no more! That's it! I've made up my mind, so this is it for us!"
And so it was.
Stubborn Ya'ge had, as they say, "a heart and guts made of iron." So what could these two young women who shared a single-room hut do to split up? They simply went their own ways, each taking care of herself and not acknowledging the presence of the other. In truth, only one of the pair really did anything to take care of herself, while the other spent most of her time doing what she loved to do best, studying herself in the mirror. Other than that, she scrounged around to feed herself.
One day, when Ya'ge was by herself, scrutinizing herself from every angle in the mirror, she heard a voice say, "You're ugly!"
"What? Who said that?" She looked around.
"Yes, you're ugly!" It was the mirror speaking to her. "Ugly, ugly, ugly, ugly, ugly! Ugly as disease! Ugly as a stench! Ugly as a nightmare!"
Ya'ge was dumbstruck. Was this all a dream? She stared at the mirror.
"Ahh, stop it!" cried the mirror. "Stop looking at me! It hurts! You're as ugly as a cockroach! You're hideous, but your sister is pretty, pretty, pretty!"
"You stupid bewitched mirror!" said Ya'ge, grabbing the mirror off the wall, preparing to smash it upon the floor. "Be gone--"
"Ya'ge, stop! What are you doing?" Wuyang had just returned from the vegetable patch. "The mirror belonged to our parents! You can't break it!"
"Oh, can't I? Shut up and mind your own business!" She raised the mirror over her head.
"Ugly, ugly, ugly!" said the mirror. "Ugly heart! Ugly eyes! Ugly temper! Did I already say, 'Ugly heart'? Wuyang is pretty, pretty, pretty! Pretty heart! Pretty eyes! Pretty--"
Ya'ge slammed the mirror onto the floor, shattering it into eight large pieces and silencing the voice.
"Ya'ge . . . Big Sister . . . how could you?"
Wuyang's tears flowed onto the floor as she knelt down to pick up the eight chunks. She then carried the pieces away and placed them under her pillow She remembered the day her father had brought this round, smooth jade stone home, having found it while hunting on a mountain ridge, seeing it lying upon a larger white jade rock. Wuyang remembered how she herself had further polished it to such a sheen that it could be used as a good usable mirror. How sad she was to see it had been broken into pieces. Every day she would come home from her chores and look at the remnants of the mirror. Then the tears would once again flow . . .
Many days and nights passed.
One evening, while Ya'ge was sleeping and snoring away, Wuyang sat on her bed, unable to sleep, upset about the loss of her parents, her poor relations with her sister, and the destruction of the only belonging left from her parents, the jade mirror. She heard a strange sound and saw a brilliant white light bleeding out from beneath her pillow.
She lifted the pillow--the broken pieces of jade had somehow reformed themselves into a mirror, an intact, unbroken mirror. From the mirror now came rays of rainbow lights, filling the small hut, dancing on the walls, gradually forming themselves into a tight circle around Wuyang, making the already lovely young woman look radiant and beautiful.
With her trembling hands, Wuyang took the mirror and held it close to her bosom.
"Wuyang, don't be sad," said the mirror. "Continue to work hard. You'll have a meaningful, happy life. Good people like those who work hard, and those who work hard are rewarded in more ways than one. I like you and shall remain with you always. Would you like me to stay?"
"Oh, Mirror, yes, yes! I like you too, so please stay with me forever!"
That night, Wuyang enjoyed the deepest, sweetest sleep she had ever experienced.
Ya'ge, meanwhile, slept on.
From that day on, even though Wuyang always left the mirror under her pillow, the mirror would somehow show up wherever she was doing her chores--whether up in the mountains collecting firewood, planting crops in the patch, drawing water from the stream. Whenever Wuyang encountered danger, the mirror would be there right by her side, warding off any threat to Wuyang, protecting her every minute of the day and night. Once, for instance, the mirror suddenly appeared as she was gathering firewood. "Wuyang, drop what you have and leave now! A hungry black bear is just around the bend! Come this way!" On more than one occasion, the mirror thus saved Wuyang's life.
In the evening Wuyang could do her weaving with light supplied from the mirror. Gone was the need for candles or lanterns, for the mirror could illuminate the hut as brightly as the afternoon sun rays coming in through the window.
Ya'ge remained unaware of all this--sleeping day and night without a care in the world. The two sisters usually didn't meet, for Wuyang was an early riser and would return later at night. Anyway, Ya'ge would always be sound asleep. The mirror continued to dislike Ya'ge and would always hide itself from her, never allowing Ya'ge to know of its presence or magical powers. Wuyang chose to remain mum about it.
With the mirror's help and protection, Wuyang prospered. She was able to plant and harvest crops, gather and sell more firewood, and weave more fabric to sell. She built up a growing income. She became known far and wide as a good catch, and many eligible young men, prodded by their own parents and matchmakers, lined up to ask her for her hand in marriage.
"Mirror, whom do I choose?" she asked. "There are so many nice young men, and I'm swamped with offers. Please help me."
"Wuyang, choose Minglai," said the mirror. "He works hard, hunts, fishes, tends to his father's fields without complaint. He's honest and has a good heart. He shall love you and be considerate to you. He shall bring you great fortune. Let the choice be Minglai!"
So Wuyang indeed chose Minglai and they wed. Everyone in the nearby village helped the newlywed couple by constructing a home for them. In time, Wuyang gave birth to her first child. Wuyang now had a family again.
Everything was no so rosy for Ya'ge, however. You might say she slept her life away. When the time came that she wanted to get married too, there was, unfortunately, no one for her. She continued to sleep and sleep. If she worked half a day, she would then sleep for two full days. She also ate badly and neglected her health. Local people shunned her, regarding her as lazy, unproductive. Her life ended early, and she died all alone in her hut.
The Atayal people place a high value on those who work hard to better themselves and those around them. Thus, this story has been told from one generation to another and will continue to be told.
from
Cai Tiemin, ed. 高山族民间故事选. [Selection of folktales from the Taiwanese indigenous peoples]. Shanghai: Shanghai Wenyi Chubanshe, 1987; pp. 73-77.
This story shall be the first in a series of stories from the indigenous tribes of Taiwan.
The Austronesian Atayal live in north-central and eastern Taiwan.
What can a mirror do in folk literature? It may reflect the soul. It can tell the truth that dares not be spoken. It can also reveal the ugliness of narcissistic preoccupation with the self when no other person can. Here, the mirror to which Ya'ge retreats to delude herself turns on her, now emitting a harsh parental voice seemingly from beyond the grave, rather cruelly censuring her when her slothfulness and love for herself have become unbearable. Parental authority dies hard if it indeed can die at all, and here it is the inner chatter of the strict, relentless introjected parental voice, or superego itself, that cannot be stilled.
This story, like "Cinderella," deals with sibling rivalry, besides the mirror-gazing dangers of narcissism found in "Snow White." There are no animal helpers or fairy godmothers in this story; instead, there is the talking jade mirror to stand in for the parent or parents missing in Wuyang's life. The parents may be gone, but the presumed competition for their favor, perhaps for the father's love, lives on, though it would appear that the lazy Ya'ge has long given up her part in the struggle. Bruno Bettelheim, writing about "Cinderella" in The Uses of Enchantment, suggests that such rivalry stems not so much from the often customary dislike two siblings may have for each other but rather from the knowledge of one child that a parent favors the more industrious, more pleasing child (238). The sibling enmity is compounded by the fact that the parent is no longer physically around but the memory of his/her favoritism and the psychically generated voice that embodies it remain, in this case, lodged in a rock, a symbol of that which is tied to the earth.
Motifs: D1163, "Magic mirror"; D1311.2, "Mirror answers questions"; Q5, "Laziness punished; industry rewarded."
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