A Poem by Lee-Bye

There are many great poets in our country.  they wrote many very famous poems.  EVery poet had a special style of poetry.  One poet wrote many poems about feeling very well.  He was born in the Don Dynasty.  His name was Lee-Bye.  He liked to drink.  One day, he drank on a boat.  He saw the moon on the water and he wanted to catch the moon.  so he jumped into the water and died. 

   One of his poems is the most famous.  Most people know this poem in my country.  Its thesis is "missing at night."  He wrote, "The moonlight is in front of the bed, I suspect that it's snow on the ground.  I look at the moon and after a while, I miss my hometown."

   Lee-Bye's character doesn't like strictness in his life.  He liked freedom, so he often traveled somewhere.  You can feel his feeling or look at a natural beautiful scene when you read his poems.

   -Stella Lai, 

SUMMER 1997

AE1-A Core

Summaries of Native Literature

Untitled

In "Journey to the West," by Lo Guan Chun in the Ming Dynasty, Lo used personification to tell about a monkey's life and its repercussions for his period's peoples' lives.  This is a famous traditional story in Asia.  The author describes a monkey who has learned of an evil spirit and is going to the west of china with his master and friends to get Buddhist bibles.  Lo tells how the characters have many troubles on the way but they overcome all troubles.  Lo describes how they reach the west and get the bibles; the monkey also becomes human, to his benefit.

   -Jerry Chang,

SUMMER 1997

AE1-A Core

Summaries of Native Literature

OCT.-DEC.1996 FAIRY TALE

   A long time ago, on the south China coast, there was a big clam on a beach and a wide-winged flamingo in the sky.  The shell always opened his shell, waiting for the bird to drop on the beach to be his food, and the flamingo always cruised and looked over the beach for food also.  One day, when the clam opened his shell again, the hungry cruising flamingo saw the shell opening; he thought that it was an excellent chance for his delicious food.  The big crab had meat, so the flamingo hurried to fly down to the clam.  When the flamingo came toward the clam, the clam was thinking, "What a big bird it is!  It must be enough for hungry me."  At the moment of their contacting each other, the shell of the clam closed quickly, and the beak of the flamingo got hold of the meat of the crab.  At that moment they fought each other and tried to swallow each other tightly.  Nio one gave way to its rival.  After several hours, they were still bound together.  At this time, an old fisherman who had not caught any fish today passed by the clam and the flamingo and discovered them.  The old fisherman was excited by the scene.  He said, "Oh!  My family will have a good harvest today, a big clam and a big bird,"  and he caught them and brought them home.

   The story tells us, when people fight or hurt each other, the advantages always belong to the third person.

   -Ming-Szu Yu,  Taiwan

The White-Snake Legend

In ancient times, there were a white-snake and green-snake.  They lived many thousands of years.  They had much power to change things that they wanted to.  One day, they changed into a women's bodies from snakes.  Many animals that could change into person's bodies were bad.  They could kill people to gain their food and absorb the important air from humans' bodies.  The white-snake and green-snake, which were different from the other animals, were good.  The white-snake was a maid lady.  The green-snake was a servant to the white-snake.  Both were beautiful and looked young.  The white-snake was more beautiful than the green-snake.
   One day, in a village, a young man , who looked handsome and merciful, was poor but had faith and studied hard.  The white-snake and green-snake met the man.  The man and the white-snake fell deeply in love.  Day by day their love got deeper and they got married.
   They had a long and sweet period of time after they were married.  Unfortunately, a man who had power to beat bad animals that could change into human bodies passed through the village which they lived in.  He discovered a strange glow coming from the home where they lived.  He knocked on the door of their home.  The white-snake's husband opened the door, and they had conversation.  The husband didn
t know his wife was white.  The man who had power was determined to beat them down, because he thought the white-snake and green-snake were harmful to people.  The white-snake's power frightened the white-snake and green-snake and the man won.  In other words, the couple who loved each other were forced to seperate by the man.
   It is a great love story, but my English expression is poor. Please use your imagination.
  

Get the Power Together

A long time ago, there was an old man who had three sons.  But the sons were not nice to each other.
  One day the old man was sick.  He knew that he had no more time to live in this world.  He also knew that he could not leave the problem alone.   After dinner, the old man had his sons come into his room.  Then, he gave one chopstick to each one, and had each son break each chopstick into two.  It was easy to make on chopstick into two.  Next, he gave them each two chopsticks.  It was still easy to break them.  The third time, he gave a bundle of chopsticks to each one.  It was hard for the sons to break them.
   The old man died in a few days.  After a week, a typhoon destroyed their house.  They had to build a new house together.  finally they realized what their father had meant- get the power together.

The Foolish Man Who Moved the Mountain

Once upon a time, an old man lived in a village.  In front of the village was a mountain.  If he wanted to go to another village or downtown, he had to cross the mountain.  The transportation was very difficult.  So, he decided to move the mountain so that the village people wouldn't have that problem.
   In that village there was another old man.  Everyone called him "Wise Man."  When they heard about this, he laughed at the man who wanted to move the mountain.  And the wise man called him "Foolish Man."  But he said, "Every day, I will destroy the mountain, and move the ground to a convenient place.  One day, I will succeed.  If I can't finish the job, I want my son, my grandson, and my family to help me.  The work won't end until I finish."  Now, everybody laughed at him.  But he didn't feel sad.
   Finally, he finished to job.  Everybody enjoyed the convenience and admired him.  On the other hand, they laughed at the "wise man."
   The story tells us, "Where there is a will, there is a way."  Never mind if you fail, if you can work hard, one day, you will get what you want.

A Beautiful Kind of Monkey

A long time ago, there was a monkey which was born in a stone.  It could live in the world forever because it could eat food from heaven.
  It had many supernatural powers from God.  For example, it could jump a thousand kilometers at a time if it wanted to do something in a hurry.  It had seventy two ways to attack its enemies.
  It also had a strong body.  It was not afraid of any poisons or fire or water.  It could go up to heaven and down underground.  It was a wonderful monkey.
   It was a very important animal in Chinese mythical stories, because it could do many things which people can not do.

A long time ago, there was an old man.  He had three sons but his sons were very lazy.  He loved his sons very much and he was very worried about their lives after he died.  One day, he laid down on the bed and called his sons to come to the front of the bed.  He told them that he would die and that he had buried a lot of gold on the farm.  His sons heard aobut this and were very happy, so they went to the farm directly to dig.  They did their best to dig deeply and find the gold.
   After they finished digging as deep as they could on all the farm, they still didn't find any gold.  They were very angry about what the father had said, and tried to discuss it with the father, but hte father had died.  At that moment, they were ready to give up doing anything more, but the older brother said to his two younger brothers, "Althoug hwe couldn't find any gold underground, why don't we put some seeds in the ground.  When the seeds grow up, their roots will grow and the old will be webbed by the roots,"
   They all agreed with the brother's idea, and they were more careful about the plants, because they wanted plants which would have long and strong roots which could hold or web the gold.  Until autumn, they couldn't find any gold, but they did have lots of oranges.  They finally knew what their father had said about gold; therefore, the old man's sons became very hard.

Tsang-Yeo Run Moon

I want to write a Chinese ancient magic story.  This story is not true, but it is a mystical story.
   A long time ago, a girl was very beautiful but her family was very poor.  Her name was Tsang-Yeo.  At the age of sixteen, she married an emperor.  At first, she and this emperor had a sweet life.  After several years, they became gradually older, but he didn't want to die.  He wanted to live forever.  His wife knew where the girl who had the medicine of long life was.  She stole the medicine from the maker of medicine.  Then, she gave the medicine to her husband, but her husband didn't believe her and asked her to try the medicine first.
   When the girl took the medicine, her body became light and flew.  And then, she flew up into the moon.  After that time, she lived in the moon forever.  Her husband couldn't fly into the moon, because there was only one dose of medicine.
   The ancient Chinese people believed this magic story.  When scientists found the moon and flew to the moon, people realized that the moon didn't have a woman whose name was Tsang-Yeo.  The events of science broke this magic story.

Oct.-Dec. 1996

A long time ago, on the south China coast, there was a big clam on a beach and a wide-ranged falmingo in the sky.  The shell always opened his shell, waiting for the bird to drop on the beach to be his food, and the flamingo always cruised and looked over the beach for food also.  One day, when the clam opened his shell again, the hungry cruising flamingo saw the shell opening; he thought that it was an excellent chance for his delicious food.  The big crab had meat, so the flamingo hurried to fly down to the clam.  When the flamingo came toward the clam, the clam was thinking, "What a big bird it is!  It must be enough for hungry me."  At that moment of their contacting each other, the shell of the clam closed quickly, and the beak of the flamingo got hold of the meat of the crab.  At that moment they fought each other and tried to swallow each other tightly.  No one gave way to its rival.  After several hours, they were still bound together.  At this time, an older fisherman who had not caught any fish today passed by the clam and the flamingo and discovered them.  The old fisherman was excited by the scene.  He said, "Oh! My family will have a good harvest today, a big clam and a big bird,"  and he caught them and brought them home.
   The story tells us, when people fight or hurt each other, the advantages always belong to the third person.

   -Ming-Szu Yu

Sakyamuni

Many years ago, there was an emperor.  He was a very ferocious emperor.  Suddenly there was a ferocious fiend, who he would put on this emperor's body.  But Buddha used his blood for this emperor's wife.  This emperor's wife would bear a woman.  This woman would be Avalokitesvara (Budhisattava).
  There were three daughters in this family.  The older daughter was a very ferocious daughter.  But the younger daughter was a very docile daughter.  But their father hated Buddhism very much, and the young daughter liked it very much.  In this country, there was a Taoist priest who was very ferocious.  This Taoist priest usually tried to kill the young daughter, because the young daughter always tried to thwart the Taoist priest.  This young daughter would try to find their supernatural power in seven difficult places.  By tradition, these places were very vivid.  But the Taoist priest prevented the young daughter from finding her supernatural power.  But the young daughter always used cleverness to answer any question.
1996

   -Fu-Lin

Moon Cake Festival

Folk Tales
Fall 2004

 The origin of the moon cake festival is a combination of two legends.  the first one ties back to the origin of life.  In the beginning there was said to be 12 suns in the sky.  Because of this, the world was too hot and people's lives were miserable.  The king, in order to save his people, shot down eleven of the twelve suns in the sky.  After being reduced down to one sun, the world was perfect and lives were better.  As a reward for his deed, he was given a potion of immortality, but his wife took the potion before he could take it, and she floated to the moon.  So now, Chinese believe that there is beautiful woman that lives on the moon and on the night of the festival she can be seen.

   -Mandy

"Where is Ariel?" asked her sisters.  "We need her for the concert."  "It is the most beautiful voice in the sea," said Sebastian.  Ariel's father, the Sea King, had lost his patience.  "ARIEL!" he called.
   Ariel couldn't hear her father calling.  She was curious about everything about the creatures called humans.  "Look!" Ariel called to her friend.  "The storm is coming now," said Ariel.  Suddenly Ariel saw a young boy who needed help.  The storm began to rage.  "I must save him!" cried Ariel.  She swaim into the storm and pulled the boy safely ashore.  "Is he dead?" asked one of Ariel's friends   "I don't hear him breathing."  at that moment, he came to life and opened his eyes unclearly.  "Are you all right? asked Ariel.  At first, he didn't answer her.  Then she kept asking, "What's your name?"  "I'm Angus," he replied.  He asked, "Did you save my life?"  "Yes!" Ariel replied.  Then they started getting to know each other.  Finally, they got married.  "Do you want to be my wife?" asked Angus.  "Of course, forever," said Ariel.  All the creatures of the sea and land were there, and they sent up a happy cheer.

   -Joann

Seeking for her Husband at the Great Wall (Chinese Folk Tale)

December 2002
Folk Tales from Around the World

In Chinese history, the Chin dynasty was the strongest period.  The emperor, whose name was Shih-Huang, was very cruel to his subjects, and forced people from every part of the country to come and build the Great Wall to protect his empire.  People worked non-stop, day and night.  They received very little food; the clothes they wore were threadbare.  So it was scarcely to be wondered why large numbers of them died every day.
   There was a young man among these workers, named Wan Hsi-Liang, who had been pressed into the service of building the Emperor Shih-Huang's Great Wall.  This man had a beautiful and smart wife, whose name was Meng Chiang-Nu.  Since her husband was forced to leave her, she did not have any news from him.  Therefore, she decided to look for her husband.  She made cotton-padded clothes and shoes for him.
   It was a very long distance from her place, especially since she had never been away from home in her life, and didn't know the way and had to ask fro directions every now and then.  One night, she failed to reach a town, in spite of having walked the whole day; so, she put up for the night in a small temple in a grove beside the road.  She dreamed her husband was coming towards her, and a feeling of great happiness enveloped her.  But he told her that he had died, and she cried bitterly.  When she woke up in the morning, she hardly accepted what she dreamed and continued her way to the Great Wall.
   "No matter the difficulty, I will be certain to find my husband!" she said in her mind.  And so, Meng Chiang-Nu walked on and on until, one day, she came to a deep valley between the mountains.  When she took a rest, a crow suddenly alighted before her.  It cawed again twice.  Meng Chiang-Nu noticed that the bird was inviting her to follow its direction and so she resumed her travel.  Thus she walked past mountain ranges, crossing big rivers as well as small streams.  The crow led her to a place which has piercingly cold wind and was covered with only dry grass, without any trees anywhere.  How fearful she was when she caught sight of it; clusters of people were huddled against the Great Wall; these were the people who had been driven here to build it.  Meng chiang-Nu tried to find her husband.  She saw what shallow faces the toilers had, their cheekbones protruding through the skin, and she saw many dead lying about, without anybody paying attention.  At last she learned the sad truth; her husband dad died long ago because of the unbearably hard toil, and his body had been put underground where he fell, under the Great Wall.  She fell into a swoon.  some of the builders tried to revive her, but it was a long while before she regained consciousness.  When she did, she burst into a flood of tears, for several days.  Suddenly, a length of over two hundred miles of the Great Wall came crumbling down, while a violent storm made the sand and bricks whirl about in the air.
   When the Emperor heard the news, he immediately went to see for himself what kind of person she was.  He found that she was as beautiful as a fairy, so he asked her to become his concubine.  Meng Chiang-Nu answered amiably: "Yes, I will, if you do three things for me.  The first is that you bury my husband in a golden coffin; the second is that all your ministers and generals go into mourning for my husband; and the third is that you attend his funeral yourself."  And then the Emperor consented to what she requested.  But, when she saw her husband properly buried, all of a sudden, she jumped into the river that flowed close by the tomb.  TheEmperor was angry and ordered his attendants to pull her out of the water again.  But before they could seize her, Meng Chiang-Nu had turned into a beautiful, silvery fish and swarmed gracefully out of sight.


   -Rebecca Hsu

The Magic Boat (Chinese folktale)

December 2002

Folk Tales from around the world

A little boy named Chang, a name which means "honest", lived with his mother and a white cat.  He spent each day cutting firewood for his mother.  One day he saw an old man fall from a single log bridge into the river.  Chang rushed to save the old man.  The old man was impressed with Chang's courage and selflessness and gave him a small dragon boat.  When the old man said, "Grow bigger! Grow bigger!  May you brave the wind and water!"  the boat turned into a large boat.  When he said, "Grow smaller!   Grow smaller!  May you be a toy again!"  the boat became a toy again.  The old man left Chang with the toy boat and told him that if he ever needed help he was to call to the east, "Grandfather!  Grandfather!"  Then the old man disappeared.

   Soon the rains came.  It rained for ten days and ten nights.  The water began to rise.  Chang brought out his boat and speaking the magic words turned it into a big boat that he, his mother, and the cat could board.  As they sailed on the rising sea, they discovered an ant, a bee, and a crane that were drowning and they saved each of them.  They found a man who was struggling in the water and saved him too.  His name was Ying, which means "tricky".  Once aboard the boat he refused to help.  He stretched out on the deck and gave orders to the others.  When the rain stopped and the water receded, Chang returned to his village, and said the magic words that changed the boat into a toy.  Ying saw this and wanted this magic boat.

   Chang set about rebuilding his house that had been destroyed in the flood.  His mother, the cat and the other animals helped Chang.  Ying idd not do anything but give orders.  One day he suggested that Chang give him the magic boat so he could take it to the Emperor who would give a lot of money for it.  The money could be used to rebuild the house.  Chang believed Ying and gave the magic boat to him.  Time passed and Ying had not returned.  Chang went to look for Ying and the boat.  He searched for several days.  One day he heard a large procession coming and the announcement that the Prime Minister was approaching.  The Prime Minister was none other than Ying.  Chang was angry at Ying for stealing his boat, and Ying was fearful of Change, because he knew that he had cheated Chang.  He had Chang arrested.

   When Chang did not return home the animals went searching for him.  They found him hungry, dirty, and bruised.  They returned home with him and restored him to health.  They decided to returned to the Emperor and tell them their story.  But first they had to find a way to enter the palace.  Word was that the Emperor's daughter was ill and anyone who could cure her would be given one wish.  Chang disguised himself as a doctor and went to the palace.  Chang was taken before the Emperor.  Seated next to him was Ying, who recognized Chang and wanted him arrested.  The Emperor was very happy and gave Chang one wish.  His wish was for the return of his magic boat.  The Emperor was unwilling.  Ying and the Emperor decided to trick Chang.  If Chang could select the Princess from her seven maids when they were all disguised, then he could have the boat.  The Princess and her maidens were brought before Chang.  The queen bee buzzed around the head of the Princess so he could make the right selection.  The Emperor again refused to give him the boat.  The Emperor told Chang that he had to prove to him that the boat was his.  Chang remember the words of the old man and called to the east, "Grandfather!  Grandfather!"  The old man appeared riding a golden phoenix and told the Emperor that he had given the boat the Chang.  The Emperor and Ying refused again.  The animals began to chant, "Turn Ying into an old gray wolf and the Emperor into a big wild pig!"  And the old man did!  Chang retrieved his boat and returned home with his friends.  He used the boat to help others in times of need and to bring joy in times of peace.

   -Yvonne

A Foolish Old Man Moved the Mountains

December 2002

Folk Tales from around the world

There was a ninety-year-old man whose name was Yugong living at the north of two high mountains, Mount Taixing and Mount Wangwu.  The mountains blocked Yugong's way because they stretched over a wide expanse of land; Yugong and his family could not go out anywhere easily and felt inconvenienced.

   One day Yugong gathered his family together and said, "Let's do our best to move out these two mountains and create a straight road to Yuzhou.  If we did it, we would not have to worry about whether going anywhere would be difficult hereafter.  What do you all think?"

   All of his family except only his wife agreed with him.  His wife said with a suspicious attitude, "You don't even have the power to cut a small mound, why on earth do you think that you can dig away Mount Taixing and Mount Wangwu?  Moreover, where will all the dirt and rubble go?"

   "Dump them into the Sea of Bohai!" said everyone.

   So Yugong, his sons, and his grandsons started to break up rocks and remove the dirt.  They transported the dirt and rubble to the Sea of Bogai.  Yugong's neighbor was a widow who had only an eight-year-old son, and they came to help together.

   As the summer went and winter came, it took a full year to come and go from their place to the Sea of Bohai.  The process of breaking up these two mountains was too difficult for them to succeed.

   An old man who was much respected for his wisdom lived on the bank of the Yellow River.  When he saw their back-breaking labor, he ridiculed Yugong, saying, "Aren't you foolish. my friend?  You are very old now, and with whatever remains of your waning strength, you won't be able to remove even a corner of the mountain."

   Yugong lamented and said, "A person with this kind of prejudice like you will never understand.  You can't even compare with the widow's little boy!  Even if I were dead, I still have my children, my grandchildren, my great grandchildren, my great great grandchildren and so on.  They will still keep moving these mountains away, and mountains won't grow anymore.  One day we'll succeed in leveling them!"  Yugong said with confidence in himself.

   The self-righteous old man was completely silenced.

   When the guardian gods of the mountains saw how toilsome and persistent Yugong and his people were, they were struck with fear and report the incident to the emperor of the Heavens.  The Emperor of the Heavens admired Yugong's patience, and he ordered two mighty gods to carry the mountains away.

   All people including Yugong who lived at the north of the two high mountains, Mount Taixing and Mount Wangwu, were very happy and felt thankful, because they wouldn't have to worry about the difficult of going out anymore.

-Angel

The Spear Against the Shield

December 2002
Folk Tales from around the world


A long time ago in China, a man of the state of Chu had a spear and a shield for sale in the market.  He was loudly trying to sell his shield.  "Hey, look, my shield is so strong that nothing in the world can pierce through it."  He then shouted praises of his spear.  "My spear is the strongest one; it can pierce through anything."  "What would happen."  he was asked by someone, "if you spear is used to pierce your shield?"  The man in the end was stuck in an embarrassing situation.
   It is impossible for the two best opposing weapons to coexist with no contradiction.  The fable tells us not to say something self-contradictory.

   -Eric

The Chinese "Love Date," Valentine's Day

Jan. - Mar. 1996

Fairy Tales

In my country, there are many festival days.  In Chinese, the "Love Date"is a legend about a man and woman's love story.

   A long time ago, there was a woman weaver and cattleman.  They felt very deeply attached to each other.  But they gave up their work.  So God was very angry.   Because they were deities, they couldn't be together.  So God must allow them every year to be able to see each other.  He does that with a bridge of stars in the sky.

   So, the stars will leave a good name, for a hundred generations, until today.  Today many lovers go out to eat.

   -Fu Lin

About a Fairy Tale

Jan. - Mar. 1996

Fairy Tales

In my country, most festivals are based on the Chinese lunar calendar.  The lunar calendar, born in the old agricultural society, is closely related to the planting and harvest seasons.  The Moon or Mid-Autun Festival is on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month.  In this festival, there is a fairy tale.

   The Moon Festival can be traced back to the legend of Hou Yih.  He is a warrior.  As for the time, it was about 2,000 BC.  One day, ten suns suddenly appeared in the heavens and the weather became very hot day-by-day.  How Yih shot the nine additional suns from the sky.  The Goddess of the Western Heaven gave him a pill with the elixir of immortality.  The pill is the same as medicine.  When you eat it, you will not die forever.

   At the time, How Yih's wife was named Chang-O.  She was a beautiful goddess, too.  Because she wanted to keep her beauty, she soon found the hidden pill and quickly swallowed it.  After that, she was flown to the moon alone.  That day was a full moon.  So her beauty just is at its most radiant on the day of the Moon Festival.

   The festival is a public holiday for family reunions, enjoying moonlight, eating moon cakes, and listening to this fairy tale from our parents, because we still believe there is a beautiful legend in the moon.  We hope she can see that our lives are happy, rather than stay alone on the moon.  However, we all have to die someday.

   -Becky

The Dragon Boat Festival

Jan. - Mar. 1996

Fairy Tales

In Chinese New Year, on May 5th is the Dragon boat festival, which celebrates the famous poet Chu-yeh, who was loyal to the king and his nation.  Some bad guys made him become a traitor, but the king couldn't believe his loyalty, so he was very sad, and jumped into the river.  People throw a lot of rice wrapped in leaves, to protect his body, and paddle the dragon boat to look for his body.  Now today, we eat rice, along with shrimp and meat, wrapped in leaves, and people paddle the dragon boats to compete with each other.  It is a very interesting story.

   -Kenny