The Project Gutenberg EBook of Myths and Legends of China, by E. T. C. Werner This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net Title: Myths and Legends of China Author: E. T. C. Werner Release Date: March 4, 2005 [EBook #15250] Language: English *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF CHINA *** Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Jeroen Hellingman and the PG Online Distributed Proofreading Team. Confucius: Teacher and Philosopher Myths & Legends of China By E.T.C. Werner H.B.M. Consul Foochow (Retired) Barrister-at-law Middle Temple Late Member of The Chinese Government Historiographical Bureau Peking Author of “Descriptive Sociology: Chinese” “China of the Chinese” Etc. With Thirty-two Illustrations In Colours By Chinese Artists George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd. London Bombay Sydney In Memoriam Gladys Nina Chalmers Werner Page 7 Preface The chief literary sources of Chinese myths are the Li tai shên hsien t’ung chien, in thirty-two volumes, the Shên hsien lieh chuan, in eight volumes, the Fêng shên yen i, in eight volumes, and the Sou shên chi, in ten volumes. In writing the following pages I have translated or paraphrased largely from these works. I have also consulted and at times quoted from the excellent volumes on Chinese Superstitions by Père Henri Doré, comprised in the valuable series Variétés Sinologiques, published by the Catholic Mission Press at Shanghai. The native works contained in the Ssŭ K’u Ch’üan Shu, one of the few public libraries in Peking, have proved useful for purposes of reference. My heartiest thanks are due to my good friend Mr Mu Hsüeh-hsün, a scholar of wide learning and generous disposition, for having kindly allowed me to use his very large and useful library of Chinese books. The late Dr G.E. Morrison also, until he sold it to a Japanese baron, was good enough to let me consult his extensive collection of foreign works relating to China whenever I wished, but owing to the fact that so very little work has been done in Chinese mythology by Western writers I found it better in dealing with this subject to go direct to the original Chinese texts. I am indebted to Professor H.A. Giles, and to his publishers, Messrs Kelly and Walsh, Shanghai, for permission to reprint from Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio the fox legends given in Chapter XV. This is, so far as I know, the only monograph on Chinese mythology in any non-Chinese language. Nor do the native works include any scientific analysis or philosophical treatment of their myths. Page 8 My aim, after summarizing the sociology of the Chinese as a prerequisite to the understanding of their ideas and sentiments, and dealing as fully as possible, consistently with limitations of space (limitations which have necessitated the presentation of a very large and intricate topic in a highly compressed form), with the philosophy of the subject, has been to set forth in English dress those myths which may be regarded as the accredited representatives of Chinese mythology—those which live in the minds of the people and are referred to most frequently in their literature, not those which are merely diverting without being typical or instructive—in short, a true, not a distorted image. Edward Theodore Chalmers Werner Peking February 1922 Page 9 Contents Chapter Page I. The Sociology of the Chinese 13 II. On Chinese Mythology 60 III. Cosmogony—P’an Ku and the Creation Myth 76 IV. The Gods of China 93 V. Myths of the Stars 176 VI. Myths of Thunder, Lightning, Wind, and Rain 198 VII. Myths of the Waters 208 VIII. Myths of Fire 236 IX. Myths of Epidemics, Medicine, Exorcism, Etc. 240 X. The Goddess of Mercy 251 XI. The Eight Immortals 288 XII. The Guardian of the Gate of Heaven 305 XIII. A Battle of the Gods 320 XIV. How the Monkey Became a God 325 XV. Fox Legends 370 XVI. Miscellaneous Legends 386 Glossary and Index 425 Page 11 Illustrations Page Confucius: Teacher and Philosopher Frontispiece The Spirit that Clears the Way 44 Lao Tzŭ 72 Nü Kua Shih 82 Mencius 90 Wên Ch’ang, K’uei Hsing, and Chu I 110 The Buddhist Triad 120 The Taoist Triad 124 Hsi Wang Mu 136 Chang Tao-ling 138 Tou Mu, Goddess of the North Star 144 Chiang Tzŭ-ya At K’un-lun 156 Chiang Tzŭ-ya Defeats Wên Chung 160 The Kitchen-god 166 The Gods of Happiness, Office, and Longevity 170 The Money-tree 172 The Door-gods, Civil and Military 174 Hêng Ò Flies to the Moon 184 Wên Chung, Minister of Thunder 198 Dragon-gods 208 Spirit of the Well 216 The Magic Umbrellas 242 P’an Kuan 248 Miao Shan Reaches the Nunnery 262 The Tiger Carries Off Miao Shan 266 The Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea 302 The Birth of the Monkey 326 The Demons of Blackwater River Carry Away the Master 352 Buddhists as Slaves in Slow-carts Country 354 Sun Steals Clothing for His Master 364 The Return to China 368 Chia Tzŭ-lung Finds the Stone 382 Page 12 Mais cet Orient, cette Asie, quelles en sont, enfin, les frontières réelles?... Ces frontières sont d’une netteté qui ne permet aucune erreur. L’Asie est là où cesse la vulgarité, où naît la dignité, et où commence l’élégance intellectuelle. Et l’Orient est là où sont les sources débordantes de poésie. Mardrus, La Reine de Saba Page 13 Chapter I The Sociology of the Chinese Racial Origin In spite of much research and conjecture, the origin of the Chinese people remains undetermined. We do not know who they were nor whence they came. Such evidence as there is points to their immigration from elsewhere; the Chinese themselves have a tradition of a Western origin. The first picture we have of their actual history shows us, not a people behaving as if long settled in a land which was their home and that of their forefathers, but an alien race fighting with wild beasts, clearing dense forests, and driving back the aboriginal inhabitants. Setting aside several theories (including the one that the Chinese are autochthonous and their civilization indigenous) now regarded by the best authorities as untenable, the researches of sinologists seem to indicate an origin
