Reading Notes: Chinese Fairy Tales, Part B

Photo by: Alexander Andrews

The Little Hunting Dog

• In this story, a man is in bed when he sees a bunch of little men, horses, and dogs the size of ants come into his bedroom
• The little creatures ran around his room eating up all the little bugs and gnats that kept the man awake at night. 
• one little hunting dog got left behind so the man decided to keep it and take care of it. 
• but sadly the man accidentally rolled on top of it and killed it... RUDE

Fox-Fire

• A boy saw a fox breathing a ball of fire in and out, the elixir of life.
• the boy waiting for his chance and stole it, becoming powerful
• thirty years go by and the fox comes back and steals his elixir of life back from the man. 

The Maiden Who Was Stolen Away

• A young girl was taken one day by a cyclone. When she opened her eyes after being carried off she was on top of the 100-foot pagoda.
• There was a young man on the roof with her and he asks her if she'll marry him. She denies him and he refuses to get her off the roof until she agrees and leaves her there.
• This repeats every day, and he leaves her food and drinks every time. Sometimes he left her gifts as well.
• One day she sees the man in his true form an ogre, and she frantically tries to get someone's attention below. She's able to get the attention of a wandered who sees her above.
• the wanderer went to the maiden's home and the maidens brother went and saved his sister.

The Flying Ogre

• a monk runs into a girl who is running for her life. 
• a man on a horse comes running asking the man where the girl went and the monk tries to act like he hasn't seen the girl until the man explains that the girl is a flying ogre, not a human. 
• the monk points to the tree the ogre is hiding in and the man on the horse goes and kills it.

How the River God’s Wedding Was Broken Off

• In this story, there is a river god that was held in high power by all the people in the community.
• Every year the river god selects a new wife from the people.
• But one-year things got mixed up, causing the river god to never show up to escort his new bride to their wedding so the wedding never happened and the tradition ended.

Story source: The Chinese Fairy Book, ed. by R. Wilhelm and translated by Frederick H. Martens (1921).