Chinese Children's Favorite Stories Read online

  Chinese Children’s

  Favorite Stories

  Chinese Children’s

  Favorite Stories

  FABLES, MYTHS AND FAIRY TALES

  Text and illustrations by

  Mingmei Yip

  My Favorite Childhood Bedtime Stories

  When my brother and I were very small, both our parents liked to read us bedtime stories. Sometimes, when Mother had tucked us in for the night, Father would come into the bedroom, wink at both of us, and then proudly say, “I’m the storyteller tonight.”

  I still remember how on many evenings, an arm around each of us, my young, handsome father would keep us spellbound with traditional Chinese tales—The Monkey King, The Ghost Catcher, The Frog Who Lived in a Well—either from memory or retold from the popular magazine, Children’s Happy Garden. He would tell each story in a lively, animated manner, sometimes even jumping up to show us kung fu movements in imitation of the Monkey King or the Little Immortal. But Father’s expression would become serious when he explained the story’s moral— kindness and wisdom as in The Wolf and the Scholar, helping others as in The Fish-Basket Goddess, or overcoming obstacles as in the Carp Jumping over the Dragon Gate.

  One night, after he had finished telling The Frog Who Lived in a Well, Father stared at us and asked, “You don’t want to be like that frog, do you? Thinking that a tiny well is the whole universe, and he’s the smartest fellow in the whole world?” He reached to pat our heads. “Remember, never be boastful, for there may always be a mountain higher than the one you live on.”

  I believe this is how children in China grow up and learn to meet life’s challenges—by listening to tales filled with precious lessons passed down from their ancestors.

  It is my hope that, by retelling some of these thousand-year-old Chinese stories, I can pass along the gift of my parents‚ their generous spirit and their love for children—and inspire other children for many generations to come.

  —Mingmei Yip

  To my husband Geoffrey, for his compassion and wisdom.

  —Mingmei Yip

  Published by Tuttle Publishing, an imprint of Periplus Editions (HK) Ltd.

  www.tuttlepublishing.com

  Text and illustrations © 2020 Mingmei Yip

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

  LCC Card No. 2004101748

  ISBN 978-1-4629-2176-8

  Printed in Hong Kong

  23 22 21 20 5 4 3 2 1 2001EP

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  Contents

  The Frog Who Lived in a Well

  The Dream of the Butterfly

  Chang-E Flies to the Moon

  The Cowherd and the Spinning Girl

  The Mouse Bride

  Playing the Qin for the Water Buffalo

  The Wolf and the Scholar

  Carp Jumping over the Dragon Gate

  The Monkey King Turns the Heavenly Palace Upside Down

  How the Fox Tricked the Tiger

  The Monkey Wu Kong Learns His Lesson

  The Fish-Basket Goddess

  The Ghost Catcher

  The Frog Who Lived in a Well

  Sitting in the well and looking at the sky is an old proverb. The Chinese use it to describe people who think they know everything but actually know very little.

  For example, there once was a frog who lived inside a well shaped like a deep wok. The frog was so happy with his home that he always boasted to his many friends—tiny crabs, fish, bugs, tadpoles, dragonflies, and worms—how wonderful the well was.

  “Look,” he said to a crab as he tilted up his head, “the sky looks so bright and clear from here, and so round! No place is better than my well.”

  Another time he cast a delighted look at a tadpole, while flinging his limbs in the water this way and that. “See, there’s so much water here for us to play in! No place is better than my well.”

  But his friends soon grew tired of his constant boasting. They began to ignore him and went about their own business. One day a big turtle from the Eastern Ocean crawled past the well. Frog was sitting on a ledge near the wall appreciating the sky when he spotted this unexpected visitor.

  “Hi there!” Frog yelled. “What a rare guest! Please, my friend, please come pay me a visit!”

  Big Turtle looked down inside the small well, straining his eyes. “Hi! How’s life down there? It can’t be very comfortable, can it?”

  Frog looked up, his eyes bulging, his tone annoyed. “What a thing to say! Of course it’s comfortable down here. In fact, it’s wonderful!”

  Big Turtle cast a doubtful look down the narrow opening. “Is that so?”

  Frog went on excitedly, “This well is all mine. There’s plenty of water to quench my thirst and I can float all day long if I want to. I live like a king, so how could I not be comfortable?”

  Before Big Turtle could reply, Frog splashed the water with his short limbs. “See what I can do?” He began somersaulting and diving. Finally his head emerged, his bulging eyes sparkling with delight. “Guess what? I’ve just had my feet massaged by the soft mud at the bottom of the well!”

  Big Turtle smiled at his newly met friend. “So you think life’s pretty great in your well, huh?”

  Frog smiled back. “Sure. At night, when I’m tired of swimming, I’ll hop along the wall, waking up my friends to say hello. Then I’ll take a nap floating on a leaf and dream strange dreams. So, what more can a bulge-eyed creature ask for? I’m the king of the well, ha, ha, ha!” He gave Big Turtle a triumphant look. “So, why don’t you come down and take a look at my kingdom?”

  “All right,” said B
ig Turtle. But the closer he got to the well, the smaller the opening looked. “I’m sorry, Frog. I don’t think I can make it down there.”

  “Why not?” Frog asked, his voice sounding very sad and his face looking like a deflated balloon.

  “I’m too big. The opening of your well is far too small for me to fit through. I don’t want to get stuck.”

  Frog eyed his friend through the well’s opening. “You don’t look very big to me.”

  “That’s because the opening is so small, you can only see my face. You haven’t yet seen my long neck, my strong shell, or my sturdy legs.” Before Frog could say anything more, Big Turtle went on, “Of course, I’m no where near as big as most of my other friends from the Eastern Ocean. Compared to them I’m small!”

  Frog’s eyes bulged even more. “You mean there are creatures out there that are bigger than you?”

  “Much bigger! Shall I tell you how big the Eastern Ocean is?” Big Turtle said.

  “Okay,” Frog laughed. “But it can’t be much bigger than my well.” Then he hopped onto a tiny leaf, crossed his legs comfortably, and waited for Big Turtle to begin.

  “The Eastern Ocean is so big that no one can tell how wide or how deep it is. In ancient times, during Emperor Yu’s rule, there were floods for nine years but the water in the Eastern Ocean never rose. During old Emperor Shun’s rule, no rail fell for seven years, but the water in the Eastern Ocean never went down. The Eastern Ocean is so big that nothing can change it.”

  Big Turtle looked down at his tiny friend. “That’s why I am proud to live there.”

  The frog was struck speechless by the vastness of the Eastern Ocean. He even fell off his leaf and sank almost to the bottom of the well before he could get over his shock. Then he climbed back on his leaf, a little unsteadily. He stared at Big Turtle for a moment, then spoke timidly, “Really, is that so? I think you made up this Eastern Ocean.”

  Big Turtle smiled. “Then I’ll show it to you. But first you have to hop out of this little well you live in.”

  Straight away Frog used all his might to hop. One! Two! Three! Four! Finally he was able to jump out of the well and land on the soft moss at the top.

  “Waaahh!” he exclaimed, swinging his head and shading his eyes.

  Big Turtle asked, “Is there something wrong, my friend?”

  “Aeeeii!” Frog shouted, his face flushed and his head dizzy from the sun.

  “Are you sure you’re all right, little friend?” Big Turtle asked.

  Sweating heavily, Frog nodded. “I always thought that the sky was round and that it was the size of my well’s opening. I never knew that it was so huge—I can’t even see its edge!”

  Before Big Turtle could say anything, Frog exclaimed, “And the sun! It blinds my eyes! I never knew it was so powerful!”

  “Calm down, my friend,” Big Turtle said gently. “Now do you understand why I said the well is small? Certainly your well is a great place to live, but there are many great places on the earth—some much greater than your well.”

  Very embarrassed, Frog just hung his head. He would still enjoy his life in the well, but now he knew that he—and his well—were just a small part of an incredibly big world.…

  The Dream of the Butterfly

  T he weather was warm and the wind blew as lazily as a dog wagging its tail while dreaming of a bone. Under the cool shade of bamboo trees, Zhuang Zi, a learned scholar, dozed off and had a dream. In this strange dream, he was no longer a scholar, but a butterfly.

  “Fluuup! Fluuup! Fluuup!” His colorful wings swayed this way and that in the cool breeze. His heavy scholar’s robe left behind on the ground, Zhuang Zi’s body was now as light as a feather. Wings as thin as kites replaced his once long, bulky sleeves. As a lovely butterfly, Zhuang Zi soared higher and higher up into the sky, lifted on the wind until he reached the clouds. Then he looked down at the world below glittering like diamonds.

  The former scholar was dizzy with happiness. “Waaahh! How wonderful it is to be a butterfly!” he exclaimed. He had completely forgotten that he had once been Zhuang Zi, the scholar who never looked up at the sky because he always cast his eyes down on his many books, papers, brushes, and ink stones.

  “Fluuup! Fluuup! Fluuup!” Far, far he soared, gliding over mountaintops where snow never melted; over houses as small as toys, with children playing outside who looked as small as tiny beetles; over islands shaped like turtle shells; over the sea as green as the tea he drank to fight sleep so that he could read and read.

  “Ha!” He felt the wind sweeping past him, swelling his wings like sails. “It’s so nice to be a butterfly, so light and so free!”

  On and on he flew, past stars like snowflakes; past the moon, yellow as a giant egg yolk. He was almost at the end of the Milky Way, white as rabbit’s fur.

  Suddenly, a strong gust of wind rustled through the bamboo grove. One leaf snapped off from its branch and fell right on the sleeping scholar’s head. It bounced onto his nose, across his cheek, and down his neck before finally landing on his hand. Feeling the leaf tickle him, Zhuang Zi woke up. He brushed the leaf away, only to be surprised by the weight of his long-sleeved arm. Puzzled and groggy, he lifted both arms and gave them a long look.

  “Didn’t I have wings?” he asked aloud.

  The only reply was the rustling of the bamboo leaves, making a “Shaaa! Shaaa!” sound as if to say, “Yes! Yes!”

  Zhuang Zi waved his hands this way and that, hoping that the beautiful wings would grow back from his long sleeves. But what he saw was nothing other than his long, bony hands.

  “What happened?” he cried. “Wasn’t I a butterfly a minute ago?”

  “Shaaa! Shaaa!” The bamboo leaves rustled again, but this time they seemed to say, “No! No!”

  To calm himself, Zhuang Zi looked around the peaceful garden—at the leaves swaying in rhythm with the breeze; the peaches ripening on the trees; the water rippling on the pond, all the while listening to the pleasant cries of the cicadas.…

  “Ah, who am I? Am I Zhuang Zi dreaming of being a butterfly, or am I a butterfly dreaming of being Zhuang Zi?” Moments passed, and again he asked himself the same question, “Am I me, or am I a butterfly?”

  Zhuang Zi fell into deep thought and then he began to understand— whether he was Zhuang Zi or a beautiful butterfly, he could always enjoy the world of nature around him.

  Chang-E Flies to the Moon

  Do you ever wonder why there is only one sun in the sky? In ancient China you could see ten! All ten had yellow faces and red hair; they were brothers, sons of the Heaven King. But they were mean. Each day, they would rise up in the sky and scorch everything—the land, the sea, the people, the animals—even the fish.

  The Heaven King knew of his sons’ nastiness but he had no idea what to do about it. Finally, he decided to send Hou Yi, the heavenly warrior god, down to earth to save it from the horrible heat. But Hou Yi was unwilling to leave his beautiful wife Chang-E. After he sorrowfully explained the king’s order to her, she smiled kindly. “Don’t worry, my dear husband.” The corners of Hou Yi’s lips began to lift like sails in the wind when Chang-E spoke again, “I’m your wife, and my duty is to take care of you wherever you are.” She chuckled. “Haven’t you heard of the saying ‘marry a chicken, follow a chicken; marry a dog, follow a dog; marry a monkey, hold onto his tail and jump after him up mountains and down valleys?’”

  Soon the couple had settled on earth, and Hou Yi set about carrying out his duty. He looked up at the sky and pleaded to the ten suns, “Instead of circling in the sky at the same time, can’t you shine one at a time?”

  The ten brothers laughed at the warrior god. They swung closer and closer to earth, burning up more and more land. Forests became ovens, cows became burgers, pigs turned into roasts, chickens began to fry, and people ended up like crisp fried spring rolls.

  “What am I going to do now?” Hou Yi’s brows furrowed into two heavy hills. “Here I’m supposed to save the
earth from burning, but now it’s turning into a fireball instead!”

  Chang-E put a tender hand on her husband’s sore shoulder. “My dear husband, if the suns won’t listen to your kind words…” She paused. Suddenly her eyes turned sharp. “Then you had better shoot them down.”

  The next day, Hou Yi put on warrior’s clothes and thick boots, then dashed up to the mountaintop. Shading his eyes, he watched one last time as the suns swept around, spitting balls of flame, while casting triumphant glances at him. As the ten fiery orbs were spinning like giant wheels, Hou Yi took out his bow, slid in a magic arrow, aimed, and began to shoot.

  One by one, nine of the suns fell into the ocean. “Zzzuusszzz!” each hissed as his light went out. Only the tenth sun was now left. He lowered his eyes and pleaded to the mighty archer, “Please Hou Yi, we were wrong. It was just a silly game. I beg you, don’t shoot me down. I promise I’ll behave.”

  The last sun kept his promise. From that day on, the single sun left in the sky nurtured the earth during the daytime and hid at night so that everyone could have a peaceful sleep.

  Everybody was completely overjoyed, except the Heaven King, who grieved the loss of his nine sons. To punish Hou Yi, he forbade the couple to return to their home in heaven.

  Though he thought the Heaven King’s order unfair, the warrior god willingly stayed on earth so that he could carry out his other duties. Every day he went out to fight the six monsters: slithering snakes, wild boars, man-eating birds, giant cats, crooked-toothed ogres, and nine-headed fiends. Because of these heroic deeds, Hou Yi became more and more popular each day he spent on earth. But his wife Chang-E grew sadder and sadder.

  One day, tears streaming down her face, Chang-E said to Hou Yi, “My dear husband, I really miss heaven and I want to go back.”

  While Hou Yi loved his fame on earth, he loved his pretty wife even more. He thought for a while. “All right, let’s make a sacrifice of the six monsters to please the Heaven King.”