Qin Scholar loved Antiques 秦士好古

The following story is found in the book ‘A Vast Collection of Records of Things and Events’, which is written by Chen Yuanjing of Song Dynasty.

A scholar of the Qin dynasty was fond of antiques that he would acquire them regardless of how much they cost.

One day, a man appeared at his gate, hauling a broken mat, and said, ‘In the past Duke Ai Gong of the state of Lu presented this mat to Confucius. This is the very mat slept on by the great sage.’ The scholar, greatly pleased by such a rare find, obtained it at the cost of a piece of fertile land he owned outside the outer city wall.

Later, another man appeared with an old walking stick. He was selling the old stick, and he said, ‘this is the walking stick used by King Tai of Zhou dynasty as he was on his way to Bin in order to escape the barbarian invaders from the north. By the way, this stick is several hundred years older than that mat of Confucius. What price can you offer?’ The scholar paid the man with all his family savings.

Thereafter, another man came to the house with a rotten wooden bowl and said, ‘neither your mat nor your stick can be called antiques by comparison with this treasure. It was made during the days of Tyrant Jie (the last King of Shang dynasty), much earlier than the Zhou dynasty.’ Considering this was a product of an even earlier era, he paid by transferring the title of his house to the man.

In order to obtain the three antiques now in his possession, he had given up his arable land, his home and exhausted his savings. Nothing remained for his subsistence. Nevertheless, he refused to think of trying to dispose of the three articles. Hence, draping the Duke Ai Gong’s mat on his shoulders, leaning on King Tai’s stick and using Tyrant Jie’s bowl as he went begging in the streets, he pleaded to the passers-by, ‘thank you for supporting my living. If you have coins made by Jiang Tai Gong (famous politician of Zhou dynasty), please spare me one.’

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以下故事来自宋朝陳元靚所著《事林广记》。

秦朝有一士人，酷好古物，价虽贵必求之。

一日，有人携败席踵门告曰：‘昔鲁哀公命席以问孔子，此孔子所坐之席。’秦士大惬意，以为古，遂以附郭田易之。

逾时，又一人持古杖以售之，曰：‘此乃太王避狄太王(周文王的祖父)杖策去豳时所操之棰也，盖先孔子之席数百年，子何以偿我？’秦士倾家资与之。

既而又有人持朽一只，曰：‘席与杖皆未为古，此椀乃桀造，盖商又远于周。’秦士愈以为远，遂虚所居之宅而予之。

三器既得，而田资罄尽，无以衣食，然好古之心，终未忍舍三器，于是披哀公之席，把太王之杖，执桀所作之椀，行丐于市，曰：‘衣食父母，有太公九府钱，乞一文！’

Hou Yi Shot Down Nine Suns 后羿射九日

The Chinese myth of Hou Yi resembles Heracles in Greek mythology (or Hercules in Roman mythology), as both were archers who tried to shoot the sun. In the Chinese myth, there were ten suns in the sky that made the world so hot that nothing could grow. Hou Yi shot down nine of them with his bow and arrows and thus saved the earth.

However, the legendary stories about Hou Yi in Chinese ancient books and records have been always contradictory, which has caused long-time debates on the protagonist of the Hou Yi myth. Behind the mysterious stories, there is a splendid history of an ancient archery people living in the East Yi area of ancient China. Hou Yi was the title of the kings of Yi people. These Hou Yi kings made different merits in different times, creating the heroic and moving histories of Yi people. It is said that a person known as the Great Yi united the Eastern Yi people and formed a strong country. As the country was formed by tribes who worshiped, it was, according to the ancient book ‘Classic of Mountains and Seas’, known as the country of ‘Ten-sun’.

However, the ‘Classic of Mountains and Seas’ did not have any record on the shooting of nine suns. Instead, another ancient book ‘Huainan Zi’ talked about a person called Yi shot down nine suns. It is generally assumed that Yi referred to Hou Yi, the famous archer in the ancient Chinese mythology. As Hou Yi came from Eastern Yi, it is also believed that Hou Yi and the Great Yi are the same person.

Here is the record from Huainan Zi.

During the time of Yao (a virtuous emperor in ancient fables), ten suns rose into the sky. They burned the crops and scorched the bushes and trees, leaving the ordinary people with nothing to eat.

Monsters began to roam about and cause suffering for the people, including ya yu (a fabled monster which can run quickly, make sounds like the cries of a baby, and eat human flesh), zao chi (or ‘chisel tooth’, a fabled monster who, with three-chi-long teeth, could attack like a dagger-axe and lance), jiu ying (a nine-headed monster, spurting flames and floods), da feng (or ‘big wind’, a kind of ferocious bird, large in size), feng xi (or heavy boar) and python (a long, fierce serpent).

Yao sent Yi to kill chisel-tooth in the wilderness by the Chou Hua lake (a lake in the south) and the nine-headed monster by the Inauspicious River (a river in the north), and shoot the great bird near the marshland by Qing Qiu lake (a lake in the east). Yi then shot down nine suns with his arrow. He killed ya yu, beheaded the python by Dong Ting Lake, and caught the boar at White Mulberry Wood.

Hundreds of thousands of commoners were overjoyed by this and so elected Yao as their king, the ‘Son of Heaven’.

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中国神话后羿射日与希腊罗马神话里的赫尔克里士一样，都是要把太阳射下来的大力射箭手。在中国神话中，天空中有十个太阳，使到地球太热，万物不能生长。后羿以他的弓箭把九个太阳射下来，保存了世界。

但是，历史典籍关于后羿神话的传说互相矛盾，造成了学术界关于后羿神话主人公长期的争论。在这看似复杂的现象背后，记述了一个生活在中国东夷地区的善射民族的辉煌历史。后羿是夷民族的王，不同时代作为王的后羿有不同的功业，共同塑造着羿民族的可歌可泣的历史。据史料记载，大羿统一了东夷各部落方国，组成了一个强大的国家。由于该国家为众多崇拜太阳的部落方国所组成，在《山海经》中被称为“十日国”。

但是，《山海经》并没有关于射下九个太阳的记录。反而另一本古书《淮南子》谈到一个叫做羿的人射下九个太阳的事。一般认为羿就是后羿，那个在中国神话里著名的弓箭手。由于后羿也是东夷人，一般也相信后羿与大羿是同一个人。

以下是《淮南子•本经训》的故事：

‘逮至尧之时，十日并出，焦禾稼，杀草木，而民无所食。猰貐、凿齿、九婴、大风、封豨、修蛇皆为民害。尧乃使羿诛凿齿于畴华之野，杀九婴于凶水之上，缴大风于青丘之泽，上射十日而下杀猰貐，断修蛇于洞庭，擒封希于桑林。万民皆喜。置尧以为天子’。

The Mouse Gets Married 老鼠娶亲

The Rat is actually the first character in the lunar calendar's twelve-year cycle, thanks to his legendary cleverness. Here is a story how mother mouse finally finds the right husband for her lovely daughter. The plot may be dated, but Lady Mouse Got Married is as entertaining a children's fable today as it was thousands of years ago.

As the story goes, Mommy Mouse is looking for the most powerful male to match her beautiful young daughter, Lady Mouse. After spoken to all potential candidates, she finally discovered that the son-in-law she's looking for has been right under her nose all along. So what if it's about arranged marriages and a life spent in fear, the moral lessons of the cute coming-of-age story still ring true.

Once there was a mouse whose daughter had come of age and was ready to get married. When the mother mouse asked her daughter who she would like to marry, she replied, ‘Whoever is most powerful is who I will marry!’

The mother believed the sun to be the most powerful, so she went to the sun and said, ‘Sun, my daughter would like to marry whoever is most powerful. Since I believe that to be you, I’d like you to marry my daughter.’

On hearing this, the sun immediately shook its head and said, ‘I’m not the most powerful. I still fear the cloud. As soon as he shows up, he blocks all my rays. It’s the cloud that’s most powerful. You should go look for him.’

This sounded reasonable to the mother, so she went and found the cloud. To her surprise, however, he also said, ‘I’m definitely not the most powerful. The most powerful is the wind. He can blow me away without leaving a trace. You should have him marry your daughter.’

When the mother met with the wind he said, ‘I’m not the one you’re looking for. The wall is without a doubt more powerful than I. He can stop me in my tracks and hold me back!’

So the mother rushed to find the wall and said, ‘I suggested that my daughter marry the sun who is afraid of the cloud, then the cloud who fears the wind, and later, the wind who is scared of you. Therefore it must you who is most powerful. You should marry my daughter.’

With a smile, the wall said, ‘I’m also afraid of many things. As a matter of fact, what I fear most of all are mice. The holes they burrow can be devastating!’

Running home the mother mouse sighed and said to her daughter, ‘I think you’d better marry a mouse!’
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老鼠是十二生肖之首，据说靠的是它的机智。这里有一个关于鼠妈妈为她那可爱的女儿找适合对象的故事。情节可能是老套了点，可是几千年以来，这个‘老鼠娶亲’的寓言却在一直娱乐着无数的儿童。

故事是这样的，鼠妈妈要找个最有力量的对象来许配给她的女儿。与所有潜在对象交谈之后，她终于发现她所要找的就在她的眼前。所以，盲婚之下，如果一个人终生活在畏惧之中，这个有趣的古老故事还是值得参考的。
从前，老鼠女儿长大了，到了可以婚嫁时候。鼠妈妈问女儿她想嫁个怎样的对象时，女儿说：‘谁最有力量，我就嫁谁。’
鼠妈妈相信太阳最有力量，所以她去找太阳，对他说：‘太阳，我的女儿想嫁个最有力量的。我相信那是你。我希望你娶我的女儿。’
太阳听了之后，立刻摇摇头说：‘我不是最有力量的。我还是很怕云。他一出现就把我的光芒给遮盖了。云最有力量。你应该去找他。’
鼠妈妈听了觉得有理，所以跑去找云。可是，很意外的，云也说：‘我不是你所要找的对象。无疑的，墙壁比我更有力量。他可以阻止我的步伐，把我挡住。’
于是，鼠妈妈赶紧去找墙壁，说：‘我找太阳，要把女儿嫁给他，但他害怕云；而云又怕风。接着风说他怕你。所以你应该是最有力量。你应该娶我的女儿。’
墙壁微笑着说：‘我害怕东西可不少。事实上，我最怕的就是老鼠。你们的穴居对我的杀伤力很大。’
鼠妈妈跑回家，叹了口气，对女儿说：‘我想你还是嫁给我们老鼠吧！’