Author Archives: blwong

Witch’s House

Text: 

“There’s this little girl, she’s in the woods. And then she’s like exploring the woods and she finds this house and she wants to go into the house, but it’s not her house. And she smells something really nice coming from it. She goes in and she finds a wū pó (巫婆), like a witch,  and the witch is like, ‘Do you want some of these candies and cookies and deserts?’ And the little girl is like, ‘Of course I do.’ And she eats all of the food but while she’s munching on it the witch starts to eat her because she really likes to eat childrens bones.”

Background: 

The informant first heard this from her mom in Chinese when she was around seven years old. She describes it as “a mix of Snow White and Hansel and Gretel in the most messed up way.” She doesn’t remember the context of why she was told the story.

Analysis: 

The above tale greatly resembles the tale of Hansel and Gretel, two siblings getting lost in the woods and meeting a witch who likes to eat children. Though this tale doesn’t have a happy ending compared to Hansel and Gretel. While the story may be a little different, it still carries the same message. Don’t trust strangers. A message that has been important in many cultures and likely has multiple tales to express its importance. The ending is used to press the idea that interacting with people you don’t know can have extreme consequences and won’t always end happily.

Huo Yi and Chang’e

Text:

“So one time there was the world and there were nine suns, so it was really hot on earth, like unbearably hot, all the plants withered away, like it was so hot people would just stay in their house, it was a terrible time to live on earth. And so this archer, Hou Yi, decided to do something about the suns. So he got his bow and shot down eight suns, so now there was only one. But that meant the divine beings were really made that eight of their suns are gone from the celestial world. So he kind of got punished to live as a mortal – basically he was a divine being that’s how he was able to shoot down the suns – so he ended up finding a beautiful wife, Chang’e. And they are happily married and the villagers were very thankful for him to get rid of all eight suns because there is only one left and now the plants can grow, they can go outside, life was much more bearable. So they gift him with this elixir of immortality so he can go back to being a divine being. But he didn’t want to leave because he has a wife with him and that would mean he would have to choose immortality over her. So they just had a random elixir of immortality in their house. So one day he [Huo Yi] was just out in the field working, doing his archery stuff and his wife was at home. So he has an evil apprentice, who learns about this elixir of immortality and feeling jealous or greedy he wanted to get it for himself because he wanted to be immortal. And then he goes into their house and is looking for it, but Chang’e learns about his plan so instead of letting him [the evil apprentice] have it she drinks it and she ends up flying to the moon and becoming a divine being.”

Background:

The informant first heard the myth when she was in school. It’s a popular Chinese myth depicting the story of the moon spirit. The story also gives background to the Chinese Mid-Autumn festival. The informant says that there are many different variations of the story that have been told, though they all include Huo Yi and Chang’e.

Analysis: 

This is an extremely popular Chinese myth that many people of Chinese descent likely know. The first time I heard the story was in elementary school, though there was no evil apprentice. In another version, there are ten suns rather than nine. Sometimes the elixir of immortality is given by another divine being or immortal. It is typically told during the Mid-Autumn festival as an origin myth of Chang’e, the moon deity. Often during the Mid-Autumn festival, people make offerings of food and other things to the deities, including Chang’e, and pray. The moon is very significant in many Chinese traditions as the Chinese calendar follows the Lunar cycle. It’s often associated with women and feminity, and it was once believed that a woman’s menstrual cycle was connected to the lunar cycle. The moon in Chinese culture is also associated with yin, from the Chinese philosophical concept of yin and yang which describes the balance of opposing forces.

Nián (年)

Text: 

“There was this mythical beast that used to hang out in the bamboo forest, or the forest near a rural small town. And every year he would come up and cause a rampage, break the houses, eat everything and just cause a mess, eat humans, all these bad things. And they named the beast, Nián (年), because it comes every year, so his name is literally year. And so one day they realized when they were making lots of noises Nián gets scared of loud noises, so they started making really loud noises and they also learned that Nián doesn’t like the color red. So whenever the new year starts they would have explosions and fireworks and they’d make everything super red to scare away the beast. And ever since then he stopped bothering them.”

Background: The informant first heard this story from her mom when learning about the lunar festival. 

Analysis: 

This legend is often told during the Lunar New Year. It describes the origins of Chinese Lunar New Year traditions. When I first learned of the legend I was not told that the beast had a name. Though now thinking about it, the name, Nián, is fitting for the beast as it comes every year. Traditionally, people dress in red on Lunar New Year believing it will bring luck and wealth. People also set off fireworks and firecrackers to chase away bad spirits that may wish them harm. The legend has become a very important part of Chinese Lunar New Year traditions and has little variation despite its age. Often legends, myths, and tales have multiple variations from circulating around for such a long time, but this legend has more or less stayed the same.

Scraping On the Roof

Text:

“So this couple goes out on a date, in their car, and they’re driving along this country road and it’s very dark and isolated. And then the car breaks down or it runs out of gas, I don’t remember which, the car can’t go anywhere. So the guys says to the girl on the date- He says he’s gonna go get help and he tells her to get in the backseat of the car and get under a blanket and no matter what she hears, no matter what goes on outside the car, she should not get out from under the blanket. Under no circumstances should she open the car door or look out the window. So she gets in the back of the car and covers herself with a blanket and he gets out of the car, and then she hears a lot of noise, commotion. Yelling and noise and then all of a sudden it gets quiet. And while she’s laying in the backseat of the car she hears this scraping on the roof of the car. Just scrape. Scrape. Scrape. Very quietly. She’s very curious but she doesn’t look out. She just stays in the back of the car and waits for the boyfriend and she just keeps hearing that noise. That scraping noise on the roof of the car. So she’s in there all night by herself and I guess she falls asleep ‘cause in the morning she hears a bang bang bang bang on the door and she’s really scared. She huddles down even further into the blanket and she hears more bang bang bang bang on the car door and a voice says, ‘Ma’am this is the police,’ and so she looks up out of the blanket and sees it’s a police officer and he says, ‘Ma’am, get out of the car but don’t look behind you.’ So she gets out of the car and he says, ‘Were you out here with your boyfriend?’ And she says, ‘Yes.’ He says, ‘Don’t look behind you.’ And she turns around and she looks and she sees her boyfriend hanging from a tree limb over the top of the car and his feet on the car that are making the scraping noise.”

Background: The informant first heard this urban legend in highschool at band camp in Texas. She says it was likely around the 1970s. She says that she had heard a similar urban legend when she was living in New Jersey, though instead of a country road it was a road near a mental ward and the boyfriend just disappeared. 

Analysis:

The ending of this particular urban legend is very gruesome when you begin to think about what was happening during that time, especially with civil rights movements, and when you start thinking about the possible race of the couple. By the 1970s most schools and establishments had been desegregated, but racial discrimination was still extremely prominent. The legend itself is likely just used as a horror story to scare teenagers and kids from going off on their own at night. But when coming from a place like Texas that has a history of heavy racial discrimination, the implications have a different meaning.