Author Archives: Ellen Feldman

Chinese Legend about Jing Ke

“This is an actual—I won’t say it’s history—it’s history-legend.

“Basically, during the Spring and Autumn period in China, around the time of—I think it was 250 to 300 BC, China was under a period of war. There was about a century of—just constant war and chaos. The country was divided into a lot of little states; in fact, there were so many of them that we barely have record of all of them. Slowly, these states started combining—conquering each other—and there were seven states left at the end of the spring and autumn period. And we call them the warring states; they were the seven warring states. Out of the seven, the strongest was called Qin, and it later became the Qin Dynasty, which had the world’s first emperor. But, since he was an emperor in an age where everybody was more or less free, people didn’t like him very much. So, there were numerous assassinating attempts at him, and one of the most famous ones was by this person called Jing Ke, who was a—he was a sort of a brave man, that’s how they describe him, but he didn’t have a position in the government. So, some of the officials in one of the seven states decided that we really needed to get rid of Qin, the Emperor Qin. So, one went to Jing Ke and said that ‘We need you to go and assassinate him.’ And he said, ‘Okay, but you have to provide for me.’ So, for three years, Jing Ke stayed in this official’s house, in his palace, they treated him well, they gave him whatever he wanted, they covered him with gold if he wanted it. And after three years, he said, ‘Okay, it’s time for me to fulfill my promise.’ But in order to get close to the emperor of Qin, who was very suspicious, I need something as a gift to give to him.” And, there was a defect general from the state of Qin who went to this country, and they went up to the general and said, ‘We need your head as an offering to the emperor of Qin to prove our loyalty, so we can get close to him.’ So, the general actually said, ‘Sure.’ I know it sounds very improbable, but he cut off his own head and put it in his own two hands and gave it to Jing Ke so he could bring it to the emperor. In addition to that, he brought with him a scroll with a map on it. And the map was of a certain part of the states he was in, and he was supposed to give the Qin Dynasty that state as a show of loyalty, basically. So Jing Ke went, he took the scroll and the head, he went up to the emperor of Qin, who was very happy—he didn’t like that defect general very much—and he wanted the man. So, he allowed him a reception, and he was allowed to see the emperor of Qin, which back then was a very difficult thing to do; he kept everybody away from him, even his most trusted generals and people. And, he presented the head, and then he unrolled the scroll, and as the scroll unrolled, the emperor became happier and happier because he saw the part of the land that he was supposed to get—it’s a very fat piece of land that he’s been wanting for a very long while. But, once he finished unrolling the scroll, at the end of the scroll was a dagger, and he picked up the dagger and attempted to stab the emperor Qin. But the emperor was a—he was himself a fighting man, so he managed to dodge the strike, and he tried to draw his sword, but he couldn’t, because it was stuck. And all of his people—his units, I guess, at that time—weren’t allowed to carry weapons in front of the emperor Qin. So, all of them were unarmed, and they can’t help the emperor, so the emperor had to be chased around the palace by an assassin with a dagger, until Jing Ke accidentally got his dagger stuck in one of the pillars. Back in those days the pillars were wooden and they were heavy. You know those Californian redwoods? They sort of looked like that, and they were painted bright red. And he got his dagger stuck in it, and he tried to grab onto the emperor of Qin, but the emperor of Qin let his sleeve get ripped off—to run away from him—and at last, when he managed to draw his sword, Jing Ke looked at him and said, ‘I failed. I’m going to give this one last ditch attempt,’ and he threw his dagger at him, which got stuck on the pillar behind the emperor of Qin, and didn’t kill him. And it is said that all of the strength of the emperor of Qin could not pull the dagger out of the pillar because he was that powerful. But, in any case, the assassination failed, but what we’re supposed to learn from this story is loyalty—you’re supposed to be loyal to your lord, even if it’s a death mission, a suicidal mission. You have to carry it out, and you have to live your last moment trying to carry it out. And if you make a promise, you always have to keep it. He spent three years being lavished in wealth, and he could have just run away, but since the lord put trust in him, he has to honor that trust. So that’s the story of Jing Ke, which is pretty famous, I think it’s actually recorded in the records of the Grand Historian, which is like the history book of ancient China.

“Within families with children, I know this is a story that parents often tell their children. So, I think most people heard it from word of mouth. I wouldn’t say a lot of people have read the records of the Grand Historian. It’s a dry book; basically, it’s written in ancient Chinese, which you can read, but it’s in nearly incomprehensible prose. You need, like, a translation on the other side. It’s even worse than reading Shakespeare. So, most people haven’t actually read it. I’ve actually read it, when I was in high school, but I would still consider it folklore because most people haven’t.

“The thing about the record of the Grand Historian is that it’s not only dedicated to kings and generals, as most historical books are—he had a specific section called “The Annals of Assassins,” which just talks about normal people who had done extraordinary, brave acts. And most of them were assassins, and Jing Ke was in it. So whether it’s history or legendary-history, well—we’re not quite sure.”

Q. Why do you think this story is so famous, as opposed to other stories?

A. Well, since China was an imperial state for three thousand—well, two thousand five hundred—years, you are always encouraged to be loyal to lords, governments, and royalty. Betrayal is something that you don’t want to instill in your general population. So, that’s probably one of the reasons why it was spread in the first place. And so, even though we’re no longer in an imperial state—I’m from Taiwan, which is a democracy—it’s still a story that people find to be very brave and heroic, and worth telling. Another fun thing about it is that it shows that kings and emperors aren’t supposed to treat their subjects badly. If their subjects do something for them, they’re supposed to reward them equally. If your subject gives you his life, you’re supposed to shower them with wealth and treat them well for the time they have to live. And I think all the common people—they like that kind of thinking. They want their kings and emperors, their people higher up, to respect them if they do something extraordinary.

Analysis: This story reflects the history of civil war in China; it makes sense that emperors and nobility would promulgate such a tale, as it encourages people to serve them wholeheartedly and zealously. Glorified long after his death, Jing Ke has become a folklorized historical figure. Viewed in a different light, however, the story could also be a double-edged sword, teaching people not to trust war lords—Jing Ke is basically sent on a death mission, so this story testifies to the reality that war lords tended not to place a very high value upon human life.

Russian Proverb about a Broken Wash Basin

“Do you want to go back to your broken wash basin?”

This Russian proverb comes from a fairytale, which my informant recounted to me:

“This is a story about a golden fish. An old man, very poor, lives in a cottage next to the sea. He goes to fish, and he catches in his net a golden fish. And she talks to him in a human voice, and she says, ‘Old man, let me go, I’ll give you whatever wish you want.’ The old man is a kind person, and he says ‘Oh, go little fish, swim in the sea, I’ll find other fish to eat.’ He doesn’t ask for any wish. So he comes home, and he sees his wife, an old woman, sitting near their cottage, which is falling apart, and she’s trying to do a wash, but she washes the clothes in a wooden basin and it’s falling apart, there is a big hole in it, it’s broken. And he tells her the story about how he caught the golden fish, and how she said that she can do any wish he wants. And the old lady is furious; she says, ‘I can’t even wash the clothes, the basin is broken, and you let her go!’ So, he wants to make his wife happy, he goes to the ocean and calls for the fish, and he says, ‘Can you make my wife happy, can you give my old woman a new basin, which is not broken?’  He comes, and he thinks his wife will be very happy because she got a new wash basin. But she’s furious—she says, ‘You could ask anything you want, why do you ask for a basin? Ask for a new house, don’t you see the house is falling apart, there are holes in the roof?’ So he goes back, and he says, ‘I’m sorry, fish, can you please give us a new, nice house?’ The fish says, ‘Okay, you go to your wife.’ So he goes home, and instead of his old, falling-apart cottage, there is a beautiful new house. He thinks his wife would be happy, but she is furious. She says, ‘Why do you ask just for a regular house? Ask for a palace with servants! Nice clothes, nice dishes, everything. I want to be a noblewoman!’ So, as you can expect, he goes back, he gets her a palace with servants and all that, but even that is not enough. After some time, she wants to be a queen.  Okay, she became a queen, to cut the story short. The old man doesn’t recognize her. She doesn’t want to associate with him, she doesn’t want any of the servants and all of these people to know that he is her husband. So, he is some lowly worker in the yard, sweeping the yard, while she is the queen in the palace, with servants and all that. So, some time passes, and she calls him again, and she says, ‘I’m tired of being a queen. I want to be a Tsaritsa of all of the seas and I want the golden fish to be my servant.’ The old man goes, and he says, ‘There’s nothing I can do. That’s what she wants.’ Suddenly, there is a horrible storm, and the fish just went away. So he comes back, and here is his old house, falling apart, and his old woman is sitting with a broken wash basin.”

Q. When would somebody use this proverb?

A. Let’s say a person did something for you, or did you a favor, and you demand more and more and more—he could say it. It’s like saying, “Look. Stop it.” Instead of pointing out that a person demands too much, this is a nicer way to say it. Usually, people like their childhood memories and fairytales, so they won’t feel antagonistic.

Q. Do you feel that in Russian society, people use proverbs more than they do here?

A. Yes—Russia doesn’t have much mobility, and in a society that’s very stable, it’s easier to have proverbs that move from generation to generation. The culture is homogeneous, so people know what you mean.

Annotation: Russian writer Alexander Pushkin wrote a poem about the story of the golden fish, entitled “The Fisherman and the Golden Fish.”

Pushkin, Alexander. “The Fisherman and the Golden Fish.” Trans. Irina Zheleznova. Russian Crafts, 1998-2007. Web. 26 April 2012. <http://russian-crafts.com/tales/golden-fish.html>.

This tale has also been featured in multiple works of Russian art, including lacquer boxes:

http://russian-crafts.com/home-decor/lacquer-boxes/tale-about-golden-fish-939.html

The Legend of Vilnius

“This is a legend about the creation of Vilnius, and everybody who lives in Vilnius knows it. I think we even studied it at school. So the story goes that the grand duke, Duke Gediminas, who lived in the beginning of the fourteenth century, was hunting. At that time, the capital of Lithuania was in a city called Trakai, which is not far from Vilnius, it’s still there. So, the capital was there, and in the place where Vilnius stands was wilderness, and he was hunting there. And the hunt ran late, so he fell asleep. And when he slept, he had a dream. In this dream, he saw a wolf; he hunted wolves, so it’s natural that he would dream about wolves. The wolf was out of iron, and the wolf was howling. An iron wolf howled in his dream. When he woke up, he asked the main priest, ‘What does it mean?’  And the priest said, ‘If you will build a city on this hill, the city will be very strong and unconquerable.’ And that’s how he decided to build a new capital called Vilnius in these hills. And his castle was built on this hill, and when I was growing up in Vilnius in the 1960s and 70s, there were ruins, and there was only one guard tower left untouched. The rest of it was ruins, and there was a museum there. And that’s what you see usually in pictures of Vilnius, this tower.

“Gediminas builds his city, and in 1325, he sent a letter to the main cities in Western Europe, like Germany. This letter said, ‘I built a new city and I invite city-folk, artisans in particular, to come and live there.’ That’s because Lithuania is a small nation, and most of them were either peasants or they were in the army. So he didn’t have much of city population. So, he invited people from Western Europe, or Eastern Europe, to come and live in his new city, and that letter is preserved, and that’s how we know, and 1325 is considered to be the birthday of Vilnius.”

Q. Did he write down his dream?

A. I don’t think so. I don’t know anything about that. I don’t know how we know about his dream. I presume that, perhaps, somebody wrote it, but I don’t know. But everybody who is educated and grows up there knows this legend. And I have no idea, maybe he didn’t have a dream, maybe the legend appeared later to give Vilnius more significance, I simply do not know, it’s a legend.

Q. Is Gediminas considered to be one of the most important people in Lithuanian history?

A. Gediminas is definitely considered the most important Grand Duke of Lithuania, and he was killed in battle, by Germans, because German crusaders tried to conquer Lithuania. They didn’t succeed, but lots of Lithuanian grand dukes died in battles with Germans, and he was one of them.

Q. Is this legend meaningful or powerful for you personally?

A. Yes. It makes me feel proud that I am from Vilnius and there is a story associated, it makes me feel extremely good. It’s like part of my identity; I came from a place which is important, which has history. And we all know that it’s like in Rome—remember Rome, also, is associated with a wolf. And I think it’s important because Lithuanians are a small nation and they always were trapped between large nations. You have Russians from the east, you have Poles and you have Germans in the west, and so, I think they always tried to keep their identity.

Q. Do you remember when you first heard this?

A. No, I just grew up with it.

Q. When would this story be told?

A. I don’t know. I just know it. I don’t remember—maybe it was told to me at school.

Q. What do you think it says about Lithuanian culture or values?

A. Lithuanians are a very proud people, and it’s very important for them to keep their heritage, so that’s why we know these stories, because it’s very important to them. It’s very important to them that Lithuania was once between the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea—it’s a very tiny nation but had territory from one sea to another sea, a huge territory. They’re very, very proud of that.

Q. Did Lithuanians really resent Soviet rule?

A. They did resent Soviet rule. Before that, they were free for about twenty years—between 1920 and 1939—but before that, they were part of Tsarist Russia, as well. They had two rebellions against Tsarist Russia, which were very cruelly put down. They always were strong nationalists, very proud of their heritage, and wanting to have a separate state.

Analysis: This romantically-nationalistic legend has become a central aspect of Lithuanian identity; it unifies all Lithuanians by forming part of their common, national heritage. Interestingly, while throughout Europe, many stories that serve this same romantically-nationalistic function are the lore of peasantry, this particular legend is rooted in the story of a historical duke, who has been become a folklorized figure through the retelling of this tale.

Superstition about Fixing Clothes

Background: “I grew up in Lithuania, and in Lithuania, you have Poles and Lithuanians who are Catholic, Russians who are Russian Orthodox, and Jews. We were a Jewish family, and I was always told that Jews do not have superstitions. But all my friends were either Polish or Russians, and they had superstitions, and eventually, I felt like, ‘well, it’s safer to believe in it.’”

Superstition about Fixing Clothes: “If something was torn on me and needed to be fixed fast, my mom would take a thread and sew, let’s say a button or something like that. I would be given a little piece of the thread to keep in my mouth, in order not to sew my brain out. If you don’t suck on the thread, then your brain can get sewn onto the garment and you would be stupid.”

Q. Do you know where this came from?

A. That came from my mother, and she came from Belarus, so it must come from Belarus.

Analysis: It is fascinating to compare my informant’s account with a description of this same superstition that Alan Dundes gives in International Folkloristics: “Or take the Jewish superstition that claims it is very bad luck to repair a garment while that garment is being worn by an individual. Once one realizes that the only time a garment is sewn on a person is when a body is being prepared for burial, one can understand the custom. In other words, repairing a garment—for example, by sewing on a button—is enacting a funeral ritual . . . In such instances the person wearing the garment being repaired must chew on bread or thread to counteract the potential danger” (Dundes 115).

When I shared this passage with my informant, she said that his logic makes sense to her, although she had never heard his explanation before; she had always thought the warning about one’s brains being sewn to be silly, but had never been told any better reasons for the tradition. Perhaps, this is because in more recent societies, people are far enough removed from the practices surrounding death that they no longer carry the associations responsible for this superstition. Meanwhile, although my informant comes from a Jewish family, she knows nothing about this superstition being Jewish, only that she learned it from her mother. She also never heard that bread—as opposed to thread—can counteract the potential danger.

“The Principles of Sympathetic Magic.” International Folkloristics. Alan Dundes, ed. Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 1999. Print.

Russian Superstition about Black Cats

Background: “I grew up in Lithuania, and in Lithuania, you have Poles and Lithuanians who are Catholic, Russians who are Russian Orthodox, and Jews. We were a Jewish family, and I was always told that Jews do not have superstitions. But all my friends were either Polish or Russians, and they had superstitions, and eventually, I felt like, ‘well, it’s safer to believe in it.’”

Black cat superstition:

“If you walk and a black cat crosses the road in front of you, you’re supposed to turn around over your left shoulder three times and spit over your left shoulder three times. And I would do that, just in case.

“There were four girls in my big apartment building who were the same age, and we would walk to school together. And if there was a black cat crossing the road in front of us, we would all start turning and spitting. In fact, that’s why I have this superstition. It didn’t come from my mother—my mother always said that we shouldn’t believe in that, even though she believed in cracked mirrors. But I started believing it because the other girls did it.

“I’m sure that belief is Russian because there is a Russian song about a black cat. It’s about a black cat who lives behind the corner, and everybody hates him because there is this saying that you would have bad luck if you meet a black cat. But the truth is that it’s only the black cat who constantly has bad luck. That’s what the song is about. And that was a very popular Russian song. It appeared in the 1970s, when I was a kid.”

Q. Why do you think that this superstition exists?

A. In some of the Russian fairytales, you have a witch, Baba Yaga, and she always has a black cat with her. So, it is an element from Russian fairytales. Perhaps that’s why, I don’t know.

Analysis: The custom of turning and spitting is interesting, especially because it must be done specifically over one’s left shoulder. The practice seems to be almost an attempt to reverse time, as if to undo the effects of the bad luck.

The informant mentions a song about a black cat (“Chernyj Kot”), which pokes fun at the superstition, laughingly conveying the message that people should not discriminate against black cats. (After all, cats cannot control the color of their fur!)

Transliterated lyrics to this song can be found here:

“Chernyj Kot.” Lyrics Time. www.lyricstime.com, 2002. Web. 26 April 2012. <http://www.lyricstime.com/aguzarova-zhanna-chernyj-kot-lyrics.html>.