Chinese Legend about Zeng Zi

Nationality: Asian American
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: San Jose, California
Performance Date: 04/20/2021
Primary Language: English
Language: Mandarin, Spanish

Context: I heard this legend from my friend (AL) in one of our calls where I asked him about Chinese tales and legends. This is one of the three stories that he told me. 

Story: 

AL: “I think I heard this one from my Chinese teacher, but it also could have been from my grandparents who I was living with at the time. Do you know who Zeng Zi is?

Me: “Never heard of him, really.”

AL: “What about Confucious.”

Me: “Yea he’s that Chinese philosopher dude.”

AL: “Yeee. Zeng Zi was kinda like his disciple, and he was a very respectable and honest person. So one day, Zeng Zi’s wife was going to the market, and his son wanted to go to the market, too. Zeng Zi’s wife was in a hurry and didn’t want to bring her son along, so she told him to stay home. Her son started throwing a tantrum, so the mother told him that if he stayed home, she would kill a pig later so that they could have pork for dinner. I’m pretty sure that back then, pork and other good meat were only really eaten over holidays or special occasions, so the son was excited and agreed to stay home. Zeng Zi’s wife had no intention of killing a pig of course and only lied to her son to make him behave. However, when Zeng Zi’s wife came home from the market that day, she saw Zeng Zi sharpening a knife and getting ready to kill a pig. Zeng Zi’s wife told him that she wasn’t serious and only told their son that they were going to have pork for dinner to make him behave. Zeng Zi sternly replied that parents should not teach their children to lie because children won’t listen to their parents if they lie. He said that if she had lied to their son, their son would think that it is okay to lie to others as well. Because of this, Zeng Zi killed the pig and the family had pork for dinner.”

Me: “Who do you think the legend is aimed towards?”

AL: “I would honestly say that it is applicable to everyone. It serves as a lesson to both adults and children to be careful with what they say. There’s also the idea that although children have to respect and listen to their parents, their parents also have to act responsibly.”

Thoughts: When I heard the legend, I also thought that it was a lesson aimed at everyone. I think that the legend demonstrates the Chinese values of honor and respect. I also did some further research and realized that in this legend and most Chinese legends, the name of women are seldom mentioned unless they are the main characters or supposed to be regarded as extremely beautiful. Although this specific story is a legend, this reinforces what we’ve learned in class about tales and stories being sexist because history is sexist.

Nuwa’s Creation of Humanity – Chinese Myth

Nationality: Asian American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Santa Barbara, California
Performance Date: 03/22/2021
Primary Language: English
Language: Korean, Mandarin

Context: After learning about myths in class, I was interested if there were any Chinese creation myths. I called up a friend of mine (JK) who knew a lot about creation stories, and he told me this one about Nuwa creating humanity. 

Story: 

JK: “This myth is about the creation of humanity, and the main divine being in the myth is Nuwa. Nuwa, sometimes called Nugua, is basically the mother goddess in Chinese mythology and is one of the most compassionate gods. The story goes that after the creation of the world, Nuwa was filled with feelings of loneliness, which only grew more and more intense. In order to solve this problem, she molded yellow clay into a smaller version of herself. These were the first humans, but Nuwa soon realized that molding individual humans one by one was too time-consuming, and devised a new method by dragging a piece of string across the dirt. And that’s really all there is to it.”

Background: My friend first learned about this myth from hearing that Nuwa was the creator of humanity in his Chinese school. He did some more digging and asked his parents if they knew more about Nuwa and humanity’s creation, and his father told him the story. My friend’s outlook after some research on the myth is that those on top of the social hierarchy in ancient China created this myth for their own gain because the rich nobles at the time thought that they were the first people who were hand crated by Nuwa. They believed that the commoners were those that were created by Nuwa dragging string through the mud, which is why the nobles were more privileged and important to society.

Thoughts: After doing some further digging, I learned that Nuwa did a lot of things in order to help humanity in Chinese mythology. When the fire and water gods were fighting, they tore up the sky and Nuwa was the one that had to calm them down. She single-handedly patched up the sky and stopped all the storms that were the result of the fighting. I thought the myth of humanity’s creation was really interesting because of the way the nobles used it and perceived themselves to be naturally born into a higher class due to a difference in their creation from the peasants. I also learned that a lot of other cultures had similar ideas of mankind being created from earth or clay. One example of this is Prometheus creating humanity from clay in Greek mythology. 

For more stories about Nuwa, please visit https://www.britannica.com/topic/Nu-Gua.

Turning a Metal Rod into a Sewing Needle – Chinese Legend

Nationality: Asian American
Age: 60
Occupation: Biomedical Research
Residence: San Jose, California
Performance Date: 04/30/2021
Primary Language: English
Language: Mandarin

Context: I was curious about more legends after I went home for lunch over the weekend, and after hearing about the legend behind the Dragon Boat Festival, I asked my mother to tell me more. 

Story: 

SS: “So this legend is about another famous Chinese poet *pause*, probably the most famous Chinese poet actually. You know about Li Bai?”

Me: “Oh yea everyone knows Li Bai.”

SS: “Well according to legend, he wasn’t always so studious and focused. He was actually very mischievous and would cause trouble all the time as a child. A lot like you and your brother when you two were younger actually.”

Me: “…”

SS: “I’m only half-joking don’t worry. Anyway *pause*, oh right. So Li Bai wasn’t always so studious. But one day, he came across an old lady near a river when he was skipping his lessons. The old lady was grinding a metal rod on a stone repeatedly, and this intrigued Li Bai. He asked what she was doing this for, and the old lady replied that she was grinding it into a sewing needle to…”

Me: “Wait a sewing needle?”

SS: *smiling dryly* “Yes. I would imagine that Li Bai was as surprised as you are. He told the woman that grinding a metal rod into a needle would take many years, but the old woman replied that as long as she persevered in doing so, there was nothing that she could not achieve in the world. That day, Li Bai was moved by what the old woman said, and focused on his studies. That is why he became one of the greatest poets in China. 

Background: This legend is another very popular one in China, and is one that my parents have both heard from their teachers in school when they were young. This legend is used to teach children the value of hard work, and if these children are mischievous, they could relate to Li Bai and see that they are also able to work hard if they put their minds to it. My mother said she interpreted the legend as “if an old woman can grind a metal rod into a sewing needle, then surely you can do anything if you set your mind to it”. 

Thoughts: At first glance, I thought that the legend was a bit absurd. I thought that there was no way that a metal rod would ever be able to be ground into a sewing needle. However, my mother pointed out that I had missed the point of the legend. The focus of the legend was the work ethic of the woman, and that seeing the determination of the woman kindled something in Li Bai. This also connects with the other legend that my parents shared about the myth of the zodiac ox, as both show the importance of hard work leading to results in life. This would also show why education was valued so much throughout Chinese history. My interpretation after reflecting on what my mother said led me to see another lesson in the legend, which is that the people you surround yourself around can have a great impact on your life. 

We’re All Off like a Herd of Turtles

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Baltimore
Performance Date: May 3, 2021
Primary Language: English

Main piece: When we’re all leaving but we’re kind of late, someone will say “we’re all off like a herd of turtles”. But my family intentionally mispronounces it, so they say “we’re off like nerd of nerdles” or “we’re off like a turd of hurdles”.

Background: My informant is a twenty-year old woman from Richardson, Texas. Her father is from Malmesbury, a town Wiltshire, England, and her mother is from Dallas, Texas.

Explanation: Turtles are famously slow, so “we’re all off like a herd of turtles” means that “we are moving incredibly slowly and are definitely going to be late.”

Analysis: This folk simile exists to make light out of an unfortunate situation, that of being late. Being late can create anxiety, but having a funny saying allows the family to laugh it off, and also serves as a gentle reprimand that they should be moving faster. Additionally, intentionally misstating the phrase is another way to make light of the fact that they’ve made a mistake and don’t have enough time to get wherever they are going punctually, essentially saying that “we’re late, so we can’t do anything right, not even saying the phrase about being late”.

The Tooth Fairy

Nationality: American
Age: 53
Occupation: Attorney
Residence: Baltimore, MD
Performance Date: May 2, 2021
Primary Language: English

Main piece: Every tooth you got a note from the tooth fairy, who was a woman – a Ms. Tooth Fairy. And she had a wand and a costume. And there was a rate for it. One tooth was $1, molars were $5, and the last tooth was a big deal, like 20 bucks. The fairy is magic. She’s real. She sent me a letter. But, you know, my children loved those notes. One of them kept all of them.

Background:  My informant is a fifty-three year old woman from Los Angeles, California. She is the mother of three children, aged twenty, sixteen, and fourteen. Whenever one of them would lose a tooth, they would receive some money (rates stated above), and a letter from the tooth fairy inquiring after their general well-being, and complimenting how big they’ve grown. To this day, whenever her children ask about the tooth fairy (including her eldest for the purposes of a folklore project), she adamantly says “she” is real. 

Context: The tooth fairy is a common folk character. The Western variation of this folklore states that if a child loses their tooth and leaves it under a pillow, the tooth fairy will come, take the tooth, and bring them money. In the case of my informant’s children, a note would accompany the typical tradition, and my informant continues to tell her children of its existence, even if they are old enough now to no longer believe in her. 

My informant told this story when I brought up Santa Claus as an example of a character rooted in folklore. 

Analysis: The folklore of being given money by the tooth fairy comes from the fear of losing one’s teeth- an otherwise horrific and scary occurrence for any young child to deal with. By rewarding or giving the child a present in exchange for the lost tooth, they are able to take something that would otherwise be seen as strange and scary and make it seem exciting or something to look forward to. The notes as an accompaniment to the money made the experiences of the children of my informant more personal, and having a stock character that wrote to them and comforted them made that experience even easier to handle. Additionally, my informant’s refusal to deny the existence of the tooth fairy to this day has more to do with her perspective than that of the kids’, as having a tooth fairy is part of childhood, and as the children grow up, they no longer need her and stop believing in her. My informant’s insistence of her continued existence in reality is her way of connecting the character with the childhood innocence of her children, even now that they are mostly grown up.  (For another version, see Stuurman, May 18, 2020, “The Tooth Fairy”, USC Folklore Archives)