月亮女神——嫦娥的傳說

袁戈雯

The story begins around 2170 B.C. after the great flood in the Hsia dynasty. Yu, king of many kingdoms, was credited with stopping the flood, and with teaching farmers how to cultivate their fields, thus commencing a prosperous epoch.

At the same time in Heaven the Jade Emperor wished to help the farmers raise animals and cultivate their fields. He gave orders to his ten sons to become ten suns and travel across the sky one at a time, each taking one day. The ten young men disobeyed; all ten of them came out every day, and the heat from ten suns shining all at once made the earth intolerably hot. People and animals died of heat, rivers dried up, land became barren and forests scorched and burned.

The farmers prayed, giving sacrifices and burning incense to Heaven for deliverance. The Jade Emperor heard their prayers and saw the destruction caused by his sons. He sent Hou Yi, his bravest god, down to earth to solve the problem of the ten suns and end the catastrophe. Hou Yi was a good, courageous god with a beautiful wife, Chang Er. Deeply in love with each other, they were known as the Divine Couple. Chang Er didnt like the thought of going down to earth, but she was unwilling to be separated from her husband, so together they descended to earth and became mortals among the Eastern clans.

Hou Yi was a great archer and brought his magic bow from heaven with him. Knowing that Hou Yi came from heaven, the people of the clans proclaimed him to be their leader.

Seeing how much suffering and destruction were caused by the heat of the ten suns, Hou Yi climbed to the top of Tienshan mountain and began negotiating with the suns to have pity on the unfortunate people. He pleaded to the suns to take turns and make their journeys across the sky singly, one for each day, and explained the white blaze of ten suns is much too much for the land to bear. He also told them how much Heaven loves all living things.

But the ten audacious suns considered it dull and boring to go across the sky one at a time and that much more fun was to be had by coming out together, so they refused to listen. They increased their heat and caused even more suffering. This angered Hou Yi. He took out his magic bow and arrows and shot down nine of the suns; the last sun begged for his life and promised obedience at performing his task of separating night from day.

Finally the earth was at peace and people enjoyed their work and lives. However, when Hou Yi made his report to the Jade Emperor, he was furious at Hou Yi for killing his nine sons, and refused to let the Divine Couple return to Heaven.

As leader of the clans, there was much for Hou Yi to do on earth. He taught the people many ways to defend their land and themselves. He was so busy with his duties he became neglectful of his lovely and lonely wife. Chang Er was especially unhappy to be an earthly mortal with all of mortalitys suffering, aging and death in particular. Also, she was angry at Hou Yi for shooting down the Jade Emperors nine sons, and the couple became unhappy and estranged.

To avoid arguing with his wife, Hou Yi spent his time travelling about the land alone. He became familiar to its people, performing many good deeds wherever he travelled. He also killed a gigantic, 100,000-foot snake and a nine-headed monster that had caused much distress and thousands of lives. Many times he prayed to the Jade Emperor to let himself and his wife return to Heaven, but the Emperor refused his plead and so Hou Yi and Chang Er remained as mortals, suffering as ordinary human beings do.

故事發(fā)生于公元前約2170年的夏朝，那時(shí)人們剛度過一場大洪災(zāi)。統(tǒng)治眾多王國的國王禹成功治水，并指導(dǎo)百姓進(jìn)行農(nóng)耕，遂迎來昌平盛世。

就在此時(shí)，天上的玉帝想幫助人間的百姓養(yǎng)畜耕田，于是下令讓他的十個(gè)兒子變作十個(gè)太陽，輪番繞天空運(yùn)行，每個(gè)太陽運(yùn)行一天。十個(gè)年輕人不聽話，他們每天一起出去，結(jié)果十個(gè)太陽同時(shí)照耀使大地酷熱難耐。人和動(dòng)物因熱致死，河流干涸，田地貧瘠，林木枯焦。

百姓紛紛祈禱，獻(xiàn)祭上香祈求上天拯救。玉帝聽到他們的祈禱，明白了這一切乃其子所為。于是，他派最勇敢的神仙——后羿下界解決問題，結(jié)束災(zāi)難。后羿是一個(gè)善良勇敢的神仙，他有一個(gè)美麗的妻子——嫦娥，兩人因彼此深愛而贏得“神仙眷侶”的美名。嫦娥不想讓其夫下界，也不愿與其分開，于是兩人一起來到人間在東方的氏族部落做了凡人。

后羿善射箭，下凡時(shí)隨身帶著他的神弓。得知后羿是玉帝所派，部落的人民推他做首領(lǐng)。看到十個(gè)太陽的酷熱給百姓帶來如此大的痛苦和災(zāi)難，后羿登上天山和十個(gè)太陽談判，希望他們憐憫不幸的百姓。他請求太陽們輪流單獨(dú)運(yùn)行，每個(gè)太陽運(yùn)行一天，并解釋十個(gè)太陽白花花的光輝太過熾烈，讓大地難以忍受。他還告訴他們天庭玉帝很愛萬物生靈。

但不服管教的太陽們覺得一個(gè)個(gè)輪流繞天運(yùn)行太乏味了，而一起出來才更有趣，于是他們不聽后羿的話，反而變本加厲增加熱度，讓百姓們更加痛苦。這苦惱了后羿。于是，他取出神弓和箭支，射下了九個(gè)太陽；最后一個(gè)太陽求饒，并承諾服從命令，執(zhí)行區(qū)分晝夜的任務(wù)，這才保住了性命。

最后，地球終于安定下來，人們開始安居樂業(yè)。然而，當(dāng)后羿把射日之事報(bào)告玉帝時(shí)，玉帝卻因其殺害他的九個(gè)兒子而怒不可遏，拒絕讓這對神仙眷侶返回天庭。

作為部落首領(lǐng)，后羿在人間可閑不著。他教人們保護(hù)土地和防身的各種方法。因忙于公務(wù)，后羿忽略了他可愛而寂寞的妻子。成了一個(gè)俗世的凡人，嫦娥非常悶悶不樂，尤其是面對所有世俗的痛苦、衰老和死亡時(shí)。 而她也為丈夫射殺了玉帝的九個(gè)兒子感到生氣，夫婦倆漸漸淡漠疏遠(yuǎn)起來。

為避免和妻子爭辯，后羿獨(dú)自四處旅行來打發(fā)時(shí)間。他的名字家喻戶曉，所到之處也樂施善行。他殺死了一個(gè)有100000只腳、九個(gè)頭的巨蟒，這個(gè)九頭怪物曾傷及數(shù)千條性命，給人們帶來巨大痛苦。他多次祈求玉帝讓他和他妻子返回天庭，但玉帝拒絕了他的懇求，于是，后羿和嫦娥就呆在人間，繼續(xù)做著凡人，和常人一樣經(jīng)受著世間的諸般痛苦。