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Houyi and Chang’e: The Legend of the Moon
A brave archer saves the earth from ten blazing suns, but it’s his devoted wife who becomes the reason families still look up at the full moon together: the ancient Chinese legend of Houyi and Chang’e.
Long, long ago, in ancient China, ten suns rose into the sky together, all at once, and the world began to scorch beneath their burning light. Rivers dried to dust, crops withered in the fields, and people everywhere grew desperate for relief. A skilled young archer named Houyi climbed to the top of the highest mountain, drew his bow, and shot down nine of the ten suns, one after another, leaving only a single sun to warm and light the earth gently, just as it does today.
Grateful beyond words, the people honored Houyi as a hero, and in time he married a kind and gentle woman named Chang’e, and the two lived together happily. Word of his great deed reached the heavens, and a goddess rewarded him with a rare elixir, one sip of which would grant eternal life among the immortals. Houyi, unwilling to leave his beloved Chang’e and his life on earth behind, asked her to keep the elixir safe until they could decide together what to do with it.
A Dishonest Apprentice
In time, Houyi took on students eager to learn archery from the great hero, and most of them were honest and hardworking. But one among them, a man named Fengmeng, was ambitious and unkind, and when he learned of the elixir, greed took hold of him. One day, while Houyi was away, Fengmeng broke into their home and demanded that Chang’e hand the elixir over to him.
Chang’e’s Choice
Rather than let something so powerful fall into such unworthy hands, Chang’e made a swift decision. She drank the elixir herself, right there on the spot. Almost at once, she felt herself grow lighter than air, and before she could steady herself, she began to rise, floating up through the window and into the open sky, unable to stop no matter how she tried, until at last she came to rest gently upon the moon, the farthest place from home she had ever been.
A Husband’s Devotion
When Houyi returned and learned what had happened, his heart broke, but there was nothing in his power to bring her back down. That night, he set out her favorite fruits and sweet cakes in their garden, and looked up at the bright, round moon, hoping that somehow she could feel that she was still loved and never forgotten.
From that day on, every autumn on the same night, families across China still gather beneath the full moon to share mooncakes together and look up at the sky, just as Houyi once did, remembering the devoted wife who gave up everything, and who is said to watch over the earth still, from her quiet home among the stars.
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Dongbei Yaolan Qu
Play this softly while you read: a traditional lullaby from northeastern China, from the same country this legend calls home.
More stories, more lullabies
This is one tale in a growing collection of traditional stories from around the world, each one paired, where we can, with a real lullaby from the same culture.