Silk Road - A Bilingual Reader of Chinese Traditional Culture

Author: Lin Shaoxiong / Country: Mainland China
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-08-01
Features: After a few days, the white horse returned home with the master. The family reunited after a long separation, filled with mixed emotions of joy and sorrow, and were deeply moved. Thus, everyone forgot the earlier vow. However, from that day on, the white horse became restless, neighing incessantly, refusing to eat hay or drink water. Seeing the noble horse in such a state, the father of the silkworm girl was greatly astonished. He asked his family about the reason, and the mother of the silkworm girl told him about the vow she had made to the public. The father said, "This was a vow made to humans, not to a horse. How could a person be married to a horse?" Hearing this, the white horse became extremely furious, constantly pawing the ground with its hooves and neighing mournfully. Seeing this, the father grew angry and, in a fit of rage, drew an arrow, nocked it, and shot the white horse, then skinned it and hung the hide in the courtyard to dry.
When his daughter passed by the hide, it suddenly flew up, swept her away, and in the blink of an eye, she vanished without a trace. Several days later, the family found the girl on a tree. They saw that she was tightly wrapped in the horse hide, and her head had transformed into that of a horse's head, becoming a silkworm that was resting on the branch, eating mulberry leaves. Seeing this, her parents were filled with deep regret and longed for their daughter, hoping that one day she would return to her human form. They took her from the tree and raised her.
One day, the sky, which had been dull, suddenly became radiant with colorful clouds and hues. In an instant, they saw the silkworm girl riding on floating clouds, accompanied by her white horse and dozens of attendants, descending from the heavens to their home. The silkworm girl said to her parents, "Because I was filial to my elders, willing to sacrifice for my parents, and always remembered repaying great kindness, the Jade Emperor has appointed me as the ninth palace celestial concubine. From now on, I will live in the heavens forever. Please do not miss me anymore." With that, she took her attendants and ascended into the sky, and from then on, her family never saw her again.
From then on, the family used the silk she produced to sew clothes and make bedding, marking the beginning of human history of raising silkworms and reeling silk. Because this insect always spun silk to wrap itself, people called it "silkworm (chán)." Also, since the girl lost her life on a tree, people named that tree "mulberry (sàng)."
According to legend, the silkworm girl's home is located at the of Shifang, Mianzhu, and Deyang counties in Sichuan today. Every year, farmers who pray for a bountiful silk harvest gather here regularly from all directions, like clouds, to pray to the silkworm girl, hoping she will bless the land with favorable weather. All their prayers are always answered. In the local Taoist and Buddhist temples, statues of a woman wearing a horse hide are enshrined, and people call her "Horse-Head Mother" to pray for silk and mulberry cultivation. P7-9