| Legend 6 - A tale of a white snake Once upon a time, there lived two 1000-year old snakes. One was white and she was called Bai Su Zhen. The other was green, and she was called Siu Qing. Siu Qing had been Bai Su Zhen’ s maid since they started practicing witchcraft, which enabled them to live a very long life indeed. The longer they lived, the more powerful their witchcraft had become. Their witchcraft had reached such a supreme level that they could transform themselves into whatever form they liked. One day, they thought it would be fun to turn themselves into human beings. They shed their scales and fangs and grew themselves two arms and legs. Upon complete transformation, both of them became very pretty young women. They decided to go out to have some fun. Off they went, and strolled along the village nearest to their cave. While they were trying to enjoy their new experience and were indeed surprised by the large number of young men looking at them, Bai Su Zhen saw a very handsome man and immediately fell in love with him. Noticing Bai Su Zhen’s anxiety to make acquaintance with the young man, Siu Qing summonsed her witchcraft power and started making it rain. Bai Su Zhen then invited the young man to their house to take shelter. The house obviously was just built by them a moment ago with their witchcraft. The young man introduced himself as Xu Xian and was naturally overjoyed by the invitation from such a beautiful woman. He also immediately fell in love with Bai Su Zhen. Siu Qing could discern the loving feeling that Bai Su Zhen and Xu Xian had with each another, and she decided to be their matchmaker. She then proposed to Xu Xian on behalf of her friend. Xu Xian regarded this encounter as godsend and agreed to marry Bai Su Zhen. They got married the next day. Xu Xian was a hardworking and honest man. He started a small business and the three of them lived happily afterwards. Good days never lasted long. One day, Xu Xian went out to meet his business associate in order to close a deal. On the way, a monk who told him that according to his appearance, he (the monk) could tell that evil spirits had troubled Xu Xian stopped him. He said that although he had never met his wife before, he could tell by his grey forehead and his black luster eyes that he had been cohabitating with evil spirits. He warned that if Xu Xian did not get rid of the evil spirits soon, he would die of energy deprivation. Xu Xian of course did not believe in the monk and told him he was a liar. However, knowing the deep danger that Xu Xian had let him into, the monk persisted and offered Xu Xian three charms: one was to be placed under his hat, the second one on the door of the house, and the third one was to be burnt in front of his wife. He guaranteed Xu Xian that if he followed his instructions and use the three charms as directed, his wife, who was the source of the evil spirits, would lose temporarily her witchcraft power and return to her original form. Xu Xian went home, unsure of what the monk had said. He hesitantly told Bai Su Zhen what the monk had said. Bai Su Zhen held her temper and calmly asked her husband to try out the three charms so that she could prove that she was not an evil spirit, as she knew that her witchcraft was so supreme that she could overcome the spell from the charms. Xu Xian was very relieved to see that what the monk had told him was unfounded. A few months later, Bai Su Zhen became pregnant. She and Xu Xian were of course very delighted, as they would soon become parents. However, one day, a monk from the Golden Mount Temple called on Xu Xian, and told him that he could see from afar that his house was completely enclosed by evil spirits. According to his observation, his wife was a snake. Needless to say, Xu Xian did not believe in what the monk had told him. The monk advised Xu Xian that he could try to get his wife to drink some herbal wine on the Dragon boat Festival, and he would then know immediately whether his wife was a human being or not. It was the Dragon Boat Festival and happened to be the hottest day of the year. Both Bai Su Zhen and Siu Qing knew that the fierce heat from the midday sun would reduce their witchcraft power and they could not sustain their human being form in the daytime. Bai Su Zhen asked Siu Qing to hide herself until sunset so that even if she returned to her original form, nobody would realize that she was Marx Xian’s maid. Bai Su Zhen believed that the level of her witchcraft was higher than that of Siu Qing and she could withstand the exceptional heat longer. As the sun was so fierce and the heat became unbearable, Xu Xian returned home from work early. He brought home some herbal wine and offered it to his wife. Not realizing that it was an herbal wine, Bai Su Zhen drank it to quencher thirst. A little while later, Xu Xian noticed that his wife was not feeling well, and asked her to take some rest. Bai Su Zhen then retired to the bedroom. Hoping that some cold water would make her wife feel comfortable, Xu Xian brought a bowl of cold water to the bedroom. When Xu Xian entered the bedroom, he saw a big white snake on the bed. He was so horrified that he immediately passed out. Dusk came and the temperature started to fall. Siu Qing was able to transform herself to a human being again and immediately made her way back to Xu Xian’s house. She found Xu Xian lying on the floor unconscious. She also found Bai Su Zhen who had just transformed herself again to a human being. They then administered some Chinese herbs to Xu Xian who then gradually came round. Bai Su Zhen and Siu Qing told Xu Xian that they also saw a big white snake in the house but they had driven it away. Bai Su Zhen then asked Xu Xian whether he would still love her if she were an evil spirit as had been alleged by the monk. Xu told her that his love for her was eternal; no one could take away his love for her. After Xu Xian had declared his eternal love for her, Bai Su Zhen then told Xu Xian the truth and admitted that both she and Siu Qing were in fact snakes with the ability to stay in the form of human beings. She assured Xu Xian that they meant no harm to him, and indeed loved him as much as he loved her. Xu Xian reassured Bai Su Zhen that he would love her forever as he found her to be a tender and caring wife. Days went by and Bai Su Zhen and Xu Xian continued to live happily together, waiting for the arrival of their child. One day while Xu Xian was on the way to the market, he met the monk from the Golden Mount Temple again. The monk tried to persuade Xu Xian that he is in great danger and he should come and stay in the Golden Mount Temple so that he could protect him against evil spirits. Xu Xian refused. Out of anxiety to help Xu Xian, the monk tied up Xu Xian and took him to the Golden Mount Temple. As Xu Xian failed to return home that evening, Bai Su Zhen and Siu Qing found out that Xu Xian had been taken away by force to the Golden Mount Temple. They immediately went to the Temple and requested to see the monk. They begged the monk to have mercy on them and release Xu Xian so that they could be reunited. The monk refused and angrily said that not only would he not return Xu Xian to them, but also he would not tolerate both Bai Su Zhen and Siu Qing to live in the form of human beings, as they were in fact evil spirits. He declared that he would only return Xu Xian to them if they could flood the Golden Mount Temple. The monk realized that this was an impossible task for anyone to achieve. The pair was furious and wanted to teach the monk a lesson. They immediately used their witchcraft power to raise the water level of the Yangtze River above the Golden Mount Temple, which was situated at the top of the hill, hoping to force the monk to release Xu Xian. At that critical moment, Bai Su Zhen started her labour and was about to give birth. She had on alternative but to retreat to the forest with Siu Qing. Bai Su Zhen gave birth to a baby boy. She knew that the monk would not forgive her for what she had done – by raising the water level to the top of the hill in order to rescue Xu Xian, Bai Su Zhen had flooded a large area near the Temple and killed many innocent people. She then asked Siu Qing to take her son away so that the monk would not harm him in any way. In the meantime, the monk was able to break Bai Su Zhen’s witchcraft power and make the flood subside. He then captured Bai Su Zhen in the forest and imprisoned her in a pagoda with a spell. Bai Su Zhen lost all of her witchcraft power and returned to be an ordinary snake. Xu Xian was later reunited with his son, but he was heartbroken to have lost his beloved wife. |
ORIENTALWOMEN TALK
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