月亮女神——嫦娥的传说

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.

故事发生于公元前约2170年的夏朝，那时人们刚度过一场大洪灾。统治众多王国的国王禹成功治水，并指导百姓进行农耕，遂迎来昌平盛世。

就在此时，天上的玉帝想帮助人间的百姓养畜耕田，于是下令让他的十个儿子变作十个太阳，轮番绕天空运行，每个太阳运行一天。十个年轻人不听话，他们每天一起出去，结果十个太阳同时照耀使大地酷热难耐。人和动物因热致死，河流干涸，田地贫瘠，林木枯焦。

百姓纷纷祈祷，献祭上香祈求上天拯救。玉帝听到他们的祈祷，明白了这一切乃其子所为。于是，他派最勇敢的神仙——后羿下界解决问题，结束灾难。后羿是一个善良勇敢的神仙，他有一个美丽的妻子——嫦娥，两人因彼此深爱而赢得“神仙眷侣”的美名。嫦娥不想让其夫下界，也不愿与其分开，于是两人一起来到人间在东方的氏族部落做了凡人。

后羿善射箭，下凡时随身带着他的神弓。得知后羿是玉帝所派，部落的人民推他做首领。看到十个太阳的酷热给百姓带来如此大的痛苦和灾难，后羿登上天山和十个太阳谈判，希望他们怜悯不幸的百姓。他请求太阳们轮流单独运行，每个太阳运行一天，并解释十个太阳白花花的光辉太过炽烈，让大地难以忍受。他还告诉他们天庭玉帝很爱万物生灵。

但不服管教的太阳们觉得一个个轮流绕天运行太乏味了，而一起出来才更有趣，于是他们不听后羿的话，反而变本加厉增加热度，让百姓们更加痛苦。这苦恼了后羿。于是，他取出神弓和箭支，射下了九个太阳；最后一个太阳求饶，并承诺服从命令，执行区分昼夜的任务，这才保住了性命。

最后，地球终于安定下来，人们开始安居乐业。然而，当后羿把射日之事报告玉帝时，玉帝却因其杀害他的九个儿子而怒不可遏，拒绝让这对神仙眷侣返回天庭。

作为部落首领，后羿在人间可闲不着。他教人们保护土地和防身的各种方法。因忙于公务，后羿忽略了他可爱而寂寞的妻子。成了一个俗世的凡人，嫦娥非常闷闷不乐，尤其是面对所有世俗的痛苦、衰老和死亡时。 而她也为丈夫射杀了玉帝的九个儿子感到生气，夫妇俩渐渐淡漠疏远起来。

为避免和妻子争辩，后羿独自四处旅行来打发时间。他的名字家喻户晓，所到之处也乐施善行。他杀死了一个有100000只脚、九个头的巨蟒，这个九头怪物曾伤及数千条性命，给人们带来巨大痛苦。他多次祈求玉帝让他和他妻子返回天庭，但玉帝拒绝了他的恳求，于是，后羿和嫦娥就呆在人间，继续做着凡人，和常人一样经受着世间的诸般痛苦。