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snowynightLet me talks about the first Chinese fairytale I have ever read: The Snake Husband/The King of the Snakes. This is a popular Chinese fairytale with many variants (link on wikipedia). Despite the name, the focus is on the heroine of the story.
The beginning of this story may remind you of the Beauty and the Beast. A powerful snake demands a man to give a daughter to it as its wife or it will eat him for the man's offense. Only the youngest daughter agrees to be its bride to save her father. Then she discovers that her husband is very rich, kind and has an alternate (often handsome) human form, so she's very happy with her marriage. As she misses her family, she invites her sister when her husband is away.
Then the older sister gets jealous and murders her to take her place.
When the husband returns, the older sister makes up various lie to assume the identity of the victim, which reminds me of the Little Red Hood and the Wolf. However, the murdered heroine transforms into a bird to sing of her crime. The older sister kills the bird and cooks it for meal, but gets choked by its bone. She throws the bones out, and a tree is born in the place, whispering of her crime.
The older sister cuts the tree down to use the wood as the door sill. She fell over the door every time, while the husband never has any problem, so she chops it as firewood. The sparks when the firewood burns hit her face. She uses the fire to cook a sweet rice cake and brings it to the bedroom. However, she gets asleep and forgets about it.
When the snake husband goes into the bedroom, he sees the younger sister and is surprised why she looks so much like his wife. The younger sister tells him that it's because she is his wife.
Then the snake husband either kills the older sister, or the older sister commits suicide. The snake husband and the younger sister lives happily together.
I was fascinated by the story then. Envy could kill. Appearance was deceptive. The murderer went to extra length to cover up her crime. The younger sister never gave up revenge and taking back her life. She was killed repeatedly, but got the justice and happiness she deserves. Later I read the grim dark version of Grimm fairy tale, with incest, abuse and torture, but the The Snake Husband had a place in my heart.
"Fairy tales do not give a child his first idea of bogey. What fairy tales give the child is his first clear idea of the possible defeat of bogey. The baby has known the dragon intimately ever since he had an imagination. What the fairy tale provides for him is a St. George to kill the dragon." ~ "The Red Angel," Tremendous Trifles by G. K. Chesterton
The beginning of this story may remind you of the Beauty and the Beast. A powerful snake demands a man to give a daughter to it as its wife or it will eat him for the man's offense. Only the youngest daughter agrees to be its bride to save her father. Then she discovers that her husband is very rich, kind and has an alternate (often handsome) human form, so she's very happy with her marriage. As she misses her family, she invites her sister when her husband is away.
Then the older sister gets jealous and murders her to take her place.
When the husband returns, the older sister makes up various lie to assume the identity of the victim, which reminds me of the Little Red Hood and the Wolf. However, the murdered heroine transforms into a bird to sing of her crime. The older sister kills the bird and cooks it for meal, but gets choked by its bone. She throws the bones out, and a tree is born in the place, whispering of her crime.
The older sister cuts the tree down to use the wood as the door sill. She fell over the door every time, while the husband never has any problem, so she chops it as firewood. The sparks when the firewood burns hit her face. She uses the fire to cook a sweet rice cake and brings it to the bedroom. However, she gets asleep and forgets about it.
When the snake husband goes into the bedroom, he sees the younger sister and is surprised why she looks so much like his wife. The younger sister tells him that it's because she is his wife.
Then the snake husband either kills the older sister, or the older sister commits suicide. The snake husband and the younger sister lives happily together.
I was fascinated by the story then. Envy could kill. Appearance was deceptive. The murderer went to extra length to cover up her crime. The younger sister never gave up revenge and taking back her life. She was killed repeatedly, but got the justice and happiness she deserves. Later I read the grim dark version of Grimm fairy tale, with incest, abuse and torture, but the The Snake Husband had a place in my heart.
"Fairy tales do not give a child his first idea of bogey. What fairy tales give the child is his first clear idea of the possible defeat of bogey. The baby has known the dragon intimately ever since he had an imagination. What the fairy tale provides for him is a St. George to kill the dragon." ~ "The Red Angel," Tremendous Trifles by G. K. Chesterton
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