Mid-Autumn Festival Story
Chang'e and Hou Yi
Long long ago, there were 10 suns on the sky. They burnt all the plants on the earth. People were dying.
One day, a hero whose name was Hou Yi used his bow and arrows to shoot down nine of them. All the people on the earth were saved.
One day, the queen of heaven gave Hou Yi a bottle elixir which could make Hou Yi become an immortal but the elixir was only efficacious for one person. Hou Yi did want to become an immortal but he wanted to stay with her beautiful wife Chang'e more, so he didn't drink the elixir and asked his wife Chang'e to keep it for him.
Hou Yi was becoming more and more famous after he shot down the nine suns and more and more men wanted Hou Yi to be their master. Most of them were accepted by Hou Yi.
Not every student of Hou Yi had good morality. Feng Meng, one of his students, wanted to seize his elixir. One day, Hou Yi went hunting with his students but Feng Meng pretended to be ill and stay at home. When making sure Hou Yi had gone he went to Hou Yi's house and tried to force Chang'e to give him the elixir. Chang'e knew she couldn't defeat Feng Meng so she drank the elixir immediately. The elixir made her become an immortal and fly higher and higher. Finally, she stopped on the moon.
From then on, people often pray Chang'e for fortune and safety. Especially on the Mid-Autumn Festival they prepared lots of foods for Chang'e.
Wu Gang and the Cherry Bay
Wu Gang was a woodchopper. He always wanted to become an immortal but he never tried his best to learn the theurgy. The Jade Emperor got angry to him because of his attitude. In order to punish him, the Jade Emperor planted a huge cherry bay which was 1665 meter high on the moon and ordered Wu Gang to chop it down then Wu Gang could become an immortal.
This time, Wu Gang was very serious but he could never finish his work. The cherry bay healed every time that Wu Gang chopped it. Wu Gang wouldn’t give up. He was trying time and time again.
At unclouded nights people can see some obvious shadows on the moon. They are made by the huge cherry bay.
The Jade Rabbit
One day, three immortals who were living in the heaven came to the earth. They asked a fox, a monkey and a rabbit to find some food for them respectively. The fox and the monkey both found something for the three immortals while the rabbit got nothing. The rabbit felt very sorry for the three immortals. Finally, he jumped into the fire and said to the three immortals "eat me, please!" the three immortal were deep moved by the rabbit. They decided to entitle the rabbit a reputation of "Jade Rabbit" and let him accompany Chang'e in the Moon Palace.
Celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival in China: See how Chinese people are celebrating this festival: appreciating the Moon, eating Moon Cakes and Making Lanterns.
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