Translated by Jan Walls, West Lake, a collection of folktales
Lü Dongbin Sells Dumplings
It was the third day of the third month in the season of early spring. By West Lake, the willow branches were tender green and the peach blossoms gorgeous red, and there were visitors from all quarters here. Even the immortal Lü Dongbin from the Upper Eight Caves had turned himself into an old man with white hair and white beard, outfitted with a peddler's stall, and come to West Lake to join the crowd, selling soup dumplings. He set up his stall by a giant willow next to Interrupting Bridge.
When the dumplings in the pot had all floated up, he started yelling at the top of his voice:“ Eat some sweet dumplings! Have some sweet dumplings! Three big ones for one copper coin, one small one for three!”
People all laughed when they heard his call. Some said to him:” Hey! Old man, your call is wrong! Switch the price of your big ones and small ones!”
Lü Dongbin ignored them and shouted as before:“ Three big dumplings for one copper, one small dumpling for three!”
Soon everyone came over and surrounded his stall. This one would take out a copper and so would that one; they all bought the big ones. In a short while, all the big dumplings in the pot had been sold.
At this time, a man aged about fifty pushed his way into the crowd carrying a small boy in his arms. When the boy saw other people eating dumplings, he also started shouting for some. But all the big ones were sold, so the man had to fish three coppers from his pocket and buy a small one for the boy. Lü Dongbin took the money. First, he ladled some boiling broth into a bowl, then picked up a small dumpling and put it in the broth. He stooped down, holding the bowl in his hands, then started to blow into it: the little dumpling jumped up onto the edge of the bowl and started rolling around the rim, around and around it rolled!
The child was immensely pleased. He was just going to pick up the dumpling and eat it when, just as though it were alive, the dumpling rushed into his mouth and slipped right down into his stomach.
After the boy had swallowed this dumpling, he did not crave anything to eat for three days and three nights. His father was very much alarmed and brought the boy to the willow tree by Interrupting Bridge to find the soup dumpling seller.
“Ha, ha!” When Lü Dongbin learned about this he laughed loudly, then took the boy and carried him up to the bridge. Before the boy knew what was happening, Lü Dongbin had picked him up by his feet and was carrying him upside down, shouting, “Come out!” The little dumpling that had been swallowed three days ago came rolling out of that little mouth in the same shape it had when it went in three days ago. It fell on the bridge and rolled down, down, down into West Lake.
Beneath Interrupting Bridge, there was a white snake that was cultivating itself to attain divinity and magic powers. The white snake had already cultivated herself for five hundred years and had acquired a certain level of divine spirit and power. She often stretched her head out to observe what was happening in the human world. Seeing that the wind was gentle and the sun warm by West Lake, and that there were so many people - male, female, old, young - in groups of all sizes, some enjoying the scenery, others just laughing and joking, some rowing boats, some planting trees, others planting flowers, still others busy making a living, the white snake began to feel extremely envious of life in the human world.
On this very day, she was emerging from the bottom of the lake, and it was just at this moment that the little dumpling rolled off the bridge. She caught it and with a “gulp” she swallowed it immediately.
The Immortal Peach Party
Bright and early one morning, a puff of white smoke rose by Interrupting Bridge and a young lady wearing soft shimmering white clothes ascended from the bottom of the lake. How beautiful she was! She looked exactly like a lotus freshly emerged from the water!
It happened that Lü Dongbin's little dumpling was a pill of immortality and when the white snake swallowed it, five hundred years of cultivation was added to her previous training. Now that she had acquired a thousand years of cultivation, she transformed herself into a human being, and gave herself the name “Lady White.”
On the birthday of the Queen Mother of the West, all the immortals went to her “immortal peach party.” So many of them came that they filled up the whole Cloud Piercing Hall. On this day, Lady White also attended the party to celebrate the royal birthday. This was her first time to come, and not knowing the place or anyone else there, she sat herself quietly in the very last seat.
After a little while, the fairy girls came holding the gorgeous red peaches. Everyone began to drink toasts with the birthday wine, and then the Queen Mother herself came out to greet her guests. When she saw Lady White, she looked her over from head to toe, from right to left and concluded that she just did not know this person.
She asked the old Immortal of the Southern Extremity:“Who is this lovely lady?”
The Immortal of the Southern Extremity stroked his dazzling white beard and said to Lü Dongbin laughingly:“Perhaps you should be able to explain this!”
Lü Dongbin was confused. He thought and thought, but could not understand why he should be able to explain this. When the Immortal of the Southern Extremity saw that Lü Dongbin was stumped, he broke into a loud laugh, then told the whole story that started with Lü Dongbin selling soup dumplings at West Lake. The story gave Lü Dongbin and all the other immortals a good laugh.
The story the Immortal of the Southern Extremity told made Lady White think of her old wish, and she said to herself: “I tried to cultivate myself for five hundred years under the lake and how lonely I was! I saw the good and beautiful human world up above the lake, but being a snake, I could not live among people. Now that I have swallowed the pill of immortality and been transformed into a human being, I really should give the human world a try!” She also thought of the little child who had spat out the pill; maybe she should go take a look at him too.
When the party was over, Lady White walked to the South Gate of Heaven and saw the Immortal of the Southern Extremity. She hurried over and grabbed hold of his wide sleeve.
“Old immortal! Sir! Tell me how the child who spat out the pill is doing? I'd like to go see him.”
When he heard this question, the Immortal of the Southern Extremity laughed loudly: “Do you think he is still a little boy? Your brief visit in heaven lasted eighteen years in the human world. That little boy is already a young man now!”
When Lady White heard this, her heart gave a flutter.“Then how can I find him?”
“You go down now and go look for him by West Lake. The tallest and shortest man you find there will be the one.”
This said, the Immortal of the Southern Extremity stepped on a cloud and floated off.
The Tallest and Shortest Man
Lady White left the South Gate of Heaven and descended to West Lake, arriving at the Su Dongpo Causeway.
She walked along the Causeway until she came to Wave Reflecting Bridge, where she saw an old beggar with a small dark-colored snake dangling in his hand. When the dark snake saw Lady White, it wiggled both its head and tail, and tears dropped from its eyes.
Lady White took pity on it: “Dear old grandpa, what are you going to do with this snake?”
The old beggar replied:“ I'm going to take its gall bladder and sell it!”
When Lady White heard this, she looked at the little dark snake again and really felt sorry for it." Grandpa, I have some money, won't you sell it to me?”
The old beggar nodded his head in agreement.
After Lady White had bought the dark snake, she took it to the lake and put it in the water, when suddenly a puff of black smoke rose from the lake and a young girl dressed in a black shirt and black skirt walked out of the smoke.
Lady White was so happy to see her, she took the girl's hand: “Dear little girl, what is your name?”
“My name is Little Black.”
“Well, Little Black, why don't you just be my companion?”
Thereupon, Little Black treated Lady White as her elder sister and they went off together.
Walking on and on, they proceeded from the inner lake to the outer lake and then back again. After every few steps, Lady White would stop and look this way and that.
Little Black had no idea what they were doing:“ My sister, what are you looking for anyway?”
Lady White smiled and told her the riddle that the Immortal of the Southern Extremity had given her and asked Little Black to help solve it.
Now, this day just happened to be Tomb-sweeping Day, and the weather was very fine. There were groups of people here and there; some going up the hills to sweep tombs and others coming to the lakeside to enjoy the scenery. There were even more people by Interrupting Bridge. Lady White and Little Black threaded their way back and forth through the throngs of people, looking for the man who was tallest and shortest. However, none of the tall ones were short, and none of the short ones were the least bit tall. Yes, finding this person would be no easy task!
By noon, Lady White and Little Black had made their way back to Interrupting Bridge.
At this time, there was a small circus in action right under the giant willow tree by the bridge, and a throng of spectators were crowding around to watch.
Little Black looked around, then suddenly shouted:“Sister, it's the tallest and shortest man!”
“Where? Where is he?”
“There, look!” Little Black pointed to the giant willow tree. And there sitting in the fork of the tree, was a young man.
Lady White took a look at him: “He's not tall!”
“He is sitting there high up in the tree and people walking back and forth all have to walk under his legs. He must be the tallest person!”
“But he's not short!”
“His shadow is on the ground and whoever walks by has to step over his head. Doesn't that make him the shortest person?”
“That's right, you're right! He must be the one!” And then Lady White thought to herself: “Ah, dear old immortal! That was a tough riddle! The tallest and shortest turned out to be a young man who is neither tall nor short!”
Lady White took a good look at the young man and found that he was very handsome, with quite an honest look about him. She was both surprised and pleased. The only thing now was that he was sitting there in the tree, and she did not even know his name. How was she to make him come down from the tree? Little Black then came up with the idea of having Lady White use her magic power. In no time, dark clouds covered the sky and amidst roaring thunder a heavy rain started to fall.
The circus had to pack up and the crowd dispersed right away. The young man climbed down from the tree and ran to the shore of West Lake, where he called to a boat and told the boatman to take him to Clear Wave Gate.
Just as the boat had pulled away from the edge of the lake and before the boatman could even set his oars straight, Lady White shouted from the shore:“ Hello, grandpa boatman! Please give us a ride!”
The young man poked his head out of the cabin and saw two young ladies standing on the shore, drenched by the rain and wet as chickens in a pot of soup. He told the boatman to return to shore and let them come aboard.
As soon as they stepped on the boat, they thanked the young man.
Little Black asked him his name.
“My family name is Xu. I once met an immortal by Interrupting Bridge, and so my father called me Xian(Immortal).”
Lady White and Little Black glanced at each other and both nodded their heads.
Lady White then asked Xu Xian where he lived.
“Since my father died, I have been all alone. So for the time being, I'm staying with my sister and her family at Clear Wave Gate.”
When Little Black heard this, she clapped her hands laughing: “What a coincidence! My sister is just like you, with no one to rely on, wandering here and there. It seems that you are ordained by Heaven to be a pair!”
Xu Xian blushed and Lady White lowered her head.
While they were talking so happily, they heard the boatman sing this mountain folksong:
“The Moon Matchmaker's shrine is right ahead,
Lovers from afar are bound by a single thread.
Through wind and rain they cross in the same boat,
From far away they have found each other: now on
one pillow to bed.”
The Dragon-boat Festival
After Lady White and Xu Xian met on the boat on West Lake, they fell in love and were married a few days later.
Since Xu Xian was now a married man, it was no longer proper for him to stay in his sister's house. He had to start a home of his own and make a living. The young husband and wife discussed this matter and decided to move to Zhenjiang, taking Little Black with them. There, they opened an office and a pharmacy, which they called the Baohe Tang (Hall of Assured Harmony).
After they opened for business, Lady White would prescribe and Xu Xian would dispense the medicine. They made large pills, powdered medicine, ointments, and small pills of their own prescription. They set up a sign in front of the shop, saying, “We give medicine free to the sick who are poor.” News traveled fast, and soon their Baohe Tang became well-known. Some people would come to get medicine and others to give their thanks after the medicine cured their illness. Every day, from morning till night, so many people were coming and going that they almost wore the threshold thin.
The fifth day of the fifth month was the Dragon-boat Festival. As was the custom, people hung calamus and moxa leaves above their doors to ward off evil and sprinkled realgar wine to drive away snakes and insects for the coming year. A dragon-boat race was planned to be held on the Changjiang River beneath Gold Mountain. Throngs of people were out celebrating the festival and there was much hustle and bustle everywhere.
Early that morning, Lady White called Little Black:“Today is the fifth of the fifth month, the Dragon-boat Festival. Do you remember it, Little Black?”
“Yes, I do.”
“The first three quarters after noon is the hardest for us to endure. You hurry and go hide in the mountains for now!”
“What about yourself?”
“I have a thousand years of training behind me. You are not to be compared with me.”
“I think it would be safer for us both to go and hide.”
“If both of us leave, he will worry about us!”
Little Black realized that she was quite right: “Please take care, sister,” and so saying, she jumped out of the window, turned into a puff of black smoke and shot off deep into the mountains.
As soon as Little Black had left, Xu Xian came running upstairs, shouting: “Little Black, get everything ready. Let's all go and watch the dragon-boat race.”
Hearing this, Lady White answered towards the staircase:“I've asked. Little Black to get me some embroidering thread. You go ahead yourself. And don't forget to take some zongzi (sweet rice cake wrapped in bamboo leaves) for snack!”
Xu Xian continued upstairs and came close to Lady White. “This is the first chance for us to watch the dragon-boat race since coming to Zhenjiang. You come with me!”
“I don't feel so well. You go by yourself, and come home as soon as you can.”
When Xu Xian learned that she was not feeling well, he moved a small pillow onto the table and started to feel her pulse. After feeling the pulse on both the left and right wrists, he exclaimed: “You're not sick. You're fooling me!”
“I didn't say I was sick. I'm going to have a baby!”When Xu Xian heard that he was going to be a father, he was so happy he jumped three feet high in the air. Now he didn't even care about the dragon-boat race any more, he only wanted to stay home and keep his wife company to celebrate this festive day.
At lunch time, Xu Xian called for Little Black and found that she had still not returned, so he went to the kitchen and heated up a bunch of the zongzi and a bottle of aged wine. Then he mixed some realgar in the wine for the holiday and took everything upstairs. He poured two cups of the realgar wine and handed one to Lady White. When she accepted the wine cup, the powerful smell of the realgar rushed straight to her head and she felt unbearably sick.
“I won't drink wine. I'll just eat a couple of the zongzi with you.”Xu Xian would not take no for an answer and tried to persuade her: “It's a festive day. One must have a taste, whether one can hold wine or not.”
“There is realgar in the wine. I'm afraid I can't have any on account of the baby.”
Xu Xian burst into laughter: “Do you take me to be ignorant of these matters? My ancestors for three generations have all been pharmacists! This realgar can drive away evil, guard the fetus and calm your mind. You should drink more of it!”
Lady White was afraid that her husband might suspect her and, relying on the fact that she had experienced one thousand years of training, she bravely drank a mouthful of the realgar wine. Unfortunately, as soon as the wine reached her stomach, it started to act up. She immediately felt her head becoming heavy as lead and she developed a splitting headache; her whole body went limp and she could no longer even sit up.
Lady White dashed to the bed that was draped with curtains. Xu Xian did not know what had happened, so he followed her. When he opened up the draped curtains to take a look, he found not even the shadow of his wife. Instead, he saw a white snake coiled on the bed. He was so frightened, he screamed and fell backward onto the floor.
The Theft of the Magic Fungus
Little Black was hiding deep in the mountains, but she worried about Lady White. Seeing that the sun had passed the meridian and sensing that the first three quarters of the afternoon had passed, she went back home in a puff of black smoke. She walked upstairs and to her great surprise, found Xu Xian lying dead in front of the bed on which Lady White was soundly asleep!
Quickly she woke her up: “Sister, wake up! Wake up! Look what has happened!”
When Lady White got up from bed and found her husband dead, she cried: “It's all my fault! I was so careless. I must have revealed my true shape and scared him to death!”
“Crying won't help. Think of a way to revive him!”
Lady White felt Xu Xian's chest and found there was still a bit of warmth left. “There is no herb or medicine in this world that could bring him back to life. I'll have to go to Mount Kunlun to steal a magic fungus!” So saying, she stamped both her feet, whereupon a patch of cloud rose under them. Riding on this patch of white cloud, she floated out of the window and off towards Mount Kunlun.
After just a moment of flight, she arrived at the top of Mount Kunlun. Now this was a supernatural mountain, full of immortal trees and immortal flowers and plants. At the top of the mountain, there were a few beautiful, purplish fungi, the magic plant that could bring the dead back to life again. Quietly, Lady White knelt down and picked one fungus, which she held in her mouth. Just as she was about to ride off on the patch of white cloud, she heard a cawing noise in the sky and saw flying towards her the white crane who was in charge of the plants. Seeing that Lady White had stolen a magic fungus, the white crane was not about to let her off easy. It spread its big wings and darted towards Lady White aiming with its straight beak. Just as the beak was about to jab at Lady White, in the nick of time, the crooked handle of a walking stick appeared from behind the crane and hooked its long neck. Lady White turned around to find a white-bearded old man standing there: it was the Immortal of the Southern Extremity.
She cried and begged him: “My venerable dear immortal! Please just give me this one magic fungus to save my husband's life!”
The old immortal stroked his white beard, and nodded his head in assent.
Lady White thanked him profusely and flew away on the patch of white cloud, carrying the magic fungus in her mouth.
She brewed the magic fungus into a liquid, then fed it to Xu Xian. After a little while he was revived; he looked at Lady White again and again. He was so frightened that he turned around and ran downstairs to hide in the accounting room.
One day, two days, three days and three nights passed and still Xu Xian did not even dare to step on the stairs.
The third night, Lady White and Little Black came down to the accounting room and asked him: “Why have you not gone upstairs for three days and three nights?”
Xu Xian hesitated, not knowing how to answer this. Then he said, “Oh, business has been so good! I've been too busy with the accounts.”
Little Black could not help smiling: “What kind of accounts are you tending to, sir? Just look what you have in your hand!”
Xu Xian looked at his hand and found that in his haste he had picked up an old almanac by mistake. He knew he could not get by with lying, so he told the truth.
Lady White wrinkled her brow: “I'm nothing but an ordinary person. How could I turn into a snake? You must have made a mistake!”
Little Black interrupted: “Sir, you made no mistake, I saw it too. That day, when I came back from buying thread, I heard you shouting. When I rushed upstairs, I found that you had fainted on the floor. I saw something shining white, like a snake or a dragon fly out of the window and disappear!”
Lady White laughed: “So, that's what it was! Ah, it must have been the old dragon revealing himself. This means we'll have good luck. It coincides with our flourishing business and our baby that is to come. What a pity I fell asleep. Otherwise, I would have burnt some incense to thank him for coming and bring us good luck!”
Xu Xian noticed that they both seemed very earnest and sincere about the whole thing, and after careful consideration, he decided what they said was quite reasonable, so the clouds of suspicion dispersed in no time.
The Flooding of Gold Mountain
In the Western Heavens, there was a turtle who always hid himself under Buddha's lotus seat to listen to the recitation of sutras, and after listening for several years, he learned some magic powers. Once, when Buddha was taking a nap after his sermon, this turtle stole his Three Treasures - his gold begging bowl, cassock and black-dragon staff - and ran off to this world.
The turtle turned a somersault on the ground and transformed himself into a dark and strong monk. Believing that his magic powers were strong and that he could do anything, he named himself Fa Hai (The Sea of Magic Powers).
The monk Fa Hai took the three stolen treasures with him - the cassock on his back, the gold begging bowl in his hand and the black-dragon staff on his shoulder – and traveled from place to place. One day, he came to Gold Mountain Temple in Zhenjiang, and seeing that the waves on the Changjiang River were strong and billowing, the mountains well-situated and majestic, he decided to take up residence in this temple. He used his black magic to assassinate the old monk in charge of the temple and made himself the head monk.
Fa Hai was bothered by the fact that not many devotees came to burn incense at the temple, so he spread an epidemic in the city of Zhenjiang to attract people's incense and money. However, the “anti-epidemic pill” and the “anti-plague powder” produced by the Baohe Tang were so effective that the epidemic was checked and did not spread. Fa Hai was so enraged by this that he disguised himself as a mendicant monk, with wooden chanting block hanging at his chest, and went searching for the source of his trouble. Every three steps, he would beat once on his chanting block, and thus he waddled his way to the Baohe Tang.
When Fa Hai reached the door of the medicine shop, he peeked inside and saw a young couple busy prescribing and dispensing medicine. He was upset at this, and inquiring in the neighborhood he discovered that the effective anti-epidemic medicine was all prescribed by Lady White. Then he took a careful look at this lady in the sheer shimmering White blouse and skirt. Aha! This was no ordinary human being! She was a transformation of a white snake! The monk Fa Hai gnashed his teeth together and sat himself quietly in front of the medicine shop, waiting and waiting until morning had turned to dusk. Just as the medicine shop was closing, he noticed that Lady White had gone upstairs, so he started to beat on his chanting block and swayed into the shop.
He put his palms together in prayer fashion:“ My benefactor! How the business flourishes in your shop! Won't you please make a donation?”
Xu Xian asked him why he was seeking donations.
“On the fifteenth of the seventh month, we are going to have a deliverance meeting to mark the Ghost Festival. Please make a donation and do a good deed. Come burn some incense on that day and pray that Buddha will protect you, bring you fortune, longevity and safety all the year through.”
Xu Xian thought what he said sounded good and that he spoke eloquently, so he gave the monk a string of copper coins and wrote his own name in the donation book.
Fa Hai walked to the door and turned around to remind Xu Xian: “Be sure to come on the fifteenth of the seventh month, my benefactor!”
The days passed by very quickly and soon the fifteenth of the seventh month was here. On this day, Xu Xian got up early and changed into clean clothes.
“Darling, there is a deliverance meeting at Gold Mountain Temple today. Let's go and burn some incense there together.”
Lady White replied: “I am with child and it would be too much for me to climb the mountain. You go by yourself and come home as soon as you can.”
So Xu Xian came to the temple by himself. As soon as he stepped inside, Fa Hai grabbed him and dragged him into a room.
“My benefactor! It's a good thing you came today. I must tell you the truth: your wife is a demon!”
This angered Xu Xian:“ My wife is a perfectly normal human being. How could she be a demon? Don't talk such nonsense!”
Fa Hai pretended to smile in merciful sympathy: “I can't blame you, benefactor! You've already been enchanted by her demonic power! I saw clearly that she is a transformation of a white snake!”
This declaration reminded him of the incident during the Dragon-boat Festival, and he was stunned.
Fa Hai noticed he was in a daze.
“Don't go home any more. Make me your master, and when you are protected by the power of Buddha, you will not be harmed by her ever again!”
Xu Xian said to himself: “The love my wife has for me is deeper than the sea. Even if she were a white snake, she would never harm me. Besides, she is now carrying our child. How could I abandon her to become a monk?” With this in mind, he refused the offer.
When Fa Hai realized that Xu Xian would never agree to become his disciple, he just went ahead and locked him up. Lady White waited for Xu Xian at home. She waited and waited, but still he did not return. A day, two days, three days passed with no sign of him. On the fourth day, she could bear it no longer, so she and Little Black came by sampan to Gold Mountain Temple to look for Xu Xian:
They docked the sampan beneath the mountain and climbed up to the temple together. At the gate, they saw a young monk.
“Young master, do you know someone named Xu Xian in the temple?” Lady White asked him.
The young monk thought for a while: “Yes, there is a person by that name. My master wanted him to become a monk because his wife is a demon, but he refused. Now the master has locked him up.”
Little Black was enraged at this. She pointed at the monk's nose and shouted: “Get that old bald-headed thief out here to have a word with me!”
The young monk was so terrified that he stumbled and rolled back into the temple to fetch Fa Hai.
When Fa Hai came and saw Lady White, he gave a sneering laugh: “What a brave snake demon! How dare you come to this world to enchant people and wreck my magic powers! Xu Xian has now made me his master. Surely you have heard, 'There is no limit to the sea of suffering, yet the shore is right there if you only turn around.' Compassion is at the core of this monk, so I will let you live if you just go back and train yourself for some good cause; but if you refuse to change your ways, you must not blame me for being merciless!”
Lady White suppressed the anger in her heart, and she begged with a pitiful voice: “You do your job as a monk, and I do mine in a medicine shop. We are like well water that brings no harm to the river. Why do you have to find fault with me? Please let my husband come home!”
Fa Hai was not about to reason with her. He lifted his black-dragon staff and aimed it right at Lady White's head. Lady White now had to defend herself, and Little Black also came forth to help. But the black-dragon staff fell like a mountain on her head, and since she was pregnant, she could not keep up her defense for long, so she had to retreat.
When they had retreated to the foot of the mountain, Lady White pulled a gold hairpin from her hair and waved it in the wind. It turned into a command flag embroidered with waves of water. Little Black took the flag and waved it forward three times above her head. In a wink, billowing floods surged forth and legions of shrimp soldiers and crab generals surged onto Gold Mountain.
When the floods reached the gate of Gold Mountain Temple, Fa Hai panicked. He quickly took the cassock from his back and threw it outside the gate. A golden light flashed by and the cassock changed immediately into a long dike which kept the billowing floods outside.
Each time the floods rose a foot, the dike would grow one foot higher. The floods rose ten feet, and the dike grew ten feet higher. No matter how strong the waters, they could not get over the dike.
Lady White realized that she could not defeat Fa Hai, so she asked Little Black to recall the floods and troops.
They went back to West Lake to train themselves more, waiting for an opportunity to take revenge.
The Gold Phoenix Tiara
Although Xu Xian was locked inside Gold Mountain Temple, he never would agree to become a monk, and after half a month, as soon as he found an opportunity, he escaped from the temple.
When he arrived back at the Baohe Tang medicine shop, he found that both Lady White and Little Black had left, and the house was empty. How miserable he was! But he was also afraid that the monk Fa Hai would come looking for him again, so he dared not stay in Zhenjiang. He packed up some of his belongings and went back to Hangzhou.
When he came to Interrupting Bridge, he saw that the giant willow tree was still green and flourishing. Then he recalled how he and his loving wife were separated by the monk Fa Hai, and the more he thought about it, the more painful it became until gradually tears began to trickle down his cheeks. He stamped his foot in desparation and cried: “Lady White, my Lady White! Where will I find you?”
At this very moment, Lady White and Little Black were training themselves at the bottom of West Lake, where they vaguely seemed to hear someone shouting and crying. The voice sounded quite familiar: when they listened carefully, they discovered it belonged to none other than Xu Xian. They surfaced from the bottom of the lake. They found a leaf, blew upon it, turned it into a boat, then rowed until they came to the shore to look for Xu Xian.
Husband and wife met again by Interrupting Bridge. They talked about all that had happened since they were parted, feeling both happy and sad at the same time. Talking on and on, without realizing it they both started to cry.
Little Black stood by at the side: “Now that you've found each other, what is there to cry about? Isn't it about time we found a place to stay?”
Thus, the three of them boarded the little boat and rowed to Clear Wave Gate, where they stayed at the house of Xu Xian's sister.
Time went by very quickly, and soon New Year had passed. At the time of the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth of the first month, Lady White gave birth to a fair and healthy little boy. Xu Xian was so happy he never stopped smiling. He smiled at everybody.
On the day their child was one month old, the family was to throw a soup-and-cake party, according to custom, to celebrate his first full month of life. Xu Xian's sister and Little Black were busy tending to all the affairs inside and outside the house. Lady White got up early to do her make-up and get ready. Xu Xian was standing by his wife, watching: he saw her red and tender cheeks, her dark and shining hair. She was even more beautiful than before. Watching and thinking, he suddenly realized that she was to resent the child to the older generation of relatives and friends to receive their blessing today. What a pity they had left all their good jewelry at Zhenjiang ....
Just then he heard a hawker shouting in the alley:“ Gold tiara! Gold phoenix tiara for sale!”
When he heard this, Xu Xian ran with giant steps out into the alley to look for the hawker. When he saw the sparkling gold tiara, made with all kinds of jewels, he fell in love with it and bought it.
He took it into the room: “Darling, I bought a gold phoenix tiara for you. Try it on and see if it fits.”
As soon as Lady White saw the beautiful and shining gold tiara, she liked it and told Xu Xian to put it on her freshly combed hairdo. But once he had placed the tiara on her head, it would not come off again, no matter what. Gradually it grew tighter and tighter, until finally Lady White felt such a splitting headache that gold stars sparkled before her eyes, and she fainted and fell to the floor.
This unexpected disaster stunned Xu Xian. He stamped his feet wildly and ran out into the alley to look for the hawker. When he reached the gate, he found not the hawker but the monk Fa Hai, standing there with his black-dragon staff blocking the way: the hawker had been none other than Fa Hai in disguise. Ever since Xu Xian fled his temple, he had been traveling far and wide in search of him. Today he had learned that they were celebrating their son's first full month, so he changed his gold begging bowl into a tiara and himself into the hawker, and come to their door. Now, as Fa Hai saw Xu Xian come flying to the gate with a pale and frightened look on his face, he knew that his trick had worked.
He rushed forward with a sneer:“ My benefactor! You did not heed my kind words and good reasoning. Today. I have come to collect the demon!” So saying, he walked toward their room in big strides. Xu Xian tried to stop him, but in vain.
Fa Hai blew on the gold phoenix tiara and it turned back into his gold begging bowl. The begging bowl then produced ten thousand gold rays which tightly surrounded and covered up Lady White.
Little Black rushed up to fight with Fa Hai, but Lady White shouted from inside the golden rays: “Run, Little Black! Run! Quick! Go and train yourself some more, then come back to take revenge for me!”
Little Black knew that she could do nothing to Fa Hai now, so she fled in a puff of black smoke.
Xu Xian grabbed Fa Hai and held him with all his might. Then, from inside the golden rays, Lady White told him:” Darling, take care, take care! You must look after our child!”
Xu Xian was just an ordinary human being, and could do nothing to the monk Fa Hai. He could only pick up their child from the bed and show him to Lady White for one last look.
Tears stained Lady White's face. Slowly, her body began to shrink under the golden rays. At last she turned into a white snake, which Fa Hai collected into his gold begging bowl and left.
After Fa Hai had obtained the white snake, he built the Leifeng (Thunder Peak) Pagoda on top of Thunder Peak in front of Pure Compassion Monastery on Mount Nanping. He placed his gold begging bowl beneath the pagoda and mprisoned the white snake under it. Finally he settled himself into Pure Compassion Monastery to guard the pagoda.
The Fall of Leifeng Pagoda
Little Black remained deep in the mountains to train herself. There she stayed and trained herself for years - no one knows how many - until she felt that her powers were very strong. Then she rushed back to Hangzhou to look for a Hai in order to avenge Lady White.
At this time, Fa Hai was still guarding Leifeng Pagoda. When Little Black found him at Pure Compassion Monastery, they engaged in a fierce battle at the foot of Mount Namping. There they fought for three days and three nights. Little Black became increasingly fierce in battle, while the monk Fa Hai was gasping for breath. When they had fought to the foot of Leifeng Pagoda, Little Black swung her sword and Leifeng Pagoda collapsed with a thunderous crash. Lady White jumped out of the pagoda and joined Little Black in fighting Fa Hai. The monk was already beginning to tire, and now that Lady White had joined in the battle, he could defend himself no longer. Now he could only fight as he retreated, trying to flee whenever possible. In his haste, he retreated to the shore of West Lake. He slipped and, with a splash! he fell straight into the lake.
Seeing that Fa Hai had fallen into West Lake, Lady White pulled her gold hairpin from her hair, waved it in the air, and turned it into a command flag. Little Black took the flag and waved it backward three times above her head, and all the water in West Lake immediately dried up, baring the bottom of the lake to the sky. Fa Hai tried to hide every where, but could not find a safe. place for himself. Finally, he noticed that there was a crack just under the crab's belly button, so he dived right into that crack. The crab drew his belly button in and the monk Fa Hai was locked inside. Now he could never get out again!
Originally, the crab used to walk straight ahead like other creatures. However, since the monk Fa Hai carried on in such a devious and unruly manner, the crab could no longer walk straight, and it began to walk sideways!
Even as we eat crabs today, when we open up the shell, We still find the bald monk hiding inside!
Translated by Jan Walls, West Lake, a collection of folktales