Tales of a Chinese Grandmother

by Frances Carpenter

  The old woman was remembering a day when the moon passed between the sun and the earth and for a few minutes shut off its light. We should call that an eclipse, but the Chinese believed that the sky dog which lived upon a certain star was trying to swallow the sun.

  "The Son of Heaven, our Emperor, sent forth a warning from his dragon throne," said the Old Old One. "From the soothsayers he had learned that the sun was to be eaten, and he told us what to do. Well I remember the day. All the servants inside our walls, and indeed in all the courts of the city, brought forth drums and brass cymbals, rattles and pans. We kept watch, and as soon as the sun began to disappear down the throat of the wicked dog of the sky they beat on the drums. They whirled the rattles and they knocked on the pans. They clashed the brass cymbals together. What a noise they did make! I grew frightened and cried and hid behind my old nurse. Ai-yah, the sky dog almost succeeded in swallowing the sun that time. It grew very dark, and only a rim of light showed in the heavens. The servants beat the drums harder. The cymbals clashed louder. At last the sky dog took fright. He coughed up the sun, which shone bright again in its place overhead in the sky."

  IV

  GENTLE GWAN YIN

  IT WAS THE EIGHTH DAY of the cold Twelfth Moon. A film of ice covered the goldfish pool in the bare Garden of Sweet Smells. Lines of fine white snow lay between the broad paving bricks of all the courtyards within the red gate. In the family hall a little fire of glowing bails of coal dust burned in the iron stove on the floor near the Old Mistress' chair.

  The Ling family was gathered beside the tables with their red cloths already spread for the midday meal. All eyes were fixed upon Grandmother Ling. The old woman, in one of her finest gray silken gowns, walked to the high narrow table of shining carved wood which was placed against the back wall of the hall. With slow, careful movements she lighted the incense sticks in the brass burner upon it. A spicy smell drifted through the room as the smoke rose and floated in a thin blue cloud about the gilded statue that stood in the center of the table.

  "On this day of the year the gentle Gwan Yin left the world behind her and went to dwell with the holy women in the Nunnery of the White Sparrow," old Wang Lai, the nurse, had told Ah Shung and Yu Lang as they came across the courtyard to the family hall.

  Yu Lang thought that this statue of Gwan Yin, the Chiness Goddess of Mercy, was the most precious thing in all the Ling houses. Its gilded wood carving showed a slender woman, holding a baby close to her breast. Her face was calm and kind as well as beautiful. Her long flowing robes swirled about her feet, which were set upon the heart of a lotus blossom.

  Huang Ying, the maid, steadied the Old Mistress as she got down on her knees before the likeness of Gwan Yin. Lao Lao bent her head and swayed forward and back, forward and back, forward and back. This way of showing respect is known as a "kowtow. " Grandmother Ling said a little prayer each time she bowed. Then the other members of the family kowtowed in their turn before the gilt statue.

  "There is la-pa-chou in our bowls today," Ah Shung whispered to Yu Lang when the children took their places at the table. They were especially fond of this dish, which was always served on this particular day. They often counted upon their fingers all the good things in it. Five kinds of grain, beans, peanuts and chestnuts, walnuts and dates, lily and melon seeds, several different fruits, as well as sugar and spices! Twenty different things were always mixed together to make Gwan Yin's porridge.

  "Truly there is no stove so powerful as a full stomach," said Grandmother Ling as she laid her ivory and silver chopsticks across her empty bowl. She sat back in her chair with a sigh of content.

  "Let the children come nearer," the old woman commanded, "and I will tell them the story of the gentle Gwan Yin.

  "In earliest times, my little ones, there lived an Emperor whose name was Po Chia. With his Empress he ruled the land wisely and well. But because of some wrongdoing of the past the gods sent them no sons. There was no one to sit upon the dragon throne when Po Chia should be called to be a guest in heaven.

  "So Po Chia and his lady went to the far Western Mountain, and they prayed to the god there to give them a child. Their prayers were answered. Three children were born but, ai, all the three were daughters.

  "'We so much needed a son,' the poor Empress wailed. 'Three candles do not take the place of one lamp.'

  "'Well, it cannot be helped,' said the Emperor Po Chia. 'Our daughters will marry, and one of their husbands shall become Emperor when I go to dwell in the World of Shadows.'

  "The Emperor's favorite daughter was the youngest, who was then called Miao Shan. Since Po Chia loved her best he decided that her husband should become Emperor after him, and that thus she should become the Empress. But the maid, Miao Shan, did not wish to marry.

  "'I know that it is wicked to disobey my honorable father,' she said, 'but the glory of being an Empress is like the light of the moon reflected in a stream. Morning comes and it is gone. I only wish to sit quiet and pray to the gods that I may become perfect. I wish to care for the sick and to help the poor. I do not wish to marry.'

  "The Emperor Po Chia was so angry that he ordered the guards to take away Miao Shan's fine clothes. 'Let her be cast out into the garden where she may die of hunger and cold,' he commanded. But the winds brought the good princess food, and the moon warmed her with its light.

  "The court ladies, her sisters, and even the Emperor and the Empress themselves came to beg her to change her mind. But the maiden refused. She asked that she might be allowed to leave her father's palace and go to live with the good women who shut themselves away from the world in the Nunnery of the White Sparrow.

  "'Let her go to the nunnery,' the Emperor commanded, 'but send word to the mistress that she be given the hardest tasks and that she be discouraged from becoming a nun.'

  "Poor Miao Shan was set to work in the nunnery kitchen. She was made to scrub floors and to carry great pails of water. She set herself to her tasks without a complaint. But, my children, the Emperor of Heaven looked down and took pity upon her. He sent dragons to carry her water, a tiger to bring her wood, and birds to gather vegetables for her from the garden. Spirits scrubbed the floors for her and did all the hard work.

  "When he heard of the wonderful happenings at the Nunnery of the White Sparrow, the Emperor grew more angry than before. He ordered his troops to surround it and to burn its buildings down to the ground.

  "But the smoke from the fire they made carried up to Heaven the prayers of the good Miao Shan. At once clouds gathered in the sky and torrents of rain fell upon the flames, putting them out.

  "'Go back! Seize my daughter! Put her in chains and cut off her head!' the angry Emperor commanded when he heard of that happening.

  "But the Empress, who loved her daughter, begged for her life. 'O Wise Son of Heaven,' she said to Po Chia, 'let us try first my plan. We shall set up a pavilion along the way our daughter must pass. We shall have music and singing, and we shall prepare a great feast. Surely she will see then that our way of life is the best.'

  "All this was done. But the good maiden turned her head away saying, 'I prefer to go out to the World of Shadows. ' So the angry Emperor gave the order that her head should be cut off. All the court assembled before the palace gate. The people looked on. The great ax was lifted. But the heavens grew dark and the ax broke into pieces as it touched the neck of Miao Shan. Again the Emperor of Heaven had heard her prayers. He sent the God of the Neighborhood in the form of a tiger to rescue the princess. Upon the back of the beast poor Miao Shan was carried away.

  "The gentle maiden, who had fainted, opened her eyes in a strange place. All was dim and still. There were no plants or flowers. No sun, moon, or stars lighted the sky. No sound was heard. No hen cackled. No dog barked. Then a fine young man dressed in shining blue garments came forth to greet her.

  "'You have come to the underworld, Miao Shan, ' he said. 'Here men are punished for the wrongs they have done upon the earth. The Emperor of Darkness
has sent me to show you about through his realm. We have heard that your prayers drive away sadness. Can this be true? And will you say a prayer now so that we may hear it?'

  "Miao Shan consented, on the condition that all the poor creatures who were being punished should be set free. She began to pray, and, my children, the darkness was lifted. Bright light filled the place, lilies covered the earth, and the dim underworld became a paradise of light and beauty.

  "When she came back to earth, Miao Shan sought a quiet spot where she might think and pray and become good enough for the Heavenly Kingdom. As she wandered about she met an old man with a huge bulging forehead. In one hand he carried a stick of gnarled wood; in the other, a peach. It was Old Long Life himself, the god who can make a man live forever. Old Long Life greeted Miao Shan and put the peach into her hands.

  "'When you have eaten this peach, you will no longer feel hunger or thirst, and you will live forever,' he said.

  "Again the God of the Neighborhood was commanded by the Emperor of Heaven to take the form of a tiger. Upon his back he carried Miao Shan safely on her long journey to a rocky island, called Pu To, that lies in the Southern Sea, where she found peace at last.

  "For nine years there the maiden prayed. She thought only good thoughts, and at last she became perfect. Then one day spirits and gods assembled from all the corners of the earth. From the Eastern Mountain, from the Western Mountain, from the mountains of the North and the South, and from the mountain in the center of the world they came to honor Miao Shan. The Dragon Emperor of the Sea was there. The gods of the wind, the rain, and the thunder, the spirits of heaven and earth, all gathered to see her take her seat upon her golden throne, which was shaped like the lotus blossom.

  "Then one day Miao Shan received a message from the Emperor of Heaven, telling her that she might now leave the earth and enter his kingdom. She was just about to set foot inside the shining gates of heaven when she looked back at the earth. She heard the cries of millions of poor people who were sad or in trouble, and she turned back to help them. From that time her name was changed from Miao Shan to Gwan Yin, which means 'She-Who-Hears-Prayers.'

  For nine years Miao Shan thought only good thoughts and at last she became perfect.

  "On her rocky island in the Southern Sea there is a tiny temple, so I have heard it told, called, 'The home of Gwan Yin, who would not go away.' It was built by a sailor whose life the goddess had saved. One day this sailor was out in his boat when he suddenly found it caught in a mass of lily blossoms that covered the sea like a carpet. So thickly they grew that he could not force his way through them. Like other wise seamen, this sailor had on his boat a statue of Gwan Yin. He kowtowed before this, saying, 'O gentle Gwan Yin, come to my aid! Open a way through these tangled lilies. If you would go with me to my own land, so be it. Or if you would that I go to your shores, show me the way.' A gentle breeze blew over the lilies. Their leaves rustled like silk as their blossoms closed tight. They sank beneath the clear water and a straight path was opened. The boatman followed its course which led to Gwan Yin's island of Pu To. There he built a little temple and put in it that statue of Gwan Yin which had saved his life."

  Grandmother Ling often told the children stories of wonderful things that Gwan Yin had done. Everywhere through their land there were temples to this gentle goddess. Women brought her offerings of incense and paper money. They laid near her statues finely embroidered slippers and tiny dolls dressed like wee babies, in the hope that she would hear their prayers for children.

  Ships came by the thousands every year to the island where Gwan Yin sat so long upon her lotus throne. Millions visited the temples built in honor of her. They prayed before her statues. They believed she would help them. The Chinese truly loved their gentle Goddess of Mercy.

  The little prayer that Yu Lang whispered when she kowtowed to the gilt statue standing so calmly on the table in the family hall was that she might become beautiful. Sometimes her grandmother told the little girl that she was growing to look like Gwan Yin. This always filled Yu Lang with delight, for she knew that this goddess was the most beautiful as well as the most perfect woman who had ever lived.

  As Grandmother Ling finished her story and rose from the table she made a last kowtow to the gilded statue. "Lady of Great Mercy and Great Pity," she prayed as her body swayed back and forth, "save us from sadness, save us from harm!" And the family went their ways with happiness and peace in their hearts.

  V

  THE GOD THAT LIVED IN THE KITCHEN

  LITTLE PIG!"

  "Greedy ox!"

  The angry voices of the children rang loud across the courtyard. They did not often quarrel, and their cross tones sounded strange inside the peaceful gray walls that shut in the Ling homestead.

  Old Wang Lai, their nurse, came hurrying out of their low house to see what the matter could be. At the same moment Huang Ying opened the door of the Old Old One's apartment.

  "Old Mistress says Ah Shung and Yu Lang must come into her room," Huang Ying called out. The boy and the girl stopped their quarrel at once. As they crossed the veranda and entered their grandmother's room they looked sullenly at each other as if to say, "It was your fault."

  "Sit down on that stool, Ah Shung, and you sit there, Yu Lang," the old woman said sternly as she laid her embroidery down on the bed where she was sitting. The day was cold, and she found its heated bricks the most comfortable seat.

  "Now tell me what caused you to throw stones of unkindness into our calm stream of happiness?" she commanded, fixing her sharp black eyes upon the children.

  "Ah Shung wanted my candied apricot, Lao Lao," Yu Lang began, hanging her head.

  "She had more than she could eat, O Honorable Grandmother," Ah Shung said, shifting about on his stool.

  "He pulled my hair," the little girl sobbed, and she held out the red cord with which her braid had been wound.

  "She pulled my queue too," the boy said uneasily.

  "Naughty children! You act like the dogs that slink through the streets and snarl at each other. Four horses cannot bring back cross words once they are spoken. Have you forgotten the God that lives in the Kitchen? This very night he flies up to heaven to make his report to the Emperor there. What tales he will tell about your behavior!"

  The children looked frightened. They had indeed forgotten the Kitchen God whose picture hung in a nook up over the brick stove upon which the family cooking was done. They knew well that he watched everything that went on inside the red gate, in order to report to the Emperor of the Gods when he made his annual visit to heaven at this time of the Small New Year.

  "I will tell you the story of the God of the Kitchen once more," said old Grandmother Ling. "Then perhaps you will not forget so quickly again. It was long, long ago that there lived in our land a very old man whose name was Chang Kung. Inside his family walls there dwelt his sons and his grandsons, his great-grandsons and their great-great-grandsons. So many people were there and so many houses that it was like a small city.

  "But even with the hundreds of people living there together, all was quiet and peaceful. Never a quarrel was known. Never were there heard in the Chang courts cross voices such as those which we heard here today. Everyone was contented. The one hundred dogs that lived inside the Chang walls never ceased wagging their tails. Indeed, it is said that these dogs were so kind to each other that they would wait to begin eating if one of them was late for his dinner.

  "The fame of this household spread as far and as wide over the land as the breezes blow in the springtime. And at last it reached the ears of the Emperor himself upon his Dragon Throne.

  "Now it so happened that the Emperor was about to make his yearly journey to the great Eastern Mountain in order to send his prayers up to heaven from its high peak. So, having heard of Chang Kung, he decided to visit his remarkable household upon his way back.

  "What a sight that must have been! The procession began with the Emperor's guards. Tall men they were, the talles
t in all the land and also the bravest. In their costumes of blue and red, with their long bows and arrows, they looked fine indeed. Then came the mandarins, important men who belonged to the Emperor's court, with their gowns embroidered with golden birds and beasts, and with blue and green peacock feathers in their round hats. In the army of attendants that marched with the Emperor there were men to carry the huge red umbrellas, men to play music, and even cooks to prepare feasts for the imperial stomach.

  "The Emperor came last, riding in a sedan chair whose curtains and sides of bright yellow silk were embroidered with dragons. The sturdy men who carried his imperial chair on their shoulders were clad in suits of red cloth. Never before had such visitors entered the gates of the Changs.

  "The aged Chang Kung met his imperial guest upon his knees. He kowtowed before him and greeted him with polite words of welcome.

  "'Very Excellent and Very Aged Sir,' said the Emperor, 'it is said that inside your walls no cross word has ever been spoken. Can that be true?'

  "'Lord of Ten Thousand Years,' Chang Kung replied humbly, 'you do my poor house far too much honor. It is true that the unworthy members of my family do not quarrel. Soft words please the gods, and we are content here. It would bring blessings upon our roofs, Shining One, if you would consent to walk through our courts and judge for yourself!'

  "So the Emperor made his way through the gates that led from one court into the other. He looked into the houses and questioned the people. He found that they lived together like those lovebirds to each of which the gods gave only one eye and only one wing so that they might fly in pairs, breast to breast, helping each other.

  "In the great Chang Hall of Politeness the Emperor was served with food and drink to refresh him. As he sipped the pale tea from cups as thin as fine paper, he said to his host, 'Excellent One of Great Age, my messengers spoke truly. I find no ripple of discontent upon your sea of happiness. Even the dogs here are polite to one another. You must have discovered some golden secret in order to keep so many people living together in such order and peace. I should like to know that secret myself."