| The Lady in the Moon - True Sentences |
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| Culture | |
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1st October 2001 Chang Er was a beautiful village girl, the daughter of a poor farmer. One day, when Chang Er was eighteen, a young man came hunting near Chang Er's village. His name was Hou Yi, and he was a skilled hunter, who was an excellent shot with his bow and arrow. On his way home, after hunting, walked through the village and saw Chang Er. He thought she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. The following day Hou Yi went hunting again, and on the way home he passed once more through the village. He had spent the whole day thinking less about hunting, and more about the beautiful girl, who he hoped to see again on his way home. He waited a long time in the village until finally, there she was. He went over to speak to her and continued to do so for many nights until, in time, they became friends.One day, a very strange thing happened. Ten suns rose in the East, instead of just one. The suns shone down on the earth, making it unbearably hot. Everything was drying up, people were dying of dehydration, and people could nothing but wait until they too would die due to the exhausting heat. Hou Yi suddenly had an idea. He went to a very high mountain, and with his bow and arrows, he shot down nine of the suns. The weather returned to normal, and the people of earth were so grateful to him for saving their lives that they made him their King. Kin Hou Yi married Chang Er, and they lived happily together. However, Hou Yi knew that a man can not live forever and this fact dissatisfied him. He decided to employ a number of sorcerers to create for him an elixir to make him immortal. One of the sorcerors said that he could do this, but that the process would need many children as fuel, and the process would produce only one tablet, no more. Hou Yi agreed and said he was willing to supply him with as many children as he needed. Chang Er was very unhappy with her husband's decision, and the way he was treating his people. However, she was only a poor village girl, so could do nothing to change his mind. The sorcerer began making his elixir, and Hou Yi ordered his army to round up all the children in the land for his potion. Families all over the King's nation lost their children and they were very angry with Hou Yi. But Hou Yi couldn't care less about his people, and the army continued to take children from their homes. Finally, a month later, the potion was almost ready, after the sacrifice of the lives of many children. One night, Chang Er crept into the chamber where the potion was being made. She saw the almost finished potion in a tube and went over to look at it. The Sorcered suddenly came into the chamber. Chang Er panicked, not knowing what to do with the potion she held in her hand. Quickly she drank it, but the sorcerer had seen and he raised the alarm. Hou Yi came running to the chamber, only to be told that his wife had swallowed the elixir. He became very angry, and began to chase her around the chamber. Chang Er, seeing she had nowhere else to run, jumped out of the window. However, instead of falling to the ground, she began to rise, up, up, into the sky. The elixir had turned her into a fairy, and made her immortal. She kept on floating up into the sky. Hou Yi ran and found his bow and arrows and tried to shoot his wife but he missed. He shot again and again, but none of the arrows hurt her. She continued to drift into the sky until she reached the moon, which is where she lives even now. Click to link to the quiz |
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