Since the introduction of "Grimm's Fairy Tales" to China, the story of "The Frog Prince" has been widely circulated, which can be said to be well known, but few people know, in fact, there was a story of a frog princess in China a long time ago. However, the Frog Prince eventually lived happily with his lover, while the Frog Princess had to endure a lifetime of loneliness.
In fact, the frog princess should be called the Toad Princess strictly speaking, her other name can be said to be well known in China, she is the protagonist of the myth "Chang'e Running Moon" - Chang'e, everyone has heard of it: Chang'e flew into the Moon Palace after stealing the Immortal Medicine of the Queen Mother of the West, and spent her life with the Jade Rabbit. But in fact, in the earliest records, this mythical story did not end like this.
Chang'e runs to the moon
In fact, the story of Chang'e Running Moon has been recorded as early as the Shang Dynasty, and in the book "Guizang" of the Shang Dynasty Divination Book excavated today, there are scattered records about Chang'e Running Moon; in the Western Han Dynasty, in the book "Huainanzi", the story of Chang'e Running Moon took shape, that is, in the book "Huainanzi", there was a formal record of Chang'e becoming a toad.
So how exactly is Chang'e running the moon described in "Huainanzi"?
Huainanzi
In the "Huainanzi" that has been handed down now ("Huainanzi" has been lost after the baptism of time, and the current version is not complete), the description of "Chang'e Running Moon" is relatively normal, only saying that "Yi please immortal medicine in the West Queen Mother, Concubine Stole to Run Moon, suddenly mournful, there is no way to continue it". This is easy to understand, HouYi obtained the immortal medicine from the Queen Mother of the West, but Jiao'e (that is, Chang'e, changed to Chang'e when Emperor Wen of Han was homophonous with the emperor's name) stole the elixir and flew to the Moon Palace, Hou Yi was devastated, as if someone in the family had died, and has not married since then. This paragraph is consistent with the current version of "Chang'e Running Moon".
However, in the Tang Dynasty's other book dedicated to the examination of matters when Zhuzi wrote (equivalent to the writing material book of the current students' writing), "Chu xue ji", some of the original texts of "Huainanzi" were quoted, and here there is a difference from the present "Huainanzi" - after "Jiao'e stole to run to the moon", there were three more sentences: "To be a moon is for the toad, and for the moon essence." Adding these three sentences is terrible, meaning: After Chang'e ran to the moon, she has since lived in the moon and become a toad, that is, the legendary moon spirit. The great beauty Chang'e suddenly turned into a toad (commonly known as a toad), which is fierce enough, right? No, the ancients were more excessive than that.
Beginner's Note
For a long time since then, the delicate beauty Chang'e has appeared as a toad and has been increasingly new tasks. Han Le Fu has a poem "Dong Runaway" wrote: "Take the divine medicine Ruomu Duan, the white rabbit kneels to pound the medicine shrimp and toad pills", the rabbit pounds the medicine, the toad is responsible for pinching the pills, and Chang'e's task is one more - pinching the pills.
In the "Chronicle of History", it is said that "the sun is virtuous and the king is in the world, and the humiliation is insulted by the three-legged crow." The moon is accompanied by punishment, and it is seen that it is eaten by shrimp and toads", the meaning is quite simple, the sun is so cattle will also be bullied by the three-legged golden crow; the moon is so powerful that it must be swallowed by toads. Good fellow, the task of pinching the pill alone is not enough, but also the life of the tengu (swallowing the moon) is also arranged to Chang'e, and Chang'e is afraid that she will shed tears of emotion.
lunar eclipse
Perhaps later, the ancients also had some pity for the jade, and deleted the passage of Chang'e into a toad from "Huainanzi", and gradually processed and beautified the story of Chang'e running to the moon over time, and now Chang'e has gradually become a symbol of beauty, and at the same time, together with the moon, it carries the homesickness of countless Chinese children.
PS: In the word "Toad Palace Folding Gui", the word "Toad Palace" is actually from the story of Chang'e becoming a toad, although Chang'e later successfully "whitewashed", but the word "Toad Palace" was retained.
The next issue of the wonderful preview: the first female spy recorded in the history of the world actually came from our country? Why is so little known today?
Point attention, don't get lost. Follow me and take you on a journey through more interesting facts from history. [Like] [Like] [Like]