This article is published with the permission of the public account "Memory Islands Isles"
One
In the spring of 423 AD, Yongjia Taishou Xie Lingyun traveled. He walked along the Muhe Creek, the mountains and rivers on both sides of the river were beautiful, and the grass was long and warblers flew, which was really dazzling. Suddenly, there were two women in Huansha by the stream, and when they looked closely, these two women were born with beautiful appearances, as if they were a reproduction of the Yue woman Xi Shi.
Xie Lingyun was the best poet at that time, and at this scene, he could not help but recite a poem: "I am Xie Kangle, shooting two cranes with one arrow." Ask Raccoon Lady, where did the arrow fall? The two women listened and ignored them. Xie Lingyun made another song: "Huan Sha who is the daughter of the clan?" Incense sweat wet new rain. If you are silent about people, why should you be willing to be happy and bitter? ”
The provocative meaning of this poem is more obvious, but the second daughter can be heard chanting: "I am a carp in the pond, temporarily out of the stream to eat." Eating and returning to the pool, where are the clouds found? As soon as the words fell, the two women just disappeared, but seeing the green mountains looming, the smoke and water, and the traces of the beautiful people could not be found, Xie Lingyun had to return with trepidation.
Portrait of Xie Lingyun According to the "Three Talents Picture Society"
Look closely at this story from the "Taiping Guangji", it is a story model of two crucian carp essences that stirred up Xie Gong's lust, and among the Chinese zhiwei, there are many fish turned into people and fall in love with people in red dust. The crucian carp essence that Xie Lingyun encountered was still a good type, fleeting, and its appearance seemed to be only to break their own secrets, and the poet's frivolity also made them see the filth of the world, so they turned away.
Fish change into human beings, is the Taoist concept of "things are old and strange", if the age of animals is unusual, or a thousand years, or three or five hundred years, it can become a monster. They are all in the world where they can hide their origins, and when they come to the world, they have to be careful, and the so-called "non-my race, their hearts will be different", once they are broken, they are in danger.
In the same "Taiping Guangji", there is also a story of fish turning into men and trying to integrate into human society. There was a common man named Wang Su in Yuyao County, Eastern Wu of the Three Kingdoms, who had a fourteen-year-old daughter who was incomparably beautiful, and Wang Su was very fond of her and was reluctant to marry her daughter off. Suddenly, one day, a young man who proposed marriage came, "beautiful and clean, more than twenty years old", this young man called himself Jiang Lang, willing to marry Wang Su's daughter, Wang Su and his wife saw that this teenager was born beautiful, so they gave his daughter Xu to him.
In the past few years, Jiang Lang's wife became pregnant, and at the end of the year, she gave birth to a silk sac-like foreign body, which was cut open with a knife, and it was full of white fish roe. Wang Su and his wife suspected that Jiang Lang was not human, and after Jiang Lang went to bed at night, they hid his clothes and looked closely at these clothes, all of which had faint scale lines, and there was a flash of light on closer inspection.
The next morning, Jiang Lang got up and couldn't find clothes, cursed loudly, the family rushed to watch, saw a six- or seven-foot white fish under the bed was struggling, Wang Su hurriedly went forward to cut the fish off and threw it into the river, Wang Su's daughter later remarried. It seems that cross-species intermarriage is not blessed, fish spirits are rejected, integration into human society fails, and loss of life, although there are magical changes, but also can not count human beings.
Two
The story of these mermaids falling in love seems too old, the plot is relatively simple, and they have more archetypes. In the "Classic of Mountains and Seas", there are "human faces, hands and siblings, fish bodies, in the sea" of the tomb fish, in addition to the monsters of the face of the fish body such as the Xenon, the mutual person, the red eagle, etc., the relationship between people and fish has become ambiguous, and the two seem to be looking for the greatest common denominator recognized by each other, and the dismantling and re-collage of body elements have created a large number of strange new species, which is the indiscriminate pursuit of the mermaid stories of later generations.
Lingyu, according to the "Shan Hai Jing Shu Shu"
There are also fish people in the "Book of Searching gods": "There are fish people outside the South China Sea, who live in the water like fish, do not waste weaving achievements, and their eyes can cry beads." "The appearance of the lingyu and the fish people is only a statement of appearance and divine function, and the story adds branches and leaves to the spread, and their vague shadows are gradually clear.
According to Mr. Tao Siyan's research in "Chinese Fish Culture", the Meng Jiang woman in the folk tale is a variation of the story of the Fish People, she is good at weaving and embroidering, making cold clothes for her husband Wan Xiliang, when she cried down the Great Wall, she showed a good crying side, she once gave her husband a jewel, contained in the mouth can not be thirsty or hungry, Meng Jiang female crying down the Great Wall, Qin Shi Huang saw her beauty, she wanted to accept as a concubine, Meng Jiang nu threw water into the water and became a white fish. The divine powers revealed by Meng Jiangnu can all coincide with the characteristics of the fish people in the "Search for God".
In the Mengjiang female song circulating in the Jianghuai region, there are also such lyrics: "The carp is a slave family change, the eyes are red-tailed and slim, the world values me, and holds the table to worship the gods", from which you can see the archetypal code implied in the folk narrative, and the ancient myth has not dissipated, but has been passed on in folk secrets.
From the fish to the transformation of man, is the cognition of the ancestors from the self-perception, often with their own interpretation of the natural world, and then mix themselves with the natural world, into the realm of things and me mixed, I have things, things have me, that is, Zhuangzi's so-called "Qi things", finally, the elements of man prevailed, from the half-human and half-fish monsters, to the personified fish spirits, the terrifying primitive witch wind dissipated, and replaced by beautiful and brilliant.
Three
There is also a kind of monster in the water, between people and fish, difficult to classify, more like an unknown species at the naturalistic level, this creature is called "sea mermaid", Lin Kun's "Chengzhai Miscellaneous Records" said: "The sea mermaid is like a person, the eyebrows, nose, hands and feet are beautiful women, all are afraid of feet, the skin and flesh are white as jade, the wine is like peach blossoms, the hair is like a horsetail, five or six feet long, and the widows in the sea are widowed and mostly take the pond swamp." ”
The marine mermaids that appear here are almost exactly the same life forms as people, almost invisible to the characteristics of fish, and are "beautiful women", unlike which, they can live in the water like fish, so single fishermen in coastal areas often catch this mermaid and raise them in ponds in case of emergency.
Cha Dao, who has witnessed mermaids, according to the "Cha Clan Genealogy"
According to the "Chronicle of The StrangeNess", the envoys of the Northern Song Dynasty, Cha Dao, sent envoys to the Kingdom of Goryeo and encountered this sea mermaid at sea. One evening, Cha Dao's ship was moored on an unknown island, and suddenly saw a woman on the beach of the island, "red clothes and doubles, bun hair is messy, there is a slight red mane behind the elbow", Cha Dao ordered the sailor to help the woman into the water with a bamboo penny.
The woman went into the water and saluted Cha Dao, but then disappeared, and it turned out that she was stranded on the beach. The sailor did not recognize what it was, and Cha Dao, who seemed to be a long-dormant naturalist, said: "This mermaid can also commit adultery with people, and the aquatic nature is also." ”
Obviously, the sea mermaid is the shadow of human desire projection, and the people of the seaside regard it as a plaything. Sea mermaid skin white and beautiful, can be raised in the pond or tank, not harmful, and do not have to be responsible afterwards, the sea mermaid mentioned in the literature, all emphasize the doll function of the sea mermaid, there is no real love here, only manifested as the satisfaction of lust, is this a moral degeneration, or the tragedy of the sea mermaid? Because of the special identity of the sea mermaid, blind spots appeared in the great righteousness of humanity, and dark stories could germinate.
Mermaid, Nie Juan, "Sea Mistake Map"
The Qing Dynasty painter Nie Huang painted a portrait of a sea mermaid in the "Atlas of Sea Mistakes", or out of some moral taboo, he painted a mermaid with males, limbs, black skin, golden hair, eyebrows, nose and eyes similar to humans, the difference is that the mermaid has fins on its back, a short tail behind its buttocks, and webbing between its fingers, these aquatic characteristics are enough to show that it comes from water.
On stormy nights, sea mermaids will also "ride big fish with the waves", it seems that their life vitality is still extremely abundant, which is also a bloody marine style.
Perhaps, in the depths of the unknown ocean, there is really such a distant relative of human beings, who have long retreated to the depths of the ocean and avoided humans everywhere.
Four
Bai Qiulian, according to "Liaozhai Zhi Yi Tu Yong"
The story of people and fish falling in love seems to be too few, how can this satisfy the "big reunion" complex of the Chinese people, finally, there is a story of spending a good full moon, which is from the "White Autumn Practice" in "Liaozhai Zhiyi", this time Pu Songling is still extraordinary.
The male protagonist of the story, Mu Toad Gong, is the son of a merchant, has literary talent, and recites poetry at the bow of the ship, and is favored by the beautiful woman Bai Qiulian, whose original body is a white-tipped dolphin. The white-tipped dolphin is a freshwater whale that, despite its fish appearance, is a mammal, living in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and is endemic to China, which is now extinct. The white-tipped dolphin has become a sperm, which is really unprecedented.
Bai Qiulian and Mu Toad Palace fell in love, but at this time, when Dongting Longjun chose a concubine, he heard that Bai Qiulian was beautiful and wanted to be included in the Dragon Palace. In this kind of story, every time there is a moment of crisis, there are powerful characters appearing, under the guidance of Bai Qiulian, Mu Toad Palace holds the fish belly Aya, to ask for a true king who has attained enlightenment, and the true jun writes a "free" character on the aya, like the shape of a picture symbol.
I don't know where this True Jun came from, the mana is really strong, forced by the pressure of the True Jun, from then on, the old dragon did not dare to fight Bai Qiu's idea anymore. After several twists and turns, the two finally became family members. Bai Qiulian still retains the living habits of the aquarium, and every three or five needs to soak in the lake water of the lake of birth to maintain the vitality of life, so Mu Toad Palace moved to the lakeside to live, which perfectly solved this problem. As the fairy tale says, they live happily together, and the story ends abruptly.
Stills from "Chasing Fish"
In the folk secret transmission of mermaid love story, also appeared in the opera, the traditional repertoire of Yue opera "Chasing Fish" is a strange relationship between people and carp essence, the story is said that during the Northern Song Dynasty Jiayou period, there was a scholar named Zhang Zhen in Ying Tianfu, when his parents were alive, he had married Jin Peony, the daughter of Jin Jun, who was the darling daughter of Xiang Jin, unfortunately, Zhang Zhen's parents died twice, and he had to travel thousands of miles to the Jin Mansion to surrender.
Unexpectedly, Jin Pet saw that he was in rags and was very unhappy, so he ordered him to study in the former study of Bibotan on the pretext of "the third generation of the Jin family does not recruit a white-clothed son-in-law", and waited for the examination to be able to complete the marriage. Zhang Zhen had to agree. In fact, when Jin pet saw the fall of the Zhang family, he wanted to break the marriage contract, and the marriage was never mentioned again.
Knowing that there is a carp essence in the BiboTan, she sees Zhang Zhen sentimental, and Jin Pet and her daughter are poor and love rich, and their hearts are very uneven, so they transform into a beautiful girl and Zhang Zhen fall in love. Later, Jin Pet learned that Zhang Tianshi was invited to capture the carp essence, the carp essence launched a big water, still could not win, fortunately there was Guanyin Bodhisattva to come to the rescue, the carp essence endured the pain of peeling off three pieces of golden scales, discarded the thousand years of Daoist behavior, became a mortal without mana, and Zhang Zhen married a couple, but also a lover eventually became a family.
Stills from the Yue opera movie "Chasing Fish"
"Chasing Fish" has also been filmed as a movie, starring Yue opera masters Xu Yulan and Wang Wenjuan, carp essence of the bold pursuit of love, paid a huge price, and without any regrets, this artistic image is also loved by people.
It is also the end of the reunion, but it hits the snobs like the father and daughter of the Jin family who are poor and love the rich, which is the indoctrination meaning of opera. The class difference between the poor and the da makes it difficult to combine, and the combination with the heterogeneous carp essence is not difficult, which is really a great irony.
Wang Xiaobo,"Green Hairy Water Monster"
The ancient story does not end, Wang Xiaobo's novel "Green Hairy Water Monster" is also a continuation of the tradition of mermaid love, the protagonist Chen Hui and Yang Suyao are classmates in elementary school, and their behavior and thinking are somewhat different and incompatible with the surrounding environment.
The two found a common hobby in the bookstore, so they pooled money to buy books together, until junior high school, and then separated when they went to the countryside to join the team, and then Chen Hui heard that Yang Suyao had drowned in swimming and died, and he was sad. By chance, he found that Yang Suyao did not die, but became a half-human and half-fish water monster, Chen Hui decided to go with Yang Suyao to be a water monster, but due to illness, he could not make the trip. In the ideal world of the ocean, which symbolizes freedom, Chen Hui is lost to the person he loves most.
The story of people and fish falling in love is endless, from the terrible half-human and half-fish monster of the ancient times to the beautiful and wise and brave female figure, the fish spirit has gone through a long road of evolution - there are too many unbearable in the world, and the appeal to the beautiful human nature has also begun to be superimposed on the body of the fish spirit, in a sense, in the fish body, it is possible to suddenly see the dirty nature of human beings, but also to see the world's hearts, the story of mermaid love is a satire of sin.