Selected from: Chinese Folk Tales
In ancient times, there was a ferocious beast that lived in the deep mountains and dense forests, and people called it "Nian".
"Nian" is huge and fierce. As long as anyone annoys it, it will definitely open the blood basin and eat him in one bite. At the same time, "Nian" is also very lazy, it likes to sleep, a sleep is three hundred and sixty-five days, when it wakes up from sleep, it always feels that its stomach is grunting. At this time, it will go down the mountain to the village, eat whatever it sees, even the old people and children who live in the village, and when its stomach is full, it will walk home satisfactorily and continue to sleep, and then wake up after the next three hundred and sixty-five days and continue to go down the mountain to find something to eat.
In this way, this "Nian" beast came to the village year after year to eat people, which made everyone panic.
The village where Ah Bao lived was attacked by the Nian beast every year, and his father, mother and sister were all eaten when the last "Nian" came down the mountain, so Ah Bao especially hated this ferocious beast.
This year Chinese New Year's Eve, the people in Ah Bao Village helped the old and the young to go up the mountain to avoid the "Nian" beast. At this time, an old man begging from outside the village, he was on crutches, shoulder bag, silver beard dragged all the way to the ground. At this time, everyone was busy sealing the windows and locking the doors, packing their bags, shouting horses everywhere, a scene of haste and panic, who had the heart to take care of this poor begging old man? The people just looked at the old man in a hurry and hurried away.
When the old man walked to Ah Bao's house, Ah Bao came out of the house, gave the poor begging old man some food, and advised him to follow everyone up the mountain to avoid the "Nian" beast. Unexpectedly, after begging the old man to listen, he covered his beard, smiled and squinted, and said: "Little brother, can you let me, a lonely old man, spend the night?" ”
Ah Bao looked at the begging old man in surprise and said, "Old man, don't you know that the terrible 'Nian' beast is coming tonight?" Now everyone has taken the old and the young, packed up and taken refuge in the mountains, and you should also go with them. ”
When the begging old man heard this, he just smiled and said nothing.
"Well, if that's the case, then you can come in." Ah Bao said to the old man.
"Thank you, kind young man, for having me here, you don't have to be afraid of anything tonight." As he spoke, the old man lowered the bag from his shoulder and drew two long pieces of red paper from inside, "Come, you stick these two pieces of red paper on the door." ”
Ah Bao didn't know what the use of these two pieces of red paper was, so he asked, "What do you do with these two pieces of red paper?" ”
The begging old man pinched his beard, smiled slightly, and replied, "Just stick it on, and do as I say." ”
Ah Bao symmetrically pasted two pieces of red paper on both sides of the door according to the old man's instructions, and then helped the begging old man into the room.
"I still have two candles here, and you'll light them when it gets dark." The old man handed Ah Bao two red candles.
Ah Bao took the two red candles and asked, "I also have candles at home, but they are not red, so why do you want me to light them tonight?" ”
The begging old man smiled and pointed to the bamboo piled up in the yard: "Kind young man, I feel a little cold, it is better to burn those bamboos to warm me." ”
Honest Ah Bao didn't think much about it this time, and he immediately started to start a fire.
As the sky gradually darkened, "Nian" jumped out of the deep mountains, and it swung into the village, looking east and west, only to see that the doors of every house were closed, and there were only some sesame stalks piled in front of the door, and there was no shadow on the street.
"Why isn't there even a single person in this village this year?" "Nian" frowned.
After walking around the village for most of the night, Nian found nothing, so he had to nibble on the sesame stalks to fill his hunger. It chewed on the dry sesame stalks in a big mouth, not at all upset. At this moment, it suddenly smelled a delicious smell of human flesh mixed in the wind: "Wow, what a fragrance!" Hey, it looks like I can still try it tonight, and now I'm going to find this guy and have a good meal. Thinking about those delicious human flesh, the saliva of "Nian" dripped and dripped non-stop, and human flesh was much more delicious than those sesame stalks.
The hungry "Nian" sniffed in the east and west of the village, and finally, it was pleasantly surprised to find that the smell was wafting from Ah Bao's house. So it sped toward Ah Bao's house, but it had just jumped to the door when it suddenly stopped.
"This family is really strange, what are the two red things posted on his door, I look dizzy." "Year" takes a step backwards.
Then, through the courtyard wall, it saw two red lights flashing in the room, and the red light jumped and jumped, like the eyes of a monster, and Nian trembled and made a strange cry: "Oh, what kind of monster is that!" His eyes glowed red and he blinked, and he was bigger than me! It turned out that "Nian" mistakenly regarded the house with the red candle as a monster bigger than it.
At this moment, there was a "crackling" explosion in the courtyard, and Nian was trembling, and he did not dare to move forward anymore. It turned and ran, shouting as it ran, "Mom, the monster is angry, it's terrible!" Monsters are coming, monsters are coming! After a while, "Nian" ran away without a trace.
The begging old man and Ah Bao saw nian panicking and running away, and immediately laughed.
"I didn't expect this man-eating beast to be afraid of red and the sound of explosions." But, old man, how do you know this weakness? Ah Bao asked the begging old man.
"Young man," the old man laughed happily, "I am a god in heaven, and this time I have come down to help you deal with Nian." Now that the beast has been scared away, you will use this method every year from now on to drive it away, and then have a happy Chinese New Year's Eve! After saying that, the old man turned into a puff of green smoke and disappeared.
The next day was the first day of the first lunar month, and the people who had returned from the asylum were amazed to see that the village was safe and sound. At this time, Ah Bao came out of his home and told everyone the words of begging the old man. Everyone rushed to Ah Bao's house together, only to see that there was red paper on the door of his house, a pile of unburned bamboo in the courtyard was still "crackling" and exploding, and the two red candles in the house were still glowing...
In order to celebrate the auspicious arrival, the ecstatic villagers changed into new clothes and hats, and went to the homes of relatives and friends to say hello. Word soon spread in the surrounding villages, and everyone knew how to drive away nian.
Since then, every year Chinese New Year's Eve, every home pastes red couplets, firecrackers are set off, and every household candle is lit up. Early in the morning of the first day of the first year, I also have to go to relatives and friends to say hello. This custom has spread more and more widely, and has become the most solemn traditional festival in Chinese folklore
。