Hu Yanyun
In the middle of summer as a child, there is a funny thing, that is, eating field snails - about ten years ago, when Beijing's Guijie Street was the most popular and lively, there were so-called "four famous foods": Ma Xiao (spicy crayfish), hungry frog, spicy crab and Fushou snail, although each store is good at cooking techniques, but in general, it is a heavy taste of salty and spicy all the way, and it is not compatible with the traditional taste of Beijing. Take the snail as an example, the snail eaten in the old Beijing is smaller than the Fushou snail, the color is greener, the cooking is very simple, that is, after being washed with salt water, the ingredients and peppers are boiled, and there are also green onions, ginger and stir-fried in a large pot, love to eat spicy plus a few pieces of pepper, and then put on the table with a sewing needle to pick and eat, eat is the delicious taste. While eating, the children listened obsessively to the story of the adults nagging about the snail girl, and before they knew it, the dishes were empty, and only a pile of snail shells was left on the table...
Because of food safety, farmland transformation and other reasons, Beijing's local snails are gradually difficult to find, And The Fushou snails are also suddenly silent, only the story of the snail girls is still passed down from generation to generation.
"Snail Girl" comic strip
One story, several versions
"TianLuo Girl" has almost become a fixed pattern in ancient Chinese folklore, that is, a poor person saves some kind of spiritual object because of kindness, and then the object incarnates into a beautiful woman to quietly take care of his life, and then inadvertently discovers it, so he forms a good relationship... The source of the "TianLuo Girl" is currently recognized by the ancient note-taking circles as Shu Hao's "Fa Meng Ji" of the Jin Dynasty, and later In Tao Li's "Records of continuing search gods", this text was greatly extended and enriched.
"Afterword to the Search for God", also known as "The Book of the Continued Search for God"
During the reign of Emperor An of Jin, there was a man named Xie Duan, who "lost fewer parents, had no relatives, and was raised by his neighbors", grew up to seventeen or eighteen years old, was loyal and honest, industrious and capable, "lay down at night and got up early, worked hard, and did not give up day and night", but he never married a relative. Later, he collected a field snail as big as a three-liter pot, "thinking that it was a foreign object, taking it home, storing it in an urn, and the animal for ten days." After that, Xie Duan went out to farm every morning, and when he returned home in the evening, he "saw that there was rice and soup in his household", thinking that it was the neighbors who helped, so he went to thank him, but the neighbors denied it. Xie Duan felt very strange, this day or the chicken called out, sneaked home at noon, "peeking into his home outside the fence", only to see a young girl out of the urn and go to the kitchen to light a fire to cook. Xie Duan entered the door and came to the urn, and looking inside, there was only an empty shell. Xie Duan came to the kitchen and asked who the girl was? Why help with self-catering? The young girl was confused and wanted to return the urn, but she was stopped by Xie Duan, who had to say that she was a fairy, because the Emperor of Heaven pitied Xie Duan and was lonely, so he sent her to cook for him, and when he married his daughter-in-law, he left, who wanted to be found by him, had to leave, but left the shell for him to store the rice valley, so as to keep his food and clothing. Xie Duan repeatedly begged her to stay, but she insisted on leaving, "when the weather suddenly wind and rain, resolutely left." After that, Xie Duan, according to the fairy's words, stored rice in a snail shell, and sure enough, the rice valley was not lacking, and life was spared...
According to this note, there have been many "fusion texts" in later generations, and even completely "extended versions" of imitations, such as the qing dynasty Cheng Lin's article in the book "This Chinese Language".
"This Chinese Language"
There was a man named Wei Fu, who was originally a son of a rich family, "who was caused by the mutiny, and the whole family was lost, but the blessing still existed." He had to do some small business and live a hard life. Although the family is surrounded by disciples, he still follows the past living habits, locks the door when he goes out every morning, and when he returns home, he washes and cooks, and he does it himself, slowly changing from a clumsy boy in the past to a frugal and hard-working youth. On this day, Wei Fu returned home and was very surprised to see that the meal had been prepared, "For more than ten days in a row, I don't know who is holding the door for it." He thought that he locked the door every day when he left home, even if the neighbors wanted to help, it was impossible, so after a day out, he hid the door and peeked through the crack in the door, "After a while, I suddenly saw the water tank in the court shaking, and a girl came out of the tank, with bright eyes and teeth, excellent rhyme, shadow wandering, lotus hook sound shattering, and went to the kitchen." Wei Fu then remembered that there was a field snail in the tank that had been raised for many years, and this girl must be a field snail fairy, so he sneaked into the house, hid the shell in the cylinder, and then went to the kitchen to recognize the girl... This note is different from the "original" in that Wei Fu married Tian Luo Xian Zi and gave birth to two sons, but in the end, because of a quarrel, Wei Fu gambled and threw the shell back to his wife, and his wife flew away, and Wei Fu regretted it.
Two, a flower palanquin, two brides
There are many versions of "Tian Luo Girl" interpreted in ancient notes, one of which is very unique in plot and is contained in the "Fragrant Drink Building Guest Talk" written by Lu Changchun of the Qing Dynasty.
《Fragrant Drink House Guest Talk》
It is said that in Yichun County, Jiangxi, there was a family who married his daughter-in-law for his son, and when the flower palanquin carrying the bride's son was resting halfway, the palanquin saw a huge field snail on the side of the road, and he thought that he could take it back and make a conch blow, so he put it behind the palanquin. When the palanquin was finished and the palanquin was lifted again, everyone felt much heavier than before, and when they were carried to the groom's home, the sedans "gasped and sweated", and when they went to look for the snail, they could not find it, thinking that it was lost on the road with the bumps of the palanquin.
At this time, the hall held up the sheng gong at the same time, "will perform the prayer", in the court lifted the curtain of the palanquin, was about to help the bride out, who knew that everything that happened in front of the eyes made all the guests stunned, because the palanquin actually "there are two beautiful pavilions" - that is, sitting two brides. Under the panic of the room, the wedding could not continue, and asked the car driver, who did not say anything about picking up the snails, but only said that the car suddenly increased after the rest. Looking at the appearance and clothing of the two brides, they were exactly the same, and there was no difference, so they had to send someone to the bride's house and invite her parents to distinguish between the true and false. But when the bride's parents came, the two brides scrambled to grab their clothes and cry out, "crying and crying, laughing and laughing, and the sound was like a sound." The parents were completely unable to distinguish which was true and which was false, so they asked them about the trivial matters in the family, as well as the bride's birthday, habits and other secret things in the boudoir, "all answered one by one, all matched." At this moment, everyone was like facing two Sun Wukong, I don't know which is the Monkey King, which is the six-eared macaque, so they have to let them live in a room first, "subtly investigate the difference". But a few days passed, and still nothing was gained.
The groom's father brought in the help of an exorcist mage, but the advice given by the mage was that no matter which bride was real and which bride was fake, they all had a relationship with the groom, so why not live together. The groom's father had no choice but to go home and perform the ritual of conjunction for his son, "with the east and west two rooms as a cave room, and the groom stayed in turn." At first, the family was still worried about the fake bride's evil, but after a long time, they were at peace, and they all relaxed their minds.
Two months later, "the son stayed in the east room", the wife suddenly asked her husband who was more beautiful between herself and the west room, and the husband looked at her for a long time and said that "Qing seems to be too much". The East Room was slightly relieved, and then told her husband that he was a snail spirit, because he had a relationship with him, knowing that the woman in the West Room was engaged to him, he sneaked into the room and quietly followed her to learn to make up on the mirror, "three years to complete", and now that the fate has come, he is going to leave, and then disappear. The groom's family "knew that the one who lived in the west room was a real woman"...
"TianLuo Girl" is classified as "Snail Girl Story" by Mr. Zhong Jingwen, a master of Chinese folk literature, according to relevant survey statistics, there are hundreds of various texts from ancient times to the present, not only widely circulated in China's coastal provinces, but also in Japan and South Korea. Why the tian snail and the graceful girl are associated together, there have always been a variety of views in the academic circles, the famous folklorist Mr. Chen Qinjian's view is representative, he believes that "there is a close relationship with the long-standing snail eating snail and snail habits of the people in southern China", Tian Luo's exquisite small posture, smooth and beautiful swirling curves and female slender posture Have a certain aesthetic sense of the inner fit. In fact, the snail's free stretching and contraction inside and outside the conch shell, and the unpredictable movement and movement of the body also inspire people's imagination of having unpredictable and hidden "immortals" in a certain sense!
Third, sweep away the green snails and benefit future generations
In ancient notes, snails often appear in auspicious appearances. The Qing Dynasty scholar Xue Fucheng recorded in the "Notes on YongLu" that Tibet once paid tribute to the emperor with a right-handed white snail, because most of the threads on the conch are left-handed, so this one is extremely precious, and it is said that it has the use of fixing the wind. Later, before the people's revolt occurred in Taiwan, before Fu Kang'an led his troops to Taiwan, Qianlong "specially awarded the right-handed white snail, carried it to cross the taiwan, the wind was steady and the waves were calm, and quickly arrived at the shore." After the people's coup was calmed, Fu Kang'an surrendered the white snail gong to the fold. Later, Qianlong took into account that the governor, general, inspector, and admiral of Fujian would take turns to inspect Taiwan once a year, and they would all have to wade into the ocean, "And then send the right-handed white snail to the governor, and make respectful offerings to the governor, and every year when the minister goes to Taiwan, no matter who orders him to take it to the sea, he will be blessed." The messenger was still returned to the Governor's Office."
Since the snail is a symbol of good fortune and good wishes, then loving and caring for it will get good results. "Zi Bu Shu" records that when Xu Gonghao was serving as an observer in Shanxi, an old fox disguised as a Taoist priest often entered the official office to talk with him. One day, Xu Xian listened to rumors about a certain county order and wanted to remove him from office, and lao hu specially came to ease his cheeks, saying that his ancestors had immeasurable merits, and Xu Xian had to sell him face and temporarily shelve this punishment. Later, Xu observed that the county order was indeed slandered by artificial rumors, specially called him to tell the truth, and then curiously asked him what meritorious deeds his ancestors had done. The county commander thought for a long time before saying that when his ancestors used to cultivate on the seashore, every time the sea rose in the tide, they would always wash a lot of green snails on the shore, and at low tide, those green snails could not return to the sea, and were caught and sold, so the ancestors and husbands "each took a broom to sweep the green snails into the sea, from three to the dawn, such as sixty years" - the old fox's so-called immeasurable merit refers to this matter!
Of course, there are also negative examples. Qing ren Wang Li recorded in the "Autumn Lantern Cong" that Qiantang has a land shrine, very spiritual, the reputation of "spread far and near, the worshippers have no false day", people in order to express their gratitude to the land god, plan to build a building in front of the land shrine to perform a play, but the land shrine next to the pond, "bitter without gaps", everyone then plans to fill the pond and build a building. That night, several of the principals had the same strange dream, in which the gods told them, "It is better not to build a building than to fill a pond!" Everyone got together the next day and thought that maybe the gods were afraid of spending money, "A dream can not be relied on"! So they put water on the pond, and when the water ran out of mud, they found that "there are giant snails as big as buckets, lying in the mud", so they work together to "smash and crush them", and from then on the land shrine will no longer work...
This last note has a profound meaning, when the environment is destroyed and the creatures are killed, even the gods refuse to protect the people anymore, which more or less hides a certain "environmental protection concept" of the ancients. Today, the children who have lived in the city for a long time, when they mention the snail, they probably only see its map and do not see its objects, so the "snail girl" is far less fascinated than when we were children. At the thought of this, I can't help but feel sad, no matter how strong the cultural inheritance, if there is no green water and green mountains as a dependency, it will eventually change from three-dimensional to flat, from clear to blurred, from wonderful to interesting, from long-standing to dispensable...
Editor-in-Charge: Gu Ming
Proofreader: Yan Zhang