后羿射日
Hou Yi shoots the nine suns
Name: ________________ Date: ________
Key words
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 棵 | kē | classifier for trees, plants and vegetables |
| 兄弟 | xiōngdì | brother; bro (friendly address among men) |
| 无聊 | wúliáo | boring; bored |
| 商量 | shāngliang | to discuss; to consult |
| 同时 | tóngshí | at the same time; simultaneously |
| 出现 | chūxiàn | to appear; to emerge; to arise |
| 死 | sǐ | to die; dead |
| 管理 | guánlǐ | management; administration; to manage; to administer |
| 厉害 | lìhai | impressive; amazing; really good (at it) |
| 响 | xiǎng | to sound; to ring; sound; noise |
| 掉 | diào | to fall; to drop |
| 永远 | yóngyuǎn | forever; always; eternally |
English (for the teacher)
Have you ever wondered why there is only one sun in the sky? Ancient Chinese myth says there used to be ten.
The ten suns were the sons of Dijun, a great god in the sky. They lived in a great tree in the eastern sea: nine rested lower down and one at the very top. Every morning only one sun went up into the sky to work, while the others waited at home. The ten brothers took turns like this, one day each.
But after a long time the suns found working alone too boring. One day they agreed: “Today we all go together!”
And so ten suns appeared in the sky at once.
Now the people on earth could not bear it. The sun dried up the rivers and scorched the crops in the fields to death; trees and grass withered, and people had nothing to eat and nothing to drink. Monsters came out of the mountains too and attacked people everywhere.
The ruler of the land at that time was Yao, and he was so worried he could neither eat nor sleep. At last he sent for a man who was a superb archer, named Yi. Today people usually call him Hou Yi. The old books say Dijun gave him a red bow and white arrows and told him to help the people on earth.
First Hou Yi shouted at the sky: “Go back! One at a time!” The suns didn’t listen at all; they just laughed up in the sky.
Hou Yi got angry. He drew his bow and let fly. There was a loud crack in the sky, and one sun fell. People ran over to look, and what lay on the ground was not a ball of fire but a big black bird with three legs.
Hou Yi shot arrow after arrow, and the suns fell one after another. The sky grew cooler and cooler, and the people happier and happier.
When he had shot the ninth, Hou Yi picked up another arrow. At that moment Yao rushed to stop him: “Stop shooting! If you leave none, the world will be night forever!” One version says Yao secretly took away Hou Yi’s last arrow.
And so only one sun was left in the sky. It never dared to slack off or wander again: it rose on time and set on time every day, right up to today.
But when Dijun learned that nine of his sons were dead, he was heartbroken. Some later stories say that Yi had been a god from heaven, and in his anger Dijun would not let him go back. Hou Yi had to stay in the human world and live there with Chang’e. What became of them is another famous legend.