The document presents a collection of Chinese folklore, including tragic love stories like 'Butterfly Lovers' and 'Madame White Snake,' where love transcends between humans and demons. It also describes the origin of the Chinese zodiac and tales of the Four Dragons and the Dragon Princess, highlighting themes of sacrifice and the consequences of actions. Lastly, it briefly introduces 'The Monkey King' from 'Journey to the West,' focusing on his rebellious nature and eventual redemption through his journey with the monk Sanzang.

2. Butterfly Lovers
• ZhuYingtaidisguises herself as a manto enteran academic
institution;unexpectedly, she falls in love withLiang
Shiangbo.
• A tragic story
• The spirits of thetwo lovers become butterflies
• They fly intothe sky, togetherand free

5. MadameWhiteSnake

6. MadameWhiteSnake
• Bai suzhenis a whitesnake demon whofellin love with a
human,xu xian.
• Fa hai, a monk, sensed the true natureof bai and convinced
xu xianto have herdrink wineto reveal her demon form.
• In some versions, bai suzhenand her companion, thegreen
snake Xiao qing, defeatedfa hai and she was reunited with
her husband and son.

7. MadameWhiteSnake
• In other versions, however, wife and husbandwere not
reunited:bai suzhen became an immortal –-no longer a
demon-but she could no longer be with xu xian.
• In some, whitesnake was imprisoned for 1000 years; this
version hintson reincarnation
• “demons fallingin love with humansand becoming good
because of humanlove interests is a popular theme in ancient
folklores.

10. Chinesezodiac

11. Chinesezodiac
• One version of how the 12 zodiac signs came to be:
• 1st- rat: heand cat got a ride from the ox, but rat pushed cat
into thewater and jumped on theground before the ox could
finishtherace.
• 2nd-ox
• 3rd-tiger

12. Chinesezodiac
• 4th-rabbit: had hopped on steppingstones and rode a floating
log to theshore
• 5th-dragon: came in late because he had to send down rain for
people and animals;he was also responsible for blowing the
wind to carry thelog thatrabbit was on to shore
• 6th-snake: frightenedthe horse and sneakedinto sixth place

13. Chinesezodiac
• 7th-horse
• 8th-goat
• 9th-monkey the threeof themrode on
• 10th-rooster a raft together
• 11th-dog: took a bathin theclean water
• 12th-boar: got hungry and stopped to eat; had a short nap
afterwards

14. The four dragons
• The four dragons wanted to help thepeople who needed rain
for their crops
• They wentto the jade emperor for help, but even after many
days, there was no rain.
• The dragons decided to carry thewater from thesea in their
mouthsand pour it down from the sky.
• This angered thejade emperor who had the dragons
imprisoned.

15. The four dragons
• The four dragons were imprisoned under mountains,but they
did not regret what they did.
• Stillwantingto help the people, thefour dragons became the
four great rivers of china.
• Yellow dragon, long dragon, black dragon, and pearl dragon

16. The four dragons

17. The dragonprincess
• A fishermanfell down a hole and found a dragon castle;
however, he was notallowed to enter.
• Eventually,hefound another way out. He told anofficial
about thecave and thedragons.
• The official informed theemperor, who called for a wise man.
• The wise man advised theemperor in his desire to obtain
treasure from thedragon.

18. The dragonprincess
• A messenger was sent to thedragon princess with jade
caskets and 400 roasted swallows
• The dragon princess, withthe help of a 1000- year-old dragon
who could transform into a human,gave themessengers a
giftin return.
• The messengers delivered thegifts to theemperor.
• The giftswere pearls of differentkinds

19. The dragonprincess
• A wishing pearl, black dragon pearl, serpent-pearl,sea-crane
pearl, and mussel-pearl
• Since theserpent-pearl and thesea-crane pearl were similar
in appearance, the emperor asked thewise manto help him
differentiatethepearls.
• The wise man told him to bring a serpent and a sea-crane. The
serpent went to the serpent-pearl, whilethe sea-crane went to
thesea-crane pearl.

20. The dragonprincess
• This version tells us the advantage of being “wise. Throughout
thecourse of the story, many people did not believe thewise
manand thoughtthathe was makingthings up.
• It was only whenthemessengers delivered thetreasure to the
emperor thatthe people realized thatthewise man had been
telling the truth.

21. The dragonprincess
• Another version of thestory of thedragon princess: therescue
of the dragon princess
• The legend of Liu Yi delivering a letter for thedragonprincess
• A Youngscholar LiuYi was on his way to Beijing to take the
annualimperial examinationfor a civil servant position.
• Moving along, heheard someone weeping.

22. The dragonprincess
• He saw a young woman, surrounded by sheep.
• She was holding a whip in her hand.
• He asked her why she had been crying
• She told him thatshe was thethird daughterof theDong Ting
Lake dragon king and thethird princess in theDong Ting Lake
palace. Her father had married her offto theyoungest son,
thelast of 10 princes, of theJingheRiver dragon king.

23. The dragonprincess
• Her husbandwas ruthless and cruel.She triedto changehis
wicked attitude,buthe became annoyed and angry at her.
Her parents sided with her husband and they banishedher.
They turned her into a shepherdess.
• They took away the magical instrumentthatcould help her
keep in touch withher family.
• The young woman asked themanif he could deliver a letter
to her parents.

24. The dragonprincess
• She was hesitanttopress him for help,considering thathe still
hadsomeplaceto go, but Liuyi wantedtohelp.
• she tore offa piece ofher dress and wrotewith a smallamountof
bloodfrom her finger.
• Father:Yourthirddaughterislivinginmisery,belittledandtreated
badly.Shemightdieatanymomentbecauseofthecircumstances
shehastoliveunder.Pleasecomeandrescueyourdaughteras
soonaspossible.”

25. The dragonprincess
• Liuyi wentto thedong tinglakeand stood by thesacred
orange tree at thelakeside. He knocked 3x, clapped 3x and
called 3x: dong tingjun, I have a messagefor you.
• The water of thelake separated and a crab-like creature asked
him his purpose.
• He followed the creature into the lake.
• He saw a beautifulpalace withgardens.

26. The dragonprincess
• The dragon king wept at thefate of his daughter, but he had
to consider his friendship withthejingheriver dragons.
• But his court wantedto takeaction.
• Qiantangjun, brother of the dragon king was short-tempered
but warm and loving. He decided to rescue his niece.
• In no time, he changed intoa dragon and foughtthejinghe
river dragons.

27. The dragonprincess
• The dragon princess was restored to her family.
• A banquet was prepared forliu yi, but he was humbleand
wantedno reward.
• Whenthe dragon princess came to thankhim, he was so
astoundedat her beauty.
• Qiantangjun told liu yi thatthe dragon princess wantedto
marry him.

28. The dragonprincess
• But liu yi said thathe did notwant theworld to thinkthathe
helped her only because of her beauty.
• He leftthe palace withouttakingany of thegiftsoffered to
him
• When he had arrived home, he told his mother all that had
happened.
• After one year had passed, his motherdeclared her wish to
see him get married.

29. The dragonprincess
• His mother had chosen a matchfor him. The daughterwas
from thelu family.
• On thenight of thewedding,liu yu was surprised to see that
his bride looked exactly like thedragon princess.
• He told his bride thereal story. She was deeply touched and
revealed thatshe really was the dragon princess.

30. The dragonprincess
• Liu Yi stands as an example for theold, traditionalChinese
saying thata gentlemandoes not look for areward when
giving help or benefitsto others. This saying provides a
standard for those who do good deeds to live up to.

32. The monkeyking
• sun wukong
-awakened to
emptiness

33. The monkeyking
• Also known as journey to the west
• A novel written bywu cheng en
• Sanzangor tripitaka, whose namemeans3 baskets, is a
buddhistmonktaskedto retrieve the sutra or religious scrolls
from india.
• Buddha revealed to him thathe needed companions to
protect himin his journey

34. The monkeyking
• Sandy or sha wujing
is a sand demon
• Pigsy or zhu bajie
is a demon pig who
eats people
• Sunwukong
is the monkeyking,
thestrongest and most
skilled monkey warrior
intheentire realm.

35. The monkeyking
• Althoughthestory is about the journey ofsanzang or
xuanzangto retrieve the sutra, the novel actuallyfocuses on
sun wukong

36. The monkeyking
• Sunwukongwas born from theearth and lived in the
mountainof fruits and flowers
• He was taughtby a master scholar and warrior, from whom
he obtained hisnyo-bo or bo staff and fromwhom he learned
to use clouds as meansof transportation
• Sunwukong was very proud and rebellious

37. The monkeyking
• He disrupted a banquet of thegods and ate their fruits and
drank their wine
• The heavenly army tried to burn him, butbecause he had
drank from their cups, hehad become immortal. The attempt
had only made his eyes look like gold coins
• To try to containhis naughtybehavior,buddha struck a deal
with him

38. The monkeyking
• If he could travel a specific distancein only one leap, hewill
become the great sage of heaven
• Monkey agreed and leapt. He landed on a pillar and peed on
it.
• When he looked up he sawbuddha and realized thathe was
stillinbuddha’s palm.

39. The monkeyking
• Because he lost thedeal, monkey
was imprisoned in thefive-
fingers mountainuntilsanzang
came to free him.
• Sunwukong thenbecame his
bodyguard and friend.

40. Let’s think...
• Compare andcontrasteuropean and asian dragons
• Describethe protagonistsof butterflylovers, whitesnake,and
rescue ofthe dragon princess
• Why doyou thinkthere are manystoriesabout human-animal
transformationsinchinesestories?
• Whatmakessunwukongan interestingand unique protagonist?
• How differentare thesefolktalesfromour ownphilippine
folklore?
© 2013 Jee Ann Guibone