Dungan Folktales and Legends

1. Zhon Daje Shoots Pheasants

Once upon a time, there lived a youth named Zhon Daje.¹ He made a living by hunting pheasants and selling them at the bazaar. One day on the hunt, Zhon Daje saw two snakes fighting—a white snake and a black snake. As the youth watched, he saw the black one bite through the head of the white one. At that moment Zhon Daje struck the black snake with a whip so that it instantly released the white one. The white snake then glanced at its savior and crawled away. The black snake too disappeared into the grass so that Zhon Daje could not whip it again.

Then the tired youth piled together the wildfowl that he had hunted and sat down to rest under a tree. After sitting a while, he got up and drew a circle, lay the dead pheasants together in it, and fell asleep. In his dreams, a white-bearded old man appeared bidding him not to follow a black man riding a black horse, but to follow a white man on a white horse, stay at his place for three days, and then return home.

Zhon Daje awoke, but he did not see anyone close by and fell asleep again. In his sleep, Zhon Daje heard someone calling him. He opened his eyes and saw before him a black man on a black horse who was inviting him to visit his father. That was when Zhon Daje recalled the words of the white-bearded elder who had appeared to him in a dream, and he thanked the black man for the invitation but declined to go. The black man galloped off on the black horse, while the youth fell asleep again. But shortly after, someone called him again, “Savior! Savior!” It was a white man on a white horse. He was inviting the youth to visit his father. That was when Zhon Daje recalled the white-bearded elder who had appeared to him in a dream, and he agreed to go. The white man sat the youth together with him atop the horse, and they rode off. The white man said, “No matter what my ←36 | 37→father gives you, don’t take it. Ask only for the red bottle-gourd hanging on the wall.”²

They rode and rode, and finally they found themselves by a spring. The white man said to the youth, “Now we’re going down into the spring. Close your eyes tight, and no matter how much the water bubbles, don’t open them. Only when I tell you should you open them.”

The white man put the hunter on his horse, and they went into the water. After a little time went by, the white man said, “Open your eyes!”

The youth opened his eyes and saw a huge courtyard where jade houses stood. The white man led Zhon Daje to the white-bearded elder. The elder said to Zhon Daje that it was he, Zhon Daje, who had saved his son from a perfidious black snake, and he ordered the menservants and maidservants to prepare food for the honored guest. The menservants and maidservants prepared everything, brought it in, and set it out on the table. The elder invited Zhon Daje to try the dishes. Zhon Daje ate and rested. The youth spent three days in this way, and on the fourth day told the elder that it was time for him to go home. The elder offered the youth so many things—gold, silver, and all kinds of goodies—but the youth didn’t want to take anything. The elder asked him, “What on earth do you need, my son?”

Then the youth respectfully pronounced, “Sire, if you will not become angry, I will request from you that red bottle-gourd hanging on the wall.”

Not expecting such a request, the elder lowered his head and pondered. Seeing that his father didn’t want to fulfill the guest’s request, the son said to him, “Father, is that bottle gourd really dearer to you than your own son? An evil black snake almost killed me, you know.”

Upon hearing such words, the elder stood up without a word, removed the bottle gourd from the wall, and gave it to the guest. Zhon Daje thanked him, bowed, and left the palace.

With the help of the white man, the youth found himself on the bank again. He went up to the tree he had fallen asleep under and saw that the wildfowl he had killed were untouched. Upon grabbing the spoils, Zhon Daje hid the bottle gourd in his shirt and started back.←37 | 38→

It was the third sister who said, “You light the fire, I’ll cut the noodles,³ and you take care of the vegetables!”

The sisters prepared everything very quickly, set the table, and disappeared into the bottle gourd. And Zhon Daje saw all of this. He got up and ate, hid the bottle gourd in his shirt, fastened it with a rope so as not to lose it, loaded the dead pheasants onto his back, and moved on. When he returned home, he hung the bottle gourd behind the door and went for a walk. The neighbors started asking him where he had been, and Zhon Daje told them about the white and the black snake.

“What did the white-bearded elder give you?” the people asked him.

“A red bottle-gourd,” Zhon Daje replied to them.

“Well, what is so remarkable about it? Do you know?” an old man asked Zhon Daje.

“Three sisters come out of it every day and prepare a table full of food, and I eat to my heart’s content.”

The people marveled and said, “Hey, Zhon Daje, when they come out, cook the food, put it on the table, and try to hide in the gourd, you should grab one. Wouldn’t it be nice to have her as your wife? Otherwise the bottle gourd just hangs behind the door, and it’s of no use at all.”←38 | 39→

But the wife stood her ground and promised to teach her husband what to do. Zhon Daje was no longer laughing but decided to hear what his wife had to say. She told him to get three incense-burning candles⁴ and light them beside the spring. A man would emerge from the water, and Zhon Daje would tell him the eldest daughter of the dragon king was asking that a large house with a fence be built overnight, and seven master craftsmen would be needed for this.←39 | 40→

But in the village where they lived, there was a dishonest official.⁵ One day while riding in a palanquin past Zhon Daje’s new house, he asked the porters whose house it was that was so beautiful. The porters replied that this house belonged to the hunter Zhon Daje. The official marveled and, upon returning home, decided to send constables for Zhon Daje the very next day. Upon seeing the constables, Zhon Daje became distraught and said to his wife, “I told you we didn’t need a new house, but you didn’t listen. Now an official has sent constables for me.”

The wife heard her husband out and said, “Don’t worry. Just promise him whatever he asks for.”

As soon as Zhon Daje was taken to the council office, the official told him, “I’ve heard you’re an expert at planting trees. If you plant some trees by morning, I’ll pardon you. If you don’t, I’ll cut your head off.”

Zhon Daje vowed to carry out the order of the official, and he returned home and told his wife everything. The wife said, “Don’t worry. Get three incense-burning candles, go to the spring, and stick the candles into the ground. The same person you saw the first time will appear before you. You’ll tell him the daughter of the dragon king is asking that trees be planted near the council office by morning.”

Zhon Daje did everything his wife told him, and by morning a row of trees had grown in front of the council office. But hardly three days had passed before the official sent the constables for Zhon Daje again, and when he was brought in, the official said, “I’ve heard you’re an excellent hunter. Just shoot 33 pairs of pheasants for me by morning. If you don’t, I’ll hang you!”

Zhon Daje came home and told his wife everything. She again told her husband to go to the spring, and by morning 33 pairs of pheasants were brought to the official.

A little while later the official, upon learning that the hunter had a beautiful wife, resolved to have Zhon Daje killed and sent constables for him again.←40 | 41→

Then the official mounted his mule and bolted ahead, and when he had ridden half the way, Zhon Daje mounted his mule and set out in pursuit. He caught up with the official, threw the horse-cloth under the belly of the official’s mule, and in an instant the mule’s belly burst, and the official slumped on the ground after flipping over a few times. As they looked at him, the people roared with laughter.←41 | 42→

2. The Red Bottle-Gourd

In the old days in Shaanxi Province⁶ in China, there was an occurrence like this. Everyone knew about it, and it was such a matter that didn’t need to be hidden from people. In those days occurrences like these happened everywhere.

On the street of the Zhon family there lived a poor man. His family name was also Zhon. He took a wife, she bore him a son in two or three years, and he was given the name Babar.⁷ Babar was past seven years of age, and his mother died. Two years after her death, the father married again. The new wife brought a son from her first husband into the home. He was named Maisir,⁸ and he was two and a half years older than Babar. Babar’s father loved both his own son and his wife’s son equally and treated them kindly. He sent both to school to study, and both boys wore identical clothes, identical caps, and identical shoes.

Several years passed. One day Zhon bought several jin of cotton wool at a bazaar, brought it home, and said, “Wife! Today I bought several jin of cotton ←42 | 43→wool in a shop at the bazaar in order that vests⁹ be lined with cotton wool for the children.”

The wife replied, “Very well, old man! Very well! Right you are! I will make the boys warm vests.”

The old man left the house and went to trade. He was not at home when the white poplar blossomed. The wife collected the poplar fluff. She lined a vest with cotton wool for her own son but put the poplar fluff in for the stepson. The boys went to school. When they were coming back, her own son was hot, sweat was flowing down his face, and he was walking and jumping up and down; but the stepson was cold, he had goose bumps all over his body, and he knit his brows and cringed. They returned, and the mother gave them both something to eat. She put some meat on the bottom of the bowl for her own son but threw a pinch of salt in the bowl for the stepson. Her own son ate with pleasure, but the stepson’s food was salty and unpalatable, so he ate slowly.

At that point the husband returned, and the wife said to him, “Look, such delicious food, but your son doesn’t eat, only nibbles. He’s apparently picky.”

The husband did not respond, keeping silent.

In winter both boys went to school again. The father met them on the road: the wife’s son was hot, and sweat was flowing down his face, but his son was cold, shrinking from the cold like a hedgehog. The father went on to scold him, “Oh, you scoundrel! Look at your brother. He is sweating from the heat, but you have completely shrunk as if you were just about to die from the cold.”

The father became angry and struck his son on the back with a whip, and the vest tore and poplar fluff came out. Only then did the husband realize that the wife had duped him. He went home and beat his wife: “I bought some cotton wool for the children. Why did you line the son’s vest with poplar fluff?”

The wife replied to him, “There wasn’t enough cotton wool, and there wasn’t money to buy more, so I added a little poplar fluff.”

Then the husband threatened the wife, “See that this doesn’t happen again!”

The next day both boys went away to study again and returned home in the evening. The stepmother took a coarse-clay bowl,¹⁰ threw it into the cauldron, ←43 | 44→heated it there, then took it out, put some boiling food into the bowl, and served it to her stepson on a tea tray. He burned his hands and dropped the bowl. The stepmother said to the husband, “Look. What’s with your son? What does he think he’s doing? You give him food, but he doesn’t eat and throws the bowl.”

The wife drove the father to illness in this way with her spite, and he died. After the father’s death, the stepmother sent her son to study, but she forced her stepson to tend sheep. When he went to tend the sheep in the morning, she gave him a cup of milk,¹¹ and that was all. The stepson wore straw shoes, but her birth son wore durable silks and expensive satins.

One day the boy happened to be tending sheep precisely at noon when he saw two snakes fighting in the field: one was white, and the other was black. The black snake bit through the head of the white one. The boy went up and dragged the snakes apart. Then he tore a piece off his belt, bandaged the head of the white snake, and said, “Poor thing, your head has been bitten all over. Crawl along and lie low.”

The snake slid into a lake. And the next day and the day after that, the youth brought the sheep to the same place to tend. He was sitting alone, and the sheep were nibbling the grass. He did not notice when a white-bearded elder came out of the lake.

“Hello, son!”

“Hello, uncle! Sit down, sit down!”

The old man sat down. The youth asked him, “Where have you come from?”

“I have come, son, to invite you to our house to drink tea.”

The youth replied, “I cannot go, uncle!”

“Why not?”←44 | 45→