Chapter 2 Section 2 Myths and Legends in Ancient Books and Materials

The book was written between the Western Zhou Dynasty and the early Western Han Dynasty. It was not written by one person at one time and one place. It is a religious witchcraft book and a collection of ancient myths.Among them, the contents about history, geography, products, medicine, religion, etc. are all absurd, and the most preserved are animal-shaped myths, myths of the fusion of two or more animals, and myths of the fusion of humans and animals.In addition, there are plant myths, overseas rumors, and myths of witchcraft customs. Among the latter myths, many are related to offering sacrifices to mountain gods, reflecting that people's worship of mountains was very common at that time.There are many written records of myths, which appeared for the first time in China.

In the novel, the noble, elegant, and dignified Queen Mother is based on an extremely terrifying god who is a hybrid of humans and animals, and her gender is not obvious.This god has a human face, a tiger body, and a leopard tail. He lives in Yushan near Kunlun Mountain. He has disheveled hair and wears a kind of jewelry called "Sheng".There are three blue birds looking for food for this god.These three blue birds are also very special, they all have red heads and black eyes.The priesthood of the Queen Mother of the West is to master natural disasters and five punishments. (See "Three Classics of the West", "Northern Classic of the Sea", "Dahuangxijing") This function is very consistent with the appearance of the Queen Mother of the West.

In the past, some people thought that ancient Chinese mythology was fragmented and unsystematic.That's because they don't understand.There are sporadic cases, but not always.For example, the myth of Emperor Jun is more common in China.Who is Emperor Jun? Ancient history researchers believe that it is Shun, also known as Emperor Ku [ku Ku].This is the god worshiped by Dongyi, and obviously does not belong to the same system as Yan and Huang. According to records, one of Emperor Jun's wives is Xihe, the mother of 10 suns; his other wife is Chang Xi, the mother of 12 moons.The two altars below Dijun are managed by a group of colorful birds.These colorful birds are called imperial birds, luan birds, or wind birds.There is a bamboo forest in Dijun, to the south of Weiqiu Mountain.This mountain is also big enough, with a radius of 300 miles.The bamboo in the bamboo forest is tall and big, "big as a boat", it is really a divine bamboo.

According to another legend, Emperor Jun's wife is called Ehuang, and her descendants are called Sanshen Kingdom, that is, people with one head and three bodies.Others say that among the descendants of Emperor Jun are Ji Li (that is, Li), Zhong Rong, Yan Long, Di Hong, and Hei Chi, all of whom can use wild beasts.There are many inventors among the descendants of Emperor Jun. Shujun was the founder of farming, Panyu started to build boats, Xi Zhong built cars, Yan Long was a musician, and Yijun was a skilled craftsman... (see "The Great Wilderness", "The Sea Nei Jing").

These seemingly incoherent contents at least tell posterity that Di Jun is the ancestor of the bird totem clan, and that the period of his life was already centered on the paternal line.The territory under his control is vast, and the descendants of this line lasted a long time, making special contributions to the creation of cultural relics.Many of the original codes are contained within, and painstaking research is required to actually decipher them. This book is about 31,000 words, which can be regarded as a "great work" at that time.The text in the book is brief, and although fragments of ancient myths are preserved, it is very valuable.

In addition, ancient books that preserve myths and legends to varying degrees include the works of pre-Qin philosophers, history books, miscellaneous histories, notes, and strange novels. The works of the pre-Qin philosophers are considered representative.It is not to compile myths for the sake of preserving myths, but mainly to use myths and legends to explain a kind of thought, which belongs to application and re-creation, that is, to use myths and legends as materials and transform them into philosophical fables.However, objectively, it did play a preservation role.Some of the myths in the fables are not completely the true colors of the myths, but only retain some of the core of the myths.For example, the myth of the change of Kun and Peng in "Xiaoyaoyou" is very famous: There is a fish in the North Sea named Kun. It is also so huge that it is hard to tell how many thousands of miles away; it flies with fluttering feathers, and its wings are like clouds covering the sky.This big bird migrates south when the sea is turbulent and the wind blows.That southern sky is like the Great Tianchi Lake.

According to the characteristics of mythological thinking, fish and birds can completely transform into each other, which shows that the book has a mythological basis, which comes from the book "Qi Xie".However, the intention is different from that of "Qi Harmony", which is fun, and "Qi Harmony" only records the strange things of Qi people; but it is to explain a truth: no matter how high Kunpeng flies, it may not be endless. Looking at it next time, that's all, the world is vast and boundless, why let your spirit be bound by fame and wealth?Today, if we have a positive understanding of this myth, then those with lofty aspirations should spread their wings and soar like Kunpeng to pursue lofty ideals.

History books take "Zuo Zhuan" and "Guo Yu" as examples, which contain many myths and legends. "Zuo Zhuan Seventeen Years of Zhao Gong" talks about a kingdom of birds, which is a very typical ancient history myth and legend.It is said that the ancient eastern emperor Shaohao (haohao) was named Zhi. When he came to the throne, a phoenix bird happened to fly over, so he named his officials after various bird names. The shrike is in charge of the summer solstice and winter solstice, the blue bird is in charge of the beginning of spring and the beginning of summer, the golden pheasant is in charge of the beginning of autumn and the beginning of winter, the pheasant is in charge of education, the vulture is in charge of military power, the cuckoo is in charge of construction, and the eagle is in charge Law and punishment, the falcon [guzhou Guzhou] is in charge of camp repairs and other matters.The five officials named after the dove manage the common people; the five officials named after the pheasant respectively manage carpenters, metalworkers, potters, leather workers, and dyers, as well as the utilization, scale, and balance of utensils; Planting agricultural officials so that the common people will not be lewd.The country of birds, named after Phoenix Bird, is nothing more than a myth of history.This probably refers to the tribal alliance headed by Shao Hao who practiced bird worship in the ancient East.

The myth of Fangfeng’s family is not well recorded in ancient books, but it can be found scattered in Guoyu, Shiji, Yuejueshu, Shuyiji, etc. Among them, Guoyu·Lu Yuxia explains it in detail. The Fangfeng clan might be the leader of a tribe in the tribal alliance headed by Dayu. At that time, the names of the clan and tribe were generally the same as the names of the leaders, and the head of the Fangfeng clan was also called Fangfeng.According to legend, Dayu once visited Yuedi, and held a meeting in Maoshan to discuss major plans. At the meeting, those who were virtuous and meritorious were given Juelu and land. Italian) mountain.This is a famous gathering of gods in ancient history legends, but Fangfeng was late for some reason.Dayu was very dissatisfied with this. After he killed him, he displayed his body first, and then buried it at the foot of Kuaiji Mountain. It was not until the state of Wu attacked Yue that the Kuaiji Mountain was destroyed, and Fangfeng's bones were discovered. Big, a bone will be transported with a car.The people of the state of Wu couldn't figure out what kind of bones it was and why it was so big.So he sent someone to ask the learned Confucius, and Confucius told the cause and effect to the envoy Wu.The fact that the Wu envoy asked Confucius for advice is recorded in "Mandarin · Luyu II":

Wu Fayue fell into Kuaiji, got the bones, and saved a special car.The envoy Wu Zi came to invite him, and he asked Zhong Ni... and said: "Dare to ask what is the bigness of the bone?" To kill and kill them, it is a special car for their joints, this is huge." People from the Fangfeng tribe may belong to one of the legendary giant tribes, but no matter how grown up they are, they don't need a car for every bone. This is obviously a mythical exaggeration and imagination.However, the historical value of this myth and legend is clear at a glance, which shows that in Dayu's later years, power has been increasingly concentrated, and society has gradually transformed from a military tribal alliance to a state.

There are more ancient myths and legends preserved in various miscellaneous histories than official histories.For example, "Wuyue Spring and Autumn", "Yuejueshu", "Shu Wang Benji" and so on are all miscellaneous histories, which can also be called unofficial histories, that is, they are not official histories, but are written by individuals.Among them are the myths of Dayu's birth and marriage, the legend of the marriage of man and ape, the legend of Du Yu and Li Bing, the heroes of water control in the ancient Shu Kingdom, and so on. The well-known go-getters forging swords is a legend with a strong color of myth and legend.The story says that Wu Guoren was a go-getter who was good at forging swords. To help him succeed, his wife Mo Xie threw her hair and nails into a smelting furnace and made 300 boys and girls blow the bellows to form a yin and yang sword. Go-getters, Yin Jian is called Mo Xie.It is the Yin sword dedicated to Wu Wang Helu [helu Helu], and the Yang sword is hidden by itself.King Wu treasured the sword very much. (See "The Spring and Autumn Period of Wuyue·Helu Internal Biography") Why use Moxie's hair and nails? This is the legacy and transformation of the customs of human sacrifice in primitive society. The worship of gods by primitive religions has reached the level of obsession. , thinking that by killing people and offering sacrifices to gods, they can get help from gods.After the society progressed, people felt that the custom of human sacrifice was too barbaric, so they used a certain part of the human body instead of human sacrifice.This myth and legend is not mainly to promote this backward custom, but reflects that the casting skills of the craftsmen of Wu State at that time were very sophisticated. The above-mentioned story has a new development in the Jin Dynasty's ghost novel "Sou Shen Ji". Gan Jiang and Mo Xie and his wife became Chu people, and it took three years to make a sword, and presented the female sword to the king.Because the time was too long, even though he offered his sword, the general was still killed by the king of Chu.Mo Xie was pregnant at this time, and gave birth to a son named Chibi, also known as Meijianchi. When he was a teenager, he took the male sword left by his father to avenge him.I met a guest on the road, and the guest told him: "The king of Chu is offering a reward of a thousand pieces of gold for your head. Give me your head and sword, and I can avenge you." .The guest said: "I will not let you down." After saying that, Mei Jianchi's body fell to the ground.The guest went to see the king of Chu and said: "This is the head of a warrior. It should be boiled in a soup pot." After cooking for three days and three nights, the head was still not rotten, and it jumped out of the soup pot with angry eyes.The guest said to the king of Chu: "This head is not rotten. Please go and see for yourself. Maybe it will die."Then the guest also chopped off his own head.The three heads were all in the pot. After being boiled, it was difficult to distinguish them, so they had to be buried in three parts in one place, which is called the "Tomb of the Three Kings". (See "Sou Shen Ji Volume 11") This legend is full of rebellious spirit and has a strong sense of revenge. Lu Xun used it as the material to create a famous story.