Chapter 24 Section 3 Landscape Legend

The famous mountains and rivers in our country are very famous, and a series of explanatory legends have been circulated.For a specific scenic spot, there is a very charming legend.Most of these legends have a clear tendency, run through the moral evaluation of the people, and reflect the aesthetic views of most people.Most of these legends that can be heard and read in our country are works after the late feudal society, and they are still widely circulated today.Because of the legendary explanation, the scenic spot makes the inanimate seem to have spirituality and life, which is more ornamental and more attractive to tourists; the legend, because it is attached to a certain scenic spot, enhances its credibility And popular.The two complement each other and complement each other.

From worshiping mountains and rivers to appreciating the natural landscape of mountains and rivers, people are moved by their majesty or beauty, and all kinds of imaginations arise from this.Undoubtedly, this has taken a big step forward compared with the imagination of the original myth.People can empathize with objects, which shows that in the spiritual field, they have gradually broken away from the dependence and fear of natural forces, and have moved from an unconscious state to conscious artistic creation.Of course, due to historical limitations, this transition from unconscious to more conscious cannot be overestimated.Treat it from the perspective of cultural development history, this is a link in the long chain, and it is strictly forbidden to analyze it from a purely scientific perspective.Here are two older legends as examples.

Wushan, located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, originally belonged to the state of Chu, and now belongs to Yichang, Hubei.When people take a cruise ship and enjoy the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River, every time they arrive at Wushan Mountain, they will strive to see the slender and steep beauty of Goddess Peak, just like a slim girl standing on the top of a high mountain, overlooking the bustling world.If you regard it as a lifeless rock, it will give people a cold feeling; if you imagine it as a delicate and charming girl, the more you look at it, the more beautiful and beautiful it is, just like a graceful and quiet woman gazing at the world. goddess.

The legend about this goddess originally evolved from mythology. "Shan Hai Jing Zhong Shan Jing" said: On Mount Guyu, the dead body of the Emperor's daughter turned into a kind of "yao grass", and the fruit it produced was loved by anyone who ate it.This is quite a taste of the God of Love.On this basis, later generations gave a very poetic name to the daughter of the Emperor of Heaven who changed into Yaocao: "The third daughter of the Emperor of Heaven, named Yaoji, died before she went (unmarried), and was sealed in The sun of Wushan (south of Xiangyang). The spirit is grass, and it is actually Ganoderma lucidum." ("Shui Jing Zhu·Jiangshui") This has been connected with Wushan, but it has not yet been resurrected as a goddess.

The legend of Shennvfeng's complete personification has been recorded relatively completely, and it is also attributed to Taoist scriptures. "Yongcheng Jixianlu" said: Yaoji, also called Mrs. Yunhua, is the 23rd daughter of Queen Mother Xi and the younger sister of Mrs. Taizhen Wang.Once when she came back from a swim in the East China Sea, she found that Wushan had a beautiful scenery and huge stones like altars. She lingered for a long time and could not leave.At that time, Dayu was stationed at the foot of the mountain to control the flood. When a strong wind came, the rocks were shaken down and could not be stopped.Dayu turned to Yao Ji for help, and she ordered her maid to give Dayu a book on exorcising ghosts and gods, and she also sent some of her gods to help Dayu split rocks to dredge the river, so that the river water could clear the blockage and flow down smoothly.Yu thanked him again and again.

Yu often went to the top of the mountain to visit Yao Ji.Unexpectedly, in the blink of an eye, Yao Ji suddenly turned into a big rock... The so-called Mrs. Yunhua and Taizhen are all Taoist gods. Obviously this is a myth and legend transformed by Taoism, but its basic content still retains the folk style.Later generations combined the legend of Yao Ji turning into a goddess of Wushan with the legend of Dayu's flood control, making it a female mountain god who is beneficial to people and more amiable. More than 1,000 years ago, when Li Daoyuan of the Northern Wei Dynasty wrote "Shui Jing Zhu", he wrote down such a legend: "Yeyu County, so the country of Yeyu in Dianchi Lake. In the second year of Yuanfeng, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Tang Meng opened it. I think Yizhou County, the county has Yeyu County. 80 miles northwest of the county, there is Diao Niao Mountain. Thousands of birds form a flock, and they can sing and chirp. Every year from July to August, it stops on the 16th and 7th. At the age of six. Pheasant birds come to hang them, and they light fire at night to wait for them. They have nothing to crop and do not eat. They seem to be very sad. If they think it is righteous, they will not take it. As the saying goes: The phoenix died here, so all the birds come to hang it. Because of the name Hanging birds." ("Bird Hanging")

Yeyu County in ancient times is now Dali City.Diao Niao Mountain, also called Tianma Mountain by the Bai people, does have the kind of strange landscape mentioned in "Shui Jing Zhu" every year.According to the local people, there are more than 200 kinds of birds that fly here. The big ones are like lambs, and the small ones are only as big as butterflies.If a bonfire is lit at night, a group of birds will rush to the fire, so the folks call this landscape "bird meeting".Why do birds appear in such a concentration on Tianma Mountain at this time of year, and there is a tragic scene of collective "suicide" and burning, which lasts for more than a thousand years?This is a natural phenomenon. Scientists preliminarily believe that this may be the necessary place for birds to migrate from Qinghai to the southeast. When they fly to this mountain, it is the season of dense fog, and they are easy to lose their way, so they flock together. Once this mountain sees a fire, it will go to meet the light.But this explanation has not been recognized by everyone, and it is still a mystery.For the ancients, of course, it was more mysterious.They also tried to find an explanation, but the answer was a touching legend: Once upon a time, there was a pair of phoenixes that inhabited Tianma Mountain.Birds from other places come to Tianma Mountain every autumn to worship the king of birds.The phoenix not only entertained them, but also sang and danced with great joy.Unfortunately one year, when the birds were having a carnival, suddenly thick fog filled the air, the wind was howling, and the birds flew and scrambled, chirping for help.In order to save the birds, Fenghuang resolutely plucked the feathers from his body and distributed them to the birds so that they could flee quickly.The birds were all out of danger, but the phoenix could no longer fly because it lost its feathers.Finally, he froze to death on the snow-capped Tianma Mountain.

The birds are naturally very sad. In autumn, that is, when the Phoenix dies, they still gather in the old place to mourn the lofty Phoenix.People sympathized with the profound friendship between the birds, so they renamed Tianma Mountain as Niaodiao Mountain.Because this legend is full of emotional color, the bird club and bird hanging mountain have become one of the famous landscapes in Dali.People regard a hundred birds throwing fire as a kind of remembrance of the phoenix and extreme sadness.