PEACE AT LAST
The last task was to quench the floods that ravaged the land. Nu Wo and the people went to the furnace used to melt the five-colored stones and shoveled the ashes from the furnace into the flood waters to quench them. They started from the northwest and slowly worked their way south, using baskets to carry ashes for use in reclaiming the land.
At first, they used the ashes liberally and reclaimed much of the land. Gradually, they started to run out of ashes, but by that time, they felt that they had done enough and stopped working. That is why the land in the northwestern portion of China is more elevated than the southeastern part. All the flood waters ran toward the southeast and formed the South China Sea.
The sky was now mended, and the earth was reclaimed from the flood. All was as before the great catastrophe. Everywhere, the people rejoiced and held a great celebration that lasted many days. They played their instruments and danced. All of them yelled the traditional Chinese chant, “May Mother live 10,000 years!” When Nu Wo saw how happy they were, her face lit up with a heavenly smile.
In spite of her joy, Nu Wo was exhausted. Her hair, which had been as black and glossy as a crow’s wing, was now completely white. Every bone in her body ached. Her hands were blistered and raw from shoveling ashes, and her skin was still scorched from the fires of the furnace of five-colored stones. The pain made it impossible for her to sleep. Her back, so straight and strong when she was a goddess, was now bent, and she had to use a staff to walk. She didn’t want her children to see that she was suffering and kept on smiling throughout the festivities.
In the midst of the great celebration and still smiling, Nu Wo closed her eyes forever.
Ho Yi the Archer
HO YI AND THE NINE SUNS
In the time of the ruler Yau during China’s golden age, nine suns once appeared in the sky at the same time. It was a great catastrophe for mankind, and this is how it happened. The nine suns were all the sons of the Celestial Ruler, and they lived in a place called Hot Water Valley. There, the seawater was as warm as hot soup because that was where the nine sons bathed every day. At that place was also a great tree tens of thousands of feet tall. This tree was the home of the nine brothers.
At the top of the tall tree stood a jade rooster. Each day before dawn, the rooster would crow. When all the roosters on earth heard the jade rooster’s cry, they would all crow too. Then one of the brothers would awake, and the day would break. Before the sun rose in the sky, his mother, the Queen of Heaven, would first bathe him in Hot Water Valley. Then, in a chariot drawn by six dragons, the Queen of Heaven would drive him across the sky until they reached a place called Sorrow Spring. The mother would stop the chariot and watch to make sure the sun had safely descended into the Dim Valley. Then she would return to drive her second son across the sky.
Under the Celestial Ruler’s decree, all his sons would take turns one by one bathing and driving across the sky. In this way, no more than one son was ever allowed to be with his mother. Things went on this way for billions of years. Every ninth day, each son would take his bath and ride the chariot with his mother over the same narrow path, performing the same routine. The sons got very bored. It was even worse when it wasn’t their turn, for then they slept all day.
One day, all nine agreed to awake at once and run into the sky without even bathing or getting into their mother’s chariot. As soon as the jade rooster crowed, they ran riot gleefully, skipping and jumping all at once across the sky. Their mother was quite distressed and called loudly for them to come back, but they pretended not to hear her.
On earth, the temperature started to rise drastically, and all the plants wilted and died. People had no food or water, and many died of starvation or thirst. It was the worst disaster since the sky collapsed in Nu Wo’s time. The people decided to go to their leader Yau for help.
Yau was a good ruler. He loved his people as if they were his own sons and daughters. He saw how much his people were suffering, and his heart broke. But it was an act of the gods—what could he do to stop it? All he could do was fervently pray every day to the Celestial Ruler to remedy the problem.
The Celestial Ruler heard Yau’s prayers and agreed that something had to be done. Because he was very busy with other affairs, he referred the matter to his wife. Maybe the Queen of Heaven loved her nine sons too much and was happy to see them all at once in all their glory. Maybe she just felt that they needed to have a good time. At any rate, she upbraided them, but not very forcefully. The nine suns therefore paid her no heed and continued to wreak havoc in the sky and upon the earth.
After some time had elapsed, the Celestial Ruler noticed that he was still hearing Yau’s prayers. If anything, Yau’s prayers were even more urgent, for with the rebellion of the suns, all manner of hideous monsters and beasts were running wild on earth, for they saw that the natural order had been overturned. After looking into the matter, the Celestial Ruler realized that his sons were still running amok. He decided to rely on his friend, the famous archer god Ho Yi, to discipline them.
Once he received the Celestial Ruler’s request, Ho Yi brought his beautiful wife, Tsang-O, down from the sky, and they went to meet with Yau. When Yau heard that the Celestial Ruler had sent them, he was very happy. He took Ho Yi everywhere to see the extreme suffering of the people. Ho Yi saw nine suns hanging in the sky at once, and the weather was hot, unbearably hot. The rivers were dry, and nothing grew in the fields. Many people, cattle, and horses lay fallen in the streets, dead or near death.
When Ho Yi saw all this, he said to the nine suns, “Even though you are the sons of the Celestial Ruler, you shouldn’t be running amok. You are setting a bad example, and chaos is breaking out everywhere. Can’t you see that people are starving and thirsting to death? Why are you doing this?”
The nine suns ignored him, as if to say, “We are the sons of the Celestial Ruler. Who are you, anyway? You can’t control us. We do as we please.”
Ho Yi grew so angry that his face turned red. The nine suns surely were being unreasonable! Ho Yi debated what to do. He ignored the decree of the Celestial Ruler. He ignored everything in his anger. From his quiver, he withdrew an arrow, fitted it to his bow, and with his right hand slowly drew his bowstring back. He aimed at one sun and released the arrow.
Very rapidly, the arrow flew straight into one of the suns. Suddenly, a giant ball of fire fell from the sky. Golden feathers scattered everywhere. When the people ran to see, they saw a huge, golden phoenix on the ground. The phoenix had three legs. This is what the sun had turned into. When the other suns saw what a mighty archer Ho Yi was, they fled in all directions, but it was already too late.
Ho Yi had shot down one sun, but his anger was still not assuaged. He had brought nine arrows in his quiver, and he started to shoot down all nine suns with lightning speed. When the Queen of Heaven saw that her sons were being killed, she began to wail and tear her hair with grief. Strands of her hair fell down from the sky. Each strand was miles long and finer than the thinnest silk thread but as strong as steel. When each strand was coiled up, the entire coil was no larger than the palm of a man’s hand.
Yau, who was standing behind Ho Yi, thought, “What will happen if Ho Yi shoots down all the suns? The earth will turn cold and black. How will my people survive?”
He implored the archer god not to shoot down all of the suns, but Ho Yi was too angry to listen to reason. Yau had no recourse but to steal one arrow from Ho Yi’s quiver, so Ho Yi shot down only eight of the suns, using up all of the arrows he had left.
Only one sun was left in the sky, and the temperature quickly cooled