Treasury of Chinese Folk Tales. Shelley Fu

the people saw that it had begun to rain, they rejoiced. Some yelled, some laughed, some sang, and others started to till the fields. Suddenly, the rain increased. The people hailed the archer god with the traditional Chinese chant, “Long live Ho Yi! May he live 10,000 years!”

      You could hear their cries everywhere. Ho Yi was their hero. As a reward, Yau gave Ho Yi a strand of hair from the Celestial Ruler’s wife and a golden feather from one of the phoenixes that had fallen from the sky.

      But the people could not rest. Poisonous snakes and dreadful beasts still roamed the earth. In the sky flew man-eating birds. Yau begged Ho Yi to eliminate all these fearsome creatures. Altogether, Ho Yi slew many different kinds of monsters of very strange appearance. One looked like a giant ox, with a red body, a human face, and the legs of a horse. With a cry that resembled the wail of a human baby, it would lure its next meal. Ho Yi slew another monster that had the body of a man but the head of a beast. Its teeth were especially long. The ancient books say they were five or six feet long. Despite the fierceness of these creatures, they were no match for Ho Yi’s prowess in archery, and he eliminated them all.

      THE CELESTIAL RULER’S DECISION

      Ho Yi thought that his work in the human realm was done. He thought he would return to the sky with his wife and resume his life as a celestial spirit. He said to himself, “I have done so many good deeds on earth, the Celestial Ruler should be very pleased with me. I killed eight of his sons, but it wasn’t my fault. It was theirs for not heeding me. In all fairness, surely the Celestial Ruler will understand.”

      Ho Yi was wrong. The Celestial Ruler was very angry with Ho Yi and immediately banished him and his wife, Tsang-O, to the human realm. They could not return to the sky.

      “But it isn’t fair!” cried Ho Yi. “I did no wrong, why can’t we return?” Behind him, Tsang-O was crying, and Ho Yi suffered greatly. “I have done her harm!” he said to himself. He and Tsang-O were now mere mortals.

      Ho Yi’s wife Tsang-O, though beautiful, was a very stubborn woman. When she made up her mind to do something, she would heed no advice or reason. Nonetheless, Ho Yi loved her to distraction. In heaven, they had a very happy marriage, but after being banished to the human realm, Ho Yi was very busy and had no time to spend with Tsang-O. She was very lonely.

      She told her husband, “The human realm is unbearably dull compared to the realm of the Celestial Ruler.”

      “Don’t worry, Tsang-O. Wait until I finish my business on earth, then we will try to return to the sky,” he would reply to her complaints.

      Day after day passed, and Ho Yi’s business seemed interminable. As soon as he had finished one thing, a new matter would arise. He really didn’t mind the work. Every time he heard the people cry, “Long live Ho Yi! May he live 10,000 years!” he felt a deep fulfillment. In the Celestial Realm, he had never been so celebrated.

      “Why are you still working? Tell me truly, when can we go back?” Tsang-O asked her husband almost every day.

      “I’m almost done. Don’t worry. See how full of suffering these human lives are? How can we leave them this way?” he would reply.

      Finally, Ho Yi finished his earthly business. Everything was restored to normal after the recent catastrophic events. Ho Yi was very satisfied with his work. Tsang-O thought that now they could return immediately to the Celestial Realm, and she was happy.

      But the Celestial Ruler still refused to let them return. At first, both Ho Yi and Tsang-O suffered greatly. Ho Yi felt that the Celestial Ruler was being unfair. After a time, however, Ho Yi began to feel that life in the human realm wasn’t so bad. He wanted to stay, for he was a big hero. Yau showered him with favors and presents and made him a high-ranking nobleman.

      “Because there is no justice for us in the Celestial Realm, why don’t we just stay here?” he would say.

      Tsang-O saw things very differently and constantly complained. She couldn’t agree with her husband. She blamed Ho Yi for everything. “I don’t understand, why did you have to kill them?” she would reproachfully ask about the eight suns.

      “It wasn’t my fault! You saw them, they were running wild!”

      “But they were the Celestial Ruler’s sons!”

      “Even so, they should not have been allowed to do whatever they pleased. Didn’t you see how much mankind was suffering?”

      “Mankind! That’s all you ever talk about! How can helping mankind enable us to return to the Celestial Realm?” Tsang-O was angry.

      “So what if we can’t return? We’re not bad off at all here,” was Ho Yi’s reply.

      The more they talked, the angrier they became with each other.

      In the end, Ho Yi would storm out of the house. Every day, Tsang-O would stay at home and cry or sulk. Ho Yi couldn’t stand it. Life between the two became unbearable. Every morning, Ho Yi would leave the house and wander he knew not where. Sometimes he stayed away for days.

      THE FAIRY OF LO RIVER

      One day during his wanderings, Ho Yi accidentally ran into the beautiful goddess of the Lo River, Fu Fei. It was a beautiful autumn morning, and Ho Yi got into his carriage as usual. Deeply preoccupied, he drove and drove until he had reached the Lo River. He suddenly realized that he had traveled very far from home.

      “I probably won’t make it home today. Oh well, so what?” Ho Yi asked himself angrily as he thought of the crabby Tsang-O.