The way seemed very long to Farmer Wu as he trudged back to Earth. But, when he reached the Land of Sekkim, he told the men called Lepchas all about the country called Heaven, with many little pigs running about. The men called Lepchas were so excited that they all decided they would build a tower to reach to Heaven.
"With a tower to reach to Heaven, we can climb into Heaven from our tower, without taking the long journey over the steep mountain passes."
Every man in the Land of Sekkim worked on the tower. One storey on top of another storey, up and up they built it, one storey atop another storey. As they worked on, they looked up and saw that they were getting nearer and nearer to Heaven.
As each storey was completed, they left one little man of Sekkim there to act as a guard.
So they worked on for many days and many months. Finally, after two long years, their tower needed only one more storey to touch the country called Heaven. Then the little men of Sekkim grew impatient.
"If only we had some big hooks, we could pull ourselves up into Heaven without building the last storey," they said to each other.
This was a fine idea. So the man at the top called out to the man on the storey below him: "Send us hooks!"
And he called to the man below him: "Send us hooks!"
And he, in turn, called out to the man below: "Send us hooks." And he called to the man below: "Send us hooks!"
And so on, from storey to storey, the call made its way down to the Land of Sekkim. But on the way a very sad thing happened. The message was repeated so many, many times that it got twisted and, when it finally reached the bottom, instead of being still: "Send us hooks," it had become: "Cut us down!"
Whereupon the men called Lepchas got out their great stone axes and cut down the tower that reached almost to Heaven. It crashed in a heap on the ground.
And to this very day, far away on the western border of Tibet, there can be seen a flat green spot deep in a valley, right in the heart of a thick jungle forest. And the people say, as they pass that spot: "See that spot in the deep valley, that is the place where the Tower of Sekkim fell down, the Tower of Sekkim that almost reached the country called Heaven, where the hills are green and rolling, and many little pigs run about."
A Chinese Cinderella
West China
In the dim past, before the Ts'in and Han dynasties, there was a chieftain named Wu, who lived in a mountain cave. The people of the countryside called him "Cave Chief Wu."
Now Cave Chief Wu had two wives and a beautiful daughter named Shih Chieh. When this daughter was ten years old, her mother died, and she and her father became close friends. Shih Chieh was not only beautiful; she was clever, as well, and always happy. But one day her father died, and after that the stepmother became so jealous of Shih Chieh's beauty that she sought every possible way to mistreat her. She made the girl cut wood in dangerous places and draw water from deep wells, hoping that some day she would meet with an accident.
One day when Shih Chieh was out in her garden, she caught a beautiful little fish with red fins and golden eyes. It was so tiny that she kept it in a basin in her room. Every day she changed the water in the basin, but at last the fish grew so big that she had no bowl large enough to hold it.
Shih Chieh waited until her cruel stepmother had gone away one day, then she took the fish out and slipped it into the pond in the garden. Every day after that, she crept secretly into the garden to feed the fish scraps of food. So Shih Chieh and the beautiful fish became great friends and when she came to the pond each morning, the fish would swim to the edge of the pool, lift its head from the water, and rest it on the bank as on a pillow.
The cruel stepmother somehow heard about the beautiful fish with red fins and golden eyes, and she went often to the garden to try to see it for herself; but the fish would never show itself for anyone but Shih Chieh. The stepmother became very frustrated and angry and secretly determined to kill the fish. One day she said to Shih Chieh: "Aren't you tired today? It is a bright day, so let me wash your coat for you. Go draw water from the neighbor's well. When you return with it, I will wash your coat."
As soon as Shih Chieh had left with her pail, the stepmother hurriedly put on the daughter's clothes and, hiding a sharp sword in her sleeve, she went to the pond and called to the fish. The fish, thinking it was his mistress, raised his head out of the water. Instantly the cruel stepmother drew the sword from her sleeve and killed the fish. She carried it home, cooked it, and ate its delicious meat, then buried the bones under a mound in the field.
The next day Shih Chieh came out to the garden as usual and scattered crumbs on the pool, but the lovely fish with red fins and golden eyes did not come to greet her. Sitting on the bank, she wept piteously. Suddenly a man with tousled hair, and dressed in rough clothing, came down from heaven and comforted her.
"Do not weep, my child. Your mother has killed your fish and hidden its bones under a mound in the field."
Then he leaned close to her and whispered: "I will tell you a great secret. If you will pray to those bones, every wish you have will be granted."
As Shih Chieh turned to thank this stranger, he disappeared from view.
Shih Chieh did exactly as the strange visitor had told her. Each day she prayed to the bones of the fish and, just as she had been promised, gold, pearls, and beautiful dresses came to her as soon as she had wished for them.
Now, as it happened, the seventh day of the seventh moon was the day of the Cave Festival. The stepmother took her own daughter, who was not nearly so beautiful as Shih Chieh, and went off to the festival, leaving Shih Chieh behind to tend the house.
"Mind you watch the fruit in the courtyard while we are gone," she called out sharply to Shih Chieh as they went out the gate.
But as soon as they were out of sight, Shih Chieh raced to the mound in the field and asked her fish's bones for a beautiful gown and slippers to wear to the festival. At once she found herself clad in a delectable gown of azure blue and wearing a pair of shining golden slippers. She might have been a fairy queen tripping down the road, so beautiful was she as she followed her mother and sister to the festival.
As she entered the court and joined the dances, everyone turned to look at her, for among all the guests there was no one so lovely as Shih Chieh.
"Why, this girl looks exactly like Shih Chieh," whispered her step-sister. The stepmother scowled in anger. When Shih Chieh saw that they had recognized her, she hurried away from the ball and made haste back to her house. But, in her rush, she dropped one of her golden slippers. The merrymaking was at its height, and no one noticed the Cave Man as he stooped and picked up the shining golden slipper after she had dropped it.
When the stepmother returned home, she found Shih Chieh fast asleep, and she decided that she could not have been at the festival, after all.
The Cave Man's home was on an island on which was the kingdom of T'o Huan, whose military power was the strongest among all the thirty islands in the region. The Cave people sold the golden slipper Shih Chieh had dropped at the festival to the king of T'o Huan.
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