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嫦娥奔月 Chang'e Flying to the Moon

嫦娥奔月最早的版本是出土秦简的《归藏》中《归妹》卦辞。上面说，以前嫦娥从西王母那里偷来了不死药，用后奔月，定居月上，也就是我们所见的蟾蜍。而一直流传下来的最早文本则是汉初的《淮南子》，说羿从西王母求来了不死药，但嫦娥偷吃后奔向月亮，就算心里惆怅，也不能后悔了。

The oldest version of “Chang'e flying to the moon” was found on the excavated bamboo text from the Qin dynasty, as part of the divination text “Guicang”("Return to the Hidden") . The story accompanied the hexagram“Guimei”(“Returning Maiden”), and it was said that Chang'e consumed the medicine of immortality that she stole from Xi Wangmu (the Queen Mother of the West), and flew to the moon. Since then Chang’e has been living on the moon, and we can see her in the image of a toad. On the other hand, the earliest version of this story that has been handed down comes from the Han dynasty book "Huainanzi", which mentioned that Yi (Chang’e’s husband) asked for the medicine of immortality from Xi Wangmu, but Chang'e ate it on the sly and fly to the moon. Alone on the moon, even if she was depressed, she couldn't regret it. 古代记载的故事都比较简略，现在有人综合了中国早期著作所记载的传说，把羿和嫦娥的来龙去脉串了起来。

The stories recorded in ancient times are relatively brief, but now some people have integrated legends recorded in various early Chinese writings to piece together the origin and development of the story about Yi and Chang'e.

在帝尧统治中原的时期，天空中出现了十个太阳，烧焦了庄稼，烤死了草木，人民没有了食物，生灵涂炭。同时凶兽也出来危害百姓。于是帝尧请来神将羿杀死凶兽，并将多余的太阳射下。

During the reign of Emperor Yao, ten suns appeared in the sky, scorching the crops and roasting the grasses and trees, leaving the people without food and the living creatures in misery. At the same time, monsters appeared to harm the people. So Emperor Yao appealed for the divine Yi to kill the monsters and shoot down the extra suns.

这些太阳其实是天帝帝俊与日母羲和生下的孩子。所以羿虽然立了大功，让人间平安，但恐怕也返回不了天庭。羿于是便去求玉山的西王母，希望能得不死药，以防外一帝俊不让羿重列仙班，也能长生不老。所以羿没有立即将不死药吞下，而将药物交给其妻嫦娥保管。

These suns were actually the children of Heavenly Emperor Di Jun and the Sun Mother Xi He. So although Yi had done a great service to mankind and returned peace to the earth, he was afraid that he would not be able to return to heaven. Yi thus went to seek for the medicine of immortality from Xi Wangmu, who lived on Jade Mountain, in case Emperor Di Jun did not allow Yi to rejoin the immortals, so he could still remain as an immortal. Yi did not immediately consume the medicine of immortality, but gave the medicine to Chang'e, his wife, for safekeeping.

羿在人间仍旧负有诛除怪兽之命，见水下白龙，张弓便射。白龙其实是河伯的化身。河伯被射瞎了一只眼，负伤逃走，羿紧追不舍，追至其居所，发现一绝色女子，即洛水之神雒嫔。羿把雒嫔抢回家作了宓妃，应是恼了嫦娥，所以嫦娥偷吃了所有的不死药，身轻如燕，飞到了月亮上。广寒宫里寂寥难耐，但嫦娥心里再怎么怅然，也不能后悔了。而羿后来被他想要成为天下第一射手的徒弟逢蒙杀死了。

Yi still shouldered the responsibility to kill monsters on earth. One day he saw an white dragon underwater, and thus he shot the white dragon without much thought. The white dragon was actually He Bo, the god of the Yellow River. He Bo was shot blind in one eye and fled back to his residence. Yi chased after him and found a beautiful woman Luo Pin, who was the goddess of Luo Shui and He Bo’s wife. Yi snatched her as his concubine, and she was then referred to as Mi Fei. Chang’e could have been angered by Yi’s act, so she stole all the medicine of immortality and consumed them all in one go. Her body turned as light as a swallow and Chang’e floated to the moon. The loneliness in the cold moon palace is unbearable, but regardless how disappointed Chang'e was with her new life, she couldn’t regret it. On the other hand, Yi was later killed by his disciple Feng Meng, who wanted to become the world's best archer.

吴刚伐桂 "Wu Gang felling the osmanthus tree"

《吴刚伐桂》最早的出处，是唐代的《酉阳杂俎·天咫卷》，云月亮上有桂树、蟾蜍。桂树高大，有五百丈（约1.5公里）高。树下有一个人常常在砍树，但树上的创口随即就合上了。这个人姓吴名刚，西河人，学习仙道但犯了错，于是被罚砍树。

The earliest record of "Wu Gang felling the osmanthus tree" is found in the book "Miscellaneous Morsels from Youyang - Volume: Tian Yi" written in the Tang Dynasty, in which there were an osmanthus tree and a toad on the moon. The osmanthus tree was tall and reached 500 feet (about 1.5 km) high. Underneath the tree there was a man, who was endlessly chopping the tree, but the tree healed itself after each cut. This man was Wu Gang from the Xihe Commandery, who studied the Way of the Immortals but had made misstep, and was then punished with felling the osmanthus tree.

吴刚犯了什么滔天大错，需要受到这种永无停息的无功劳作？而桂树生长得好好的，为什么要被伐？前者总说纷纭，有杀人被罚说、不好好学习被罚说等等。后者则可能和古人认为月亮的阴影正是桂树的影子，如唐杜甫诗“斫却月中桂，清光应更多”和宋陆游诗“刬却君山湘水平，斫却桂树月更明”所反应那样，因此需要有人时时修剪桂树，让月亮更明，

What heinous mistake had Wu Gang made that he needed to be subjected to this never-ending unproductive toil? And why did the innocent osmanthus tree need to be felled? The answer to the former question varies, such as Wu Gang was actually being punished for murder, or being punished for not studying well, etc. While the latter may be related to the ancient belief that the mark marking of the moon is actually the shadow of the osmanthus tree, as reflected in the Tang dynasty poet Dufu’s "Felling of the osmanthus tree of the moon, surely would increase the bright light" and the Song dynasty poet Lu You’s "If Junshan Island was removed, the water of Xiang River could flow calmly; If the osmanthus tree was fell, the moon would be brighter", so someone was needed to prune the osmanthus tree from time to time to make the moon brighter.

玉兔捣药 “Jade rabbit pounding the medicine“

抬头望月，月球表面的阴影在一些人眼里看起来就像一只兔子在用研杵捣研钵。早在汉代乐府诗《董逃行·欲上谒从高山》就描述了玉兔捣蛤蟆丸，服用蛤蟆丸后可成神仙的事情。后有传说玉兔是嫦娥服用长生不老药浮起来的时候，为了找重物压身子，随手抓住的；也有说玉兔是嫦娥变成的等等。月亮上玉兔从哪里来不要紧，最重要的是玉兔代表人们对健康长寿的遐想。