Saturday, September 17, 2005
Illustration Friday - Escape
It is an old Chinese fairy tale that is related to the Chinese Moon Cake Festival (or A Mid-Autumn Festival), celebrated on the 15th day of the eighth month of Chinese calendar.
A woman , Chang-O, was married to the great General Hou. He was a skilled archer. One day, at the behest of the emperor, he shot down eight of nine suns that had mysteriously appeared in the heaven that morning. The people feared that these suns would appear again to torture them and dry up the planet, so they prayed to the Goddess of Heaven to make General Hou immortal so that he could always defend the country. Their wish was granted and he was given a Pill of Immortality. One day his wife Chang-O swallowed the pill and fled to the moon.
By coincidence, tomorrow is the Moon Cake festival and we are eating moon cakes.