Why does Zhang ride a donkey backwards? The story of Zhang riding a donkey upside down across the bridge

Zhang is the oldest. What impressed him most was that Zhang rode an ass backwards, and the ass he rode was a paper donkey, which could "travel tens of thousands of miles". When resting, he can also fold the donkey and put it in his pocket. If necessary, he can "suck it with ice and turn it into a donkey." This donkey can cross the ocean. It is omnipotent. Then why did Zhang ride the donkey backwards? With questions, let's take a look at China.

Legend 1:

There is an ancient temple on the hillside of Cai Li. A long time ago, there was an old monk and three monks in the temple. Zhang, the youngest monk, not only waits on the old monk, but also does chores such as chopping wood and carrying water. One night, Zhang filled the jar with water. The next day, a drop was useless, and there was nothing in the jar. The old monk called him lazy. Zhang didn't know why, so he had to fill the tank again. The next day, the water in the jar was used up again. The old monk got angry and beat him up. Zhang was very wronged, surprised and determined to find out. At night, he picked up a full tank of water and hid in the dark to peep. In the middle of the night, two chubby, light-skinned children suddenly ran into the jar from outside the temple and put their heads into the jar to drink water. Zhang stepped forward to catch him, but he disappeared in an instant. Lao Guo told the old monk truthfully what he saw. The old monk told Zhang to fill the jar with water and keep quiet.

Legend 2:

Legend has it that Zhang was an official in North Korea and saved a lot of money. Later, he felt that it was not easy to be an official, and he was afraid that he would be laughed at if he couldn't do it, so he resigned and returned to his hometown. Walking, I came to the edge of my hometown camp. I saw a girl in the distance, slim, picking cotton in the field. I chatted with others and flirted with that girl. I didn't know that the girl was my own daughter until she was taken away by the girl. I can't wait to get into the cracks and feel embarrassed to go home. I quickly turned around and went to the mountains to practice. Later, he turned over a new leaf and became an immortal. Zhang didn't go back to his hometown, but he always took this wrong thing to heart. He felt embarrassed to meet everyone, and since then, he has been riding a donkey with his back forward.

Legend 3:

There is a folk song called Cowherd in Hebei Province, which is a household name. Everybody knows that. Who will come to Zhao Zhouqiao to repair it? Who will leave the jade railing? Who rode the donkey bridge? Who rolled a ditch with a trolley? Master Lu Ban restored Zhao Zhouqiao, and the sage left a jade railing. Zhang rode across the donkey bridge, and Chai's car rolled into a ditch. This is a very interesting legend. It is said that there was a skillful craftsman named Lu Ban in ancient times who built a big stone bridge on the river in the southern suburb of Zhaozhou City overnight. Fairy Zhang heard about it and rode a donkey to see it. On the way, he met the car of King Chai County, and Zhao Kuangyin pulled the car, so the three of them came to the riverside in the suburbs to see the bridge. After seeing Zhao Zhouqiao, all three people secretly marveled at Luban's exquisite skills. In order to test Lu Ban, Zhang and Lu Ban bet that if the three of them can cross the bridge smoothly and the bridge does not fall, they will ride the donkey backwards from now on. When three people stepped onto the bridge, Zhang turned to cast spells, collected the sun, moon and stars, and put them in the wallet. Chai Daguan and he also used magic to gather the five mountains together and quietly put them on the unicycle. Due to the surge in load, the bridge could not bear it and began to shake. Seeing this, Lu Ban jumped into the river, raised a hand and tried his best to hold the bridge, which turned a corner. Zhang threw in the towel face to face and began to ride backwards. Wheel prints and donkey's hoof prints were left on the bridge deck, as well as knee prints left by Master Chai after he slipped. At the bottom of the east side of the bridge vault, Lu Ban left a big handprint when he held the bridge hard.

Zhang said that riding a donkey backwards is because he thinks it is impolite to walk with his back to the front of the person behind him, and it is too bad that others have their back to their front. It's only fair to walk backwards, with your face facing someone else's face, to show politeness, and someone's back facing your back.

Legend is legend, and the reason is impossible to prove. There are four vernacular poems in The Journey to the West: There are several people like this old man in the world; Not riding a donkey backwards, but looking back. Looking forward to the future and looking back at the past, Guo Lao first reminded us to look at the road we have traveled before and not to make the same mistakes again; Because no one knows the future, only by summing up the previous experience can the future be smoother. In the evening, the old monk took a steel needle, sewed a long wool, and hid Lao Guo in the dark not far from the water tank. Soon, sure enough, two glue children came to the water tank to drink water again. When the old monk put their heads in the jar, he ran forward and inserted the steel needle into the child's armpit. There was only a scream of "wow" and the child was gone again. The old monk and Lao Guo searched for the corner outside the temple along the wool, and the red line entered the ground. The old monk asked Lao Guo to dig with a shovel. As a result, he dug up two things that looked like human bodies. Knowing that it was ginseng, the old monk put the fruit on the fire and told him not to taste it.

Zhang put what he dug into the pot, made a fire and cooked for a while. The aroma was tangy and the fruit made his mouth water. He took it out and tasted it. It's delicious. Lao Guo was still drooling, so he took it out and ate it up. Guo was afraid that the old monk would blame him, so he beat him and wanted to get away with it. When I left the temple gate, I saw a donkey tied to a tree. I turned around and took out the soup left in the pot for the donkey to drink. Then I rode on the donkey's back and fled east. Afraid that the old monk would come after him, he rode his donkey backwards to look back. Later generations said that Zhang's immortal became immortal after drinking the soup, and the donkey became a god donkey after drinking the soup. Since then, Lao Guo has traveled around the world on a donkey.