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Where did the story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl first come from?

At the time of Emperor Wu of Liang Dynasty in the Southern Dynasties, Yin Yun wrote the first complete version of the legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl in his "Novel", "There is a Weaver Girl in the east of the Tianhe River, the son of the Emperor of Heaven. She works hard every year to weave cloud brocade Tianyi, whose appearance was not perfect. The emperor felt pity for him to be alone and promised to marry the Cowherd of Hexi. After the marriage, he abandoned Zhiyu. The emperor was angry and ordered him to return to Hedong, but he made them meet once a year. "The story explains the tragedy of their marriage. The annual meeting has also become a model of faithful love.

However, judging from the text data of the "Yunmeng Qin Slips" unearthed in Hubei, the touching love story in the myth and legend between the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, the daughter of the Emperor of Heaven, was originally based on the Cowherd abandoning the Weaver Girl many times. marital tragedy. "Wushen and Jiyou, they tried to fetch the Weaver Girl by nurturing the cow, but it didn't work, so they abandoned it three times." "Wushen and Jiyou, they tried to fetch the Weaver Girl by the cow, but it didn't work. When they were less than three years old, they abandoned it and died." It is different from the legends of later generations. What is surprising is that the separation of their husband and wife was not caused by external interference, but by the man's change of heart. People looked up at the starry sky, and saw two bright stars twinkling on both sides of the Milky Way. They imagined that the two stars might be a couple. The husband abandoned his wife, and the wife looked lovingly at the "heartless man" on the other side of the Milky Way. people". Why does the separation of Altair and Vega in the sky become a symbol of the tragedy of marriage between men and women in the world? If you look through the Book of Songs, you will find some social tragedies that reflect the male-dominated society in which men change their hearts and abandon their wives, such as "Ye Feng·Gu Feng" "Jianan will be happy, but the woman will abandon you", "Jianan will be happy, and abandon her." "I am as good as I left you"; "Wei Feng·Meng" "At the banquet of the chief executive, he talks and laughs, swears firmly, and does not think about the opposite."

The marriage between the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl in quite a few versions is not the true love that most people know today. The reason why the Cowherd was able to cross the family line and marry the "white, rich and beautiful" Weaver Girl was because Lao Niu After stealing fairy clothes under the guidance of Zhinu, Weaver Girl mostly tried every means to get back the fairy clothes and escape from the world after her marriage. This is the case in 18 articles in the "Chinese Legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl·Folk Literature Volume" edited by Chen Yongchao.

These stories often use words such as "have to" and "force" when describing Weaver Girl marrying Cowherd. For example, "Silly Cowherd and Weaver Girl" circulated in Shijiazhuang area expresses it most clearly. "Silly Cowherd got angry and said that Weaver Girl didn't care about her flesh and blood and was ruthless. Weaver Girl even scolded Silly Cowherd: 'You are not a thing! Who told you to take away my clothes and force me to get married! You hurt me, too. It's all your fault for killing a pair of children! '" It can be seen that the marriage between Weaver Girl and Cowherd was out of helplessness. It was because Weaver Girl had her fairy clothes stolen and couldn't recover, and the Cowherd saw her body. , had to stay in the world and marry the Cowherd.

There is another plot in many stories that deserves attention, that is, the plot of the Cowherd "hiding his clothes to protect his wife". This just proves that the Weaver Girl has no love for the Cowherd. She and the Cowherd were forced to marry and have children out of helplessness - the fairy clothes were hidden. "Chinese Legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl·Folk Literature Volume" has 20 articles containing the plot of "hiding clothes to protect one's wife". The Cowherd's attitude toward the Weaver Girl was even more serious than that of guarding against theft. He hid the Weaver Girl's fairy clothes in a secret place out of his own initiative or following the instructions of the old cow to prevent her from escaping. The Cowherd "hid his clothes to protect his wife" first, which became an important prerequisite for the Weaver Girl to abandon her husband and son and escape back to heaven. For example, in Jilin Panshi's "Meeting on the Magpie Bridge", "The Cowherd carried the Weaver Girl on his back and buried the long-sleeved shirt she was wearing under the stone next to the door." This kind of defense continues even into daily life after marriage. In Shijiazhuang's "The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl", the Cowherd "guarded the Weaver Girl day and night, always afraid that she would run back to the sky."

Judging from the existing literature, the earliest documented record of pulling out hairpins to create a river was also done by the Weaver Girl. Gong Mingzhi's "Zhongwu Jiwen" in the Song Dynasty: "The place name is Huanggu in the east of Kunshan County. According to legend, there was a Weaver Girl, and the Altair star fell here. The Weaver Girl used a golden grate to draw the river, and the river overflowed, so the Altair could not cross it."< /p>

The transformation of the image of the story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl is actually the result of the continuous transformation of myths and legends by national sentiments, constantly adding elements of the times. This has been the case since ancient times. The version we are familiar with now is more the result of the transformation of operas such as "Tianhe Pei" after the founding of the People's Republic of China, which established the themes of labor, love, and anti-feudalism. The Cowherd became the representative of the working people, the Weaver Girl became the representative of the pursuit of free love, and the Queen Mother became the representative of the feudal parents.

The legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl has now become a well-known love legend, which is partly related to its long-term inclusion in primary and secondary school Chinese textbooks. "The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl" was first selected as a middle school Chinese textbook in 1955. It was adapted by Mr. Ye Shengtao, then president of the People's Education Press, based on folklore.

The adapted version of The Legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl still retains the original story form of the swan and the virgin, the mortal fairy, and the two brothers in structure, but it has made great ideological changes. The most important change is that the negative images of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl have been eliminated, and the persecution of young men and women caused by the old ethics and the old system has been highlighted. The story implies the persecution of lovers by the feudal patriarchal system "the orders of parents and the words of matchmakers", and the persecution of the Cowherd by the feudal hierarchy (differentiation between immortals and mortals) and the patriarchal system (the order of elders and younger ones).

These retentions and adaptations are reflected in the content. The retained plot includes the brother and sister-in-law's persecution of the Cowherd. "The brother and sister-in-law treated him very badly. They made him eat leftovers, wear tattered clothes, and sleep in the cowshed at night." The plot of returning the clothes is an important change in the nature of the story. In the first step, the Cowherd not only did not hide the clothes nor return them; when the Cowherd heard the Weaver Girl asking where the clothes had gone, he also took the initiative to return the gauze clothes to him. "When the Cowherd heard this, he walked out of the woods, holding his hands Holding the gauze clothes, he said: 'Girl, don't worry, your clothes are here.'"... After hearing what the Weaver Girl said, the Cowherd said, "Girl, since there is nothing good in heaven, you don't have to go back." If you can work, so can I. Let's get married and live a lifetime together in this world. ’ Zhinu thought for a while and said, ‘You are right, let’s get married and live together. '" In this case, the Weaver Girl took the initiative to stay, because the two of them had a relationship. As for this version of the Queen Mother, she is completely a vicious old lady. "She went to the Cowherd's house in person, but by chance the Cowherd was on the ground. She was working inside, so she grabbed Weaver Girl and walked out. When Zhinu's boy saw the old woman dragging his mother away angrily, he ran over and grabbed his mother's clothes. The Queen Mother pushed hard and the child fell to the ground. ”

The images of the Cowherd, the Weaver Girl, and the Queen Mother in the comic strips

Before the founding of the People’s Republic of China, people mostly understood and passed down the legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl through oral transmission, so the versions have different themes. Today, most people understand and inherit the legend through written The text understands the legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, and most of it is based on the legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl adapted by Ye Shengtao in Chinese textbooks. This is an important factor that affects people's understanding of the legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl after the founding of the People's Republic of China. It is in line with the abolition of the old ethics after the founding of the People's Republic of China. , the pursuit of equality, especially the social demand for free love, also satisfies the long-hidden dreams of fairies and ordinary people in the people's hearts.

The above part is excerpted from an online article

I hope you will adopt it, thank you<. /p>