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    Legend of the White Serpent: Retold from the Chinese
    Legend of the White Serpent: Retold from the Chinese
    Legend of the White Serpent: Retold from the Chinese
    Ebook90 pages38 minutes

    Legend of the White Serpent: Retold from the Chinese

    By A. Fullarton Prior and Kwan Sang-Mei

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    About this ebook

    The Legend of the White Serpant is an old Chinese legend that is a classic in Asia.

    Like all famous children's fairy tales, it has been retold again and again under various names, even taking the form of a popular Chinese opera and, of several films and a full-length color cartoon. But it has never been retold more charmingly than here.

    Accompanied by more than 40 brilliant paintings in the classic Chinese style by a gifted Hong Kong artist, this story of rich imagination relates the adventures of a little white snake and the schoolboy who has her for a pet. After he sets her free, she is transformed by the ancient gods of China into a beautiful young woman whose name becomes White Modest Beauty. This eventful transformation involves her and her young master in a series of astonishing adventures and strange difficulties before they at last find happiness by overcoming even the unbending decree of the gods.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTuttle Publishing
    Release dateDec 25, 2012
    ISBN9781462913145
    Legend of the White Serpent: Retold from the Chinese

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      Book preview

      Legend of the White Serpent - A. Fullarton Prior

      Introduction

      The Legend of the White Serpent is a tale which, under various names and in slightly differing versions, the Chinese know as well as we know the old fairy tales so well retold by the Grimm brothers or Hans Christian Andersen. It has been made into popular Chinese operas and, more recently, into several films, the latest being the full-length color cartoon produced in Japan under the title The White Snake Enchantress. It is a typically and wholly Chinese story, yet one that must find a home in the hearts of all who respond to the age-old and universal themes of magic, love, high adventure, and success over hardship.

      Speaking as the most recent in a long line of storytellers who have retold this tale, I cannot pretend to any facility in the Chinese language. During my stay in Hongkong I was given this legend in the form of a rather oddly-worded, though literally accurate, translation. Even so, its feeling came through to me so vividly that I spent a long time on the writing of what is actually quite a short work. Neither can I claim erudite knowledge of the legend's history. It is old, perhaps even ancient; beyond that I do not know.

      I have taken pains to relate the story in the plainest possible words and in a style that lends itself to reading aloud, since the tale will, I suppose, appeal to children most. Yet I have never used child-talk, partly because I think children neither need nor should be fed on it, and partly because there seems to me no reason why adult minds should not take as keen an interest in fable as in fiction. Fables, winnowed by the centuries, often have more truth and meaning. I also hope, as a by-product of this simplicity, that Chinese students will be able to enjoy here their own story in English without too much difficulty.

      If readers miss that repetition of flowery phrases so often used in Chinese stories, I apologize; perhaps indeed I am mistaken. But I felt strongly that as a story this is fully good enough to stand on its own merits without literary beatings of mysterious temple gongs.

      It stands as a story of heartbreak and splendor, mist and music, fantasy and true love, full of the things that tug at the heart and make you care. The legend has well deserved its long life in the East; I think we of the West will love it as much.

      * * *

      The book owes a tremendous debt to Kwan Sang-mei, the very talented and sensitive Hongkong artist who painted the illustrations. It was a pleasure to work with Miss Kwan; her understanding and patience were wonderful.

      And to Dr. Chang Kuo-li, my friend and benevolent backer of this volume, I must acknowledge the greatest debt of all.

      A. FULLARTON PRIOR

      Surfer's Paradise, Australia

      October, 1959

      The Legend of the White Serpent

      A young schoolboy bought the snake; he thought it was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen.

      This is a story of China, long ago and far away. If you had wanted to talk to all the people in China then, you would have had to know five hundred languages. The people worked hard and long, and so patient were they

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