The date of this story is around 2170 B.C., during the reign of the Hsia dynasty's Tai Kang.
The ancestral founder of the Hsia was Yu, who was given the throne by Shun because of merit in controlling the floodwaters. When Yu became old he first wanted to turn the throne over to his virtuous minister Po Yi; but because of the great service Yu had performed for the people in saving them from the flood, the chiefs of the different tribes all recommended that Yu give the position to his son Chi. After that the position of collective chief or king-became hereditary. Tai Kang was the son of Chi.
Legend has it that because of the Great Yu's merit in stopping the floods and teaching his people farming, the Jade Emperor in Heaven gave orders for his own ten sons to become ten suns. The Jade Emperor's idea was for them to travel across the sky one at a time in succession, each taking one day, so as to help the people with their raising of animals and cultivation of crops. But the ten youngsters disobeyed, and all ten of them came out every day. The heat of those ten suns shining all at once made the earth insufferably hot; many humans and animals died of the heat, the rivers dried up, and the forests burnde, bringing infinite suffering to the hogs and goats as sacrifices, and by burning incense and praying to Heaven for deliverance. The Jade Emperor heard the supplications and sent Hou Yi, his bravest god, into the world to solve the problem of the ten suns.
Hou Yi was a courageous and fortunate god, for his wife was the lovely Chang-o and the two of them were deeply in love and inseparable. They were known as the "Divine Couple."
But life among the mortals was not so blissful as life in Heaven, and Chang-o was most unwilling to make the move. But Hou Yi could not go against the will of the Jade Emperor, and Chang-o was unwilling to be separated from her beloved mate; so, stiling her displeasure, she descended with Hou Yi to the area of the Eastern Tribes.
Hou Yi was a marvelous archer, and from Heaven he brought a magic bow that could shoot anything in the sky which was certainly beyond the capability of the mortals of the time. Thus the awed people of the Eastern Tribes elevated him to the position of their leader.
This exalted position brought him no pleasure, however, for it was all too plain how the ten suns had scorched the crops, caused the cattle to die of hunger, dried up the rivers, and brought abort plagues that took away the lives of the people. seeing how terribly the people were suffering, he climbed to the top of the Tienshan mountains and began a dialogue with the ten suns.
"Please take pity on the people, and come out just one at a time in succession," he pleaded." Don't come out all at the same time, okay?" His voice was conciliatory.
"Why should we"? asked one of the suns in reply. "Because when all ten of you come out at once, your light and your heat make it too hard on the people and other living things," Hou Yi explained. "What do the affairs of the mortals have to do with us"? asked another sun. "That's right!" chimed in another." We ten brothers have a lot of fun playing in the sky together every day. How dull and boring it would be for us to travel across the sky one at a time!"
"But Heaven loves living things, and I'm talking to you on orders from the Jade Emperor," Hou YI said.
However hard and earnestly Hou Yi tried to reason with the stubborn suns, they would not listen. All he accomplished, it seemed, was to increase their arrogance. One of them demanded haughtily, "We're the sons of the Jade Emperor, and who do you think you are to meddle in our affairs?!"
The suns erupted into a hubbub of protest and flung their strongest rays at the earth, so that the forests all broke out in flame. Birds and beasts fled from the conflagration, and the people ran for their lives. The infuriated Hou Yi took out his bow and arrows and let fly, shooting down nine of the suns one after another. He would have finished the last one too, had not that sole remaining sun begged pitifully that his life be spared and promised to obediently perform his task of separating night from day.
And so, people could enjoy lives of work in the daytime and rest at night. The world was finally at peace. Hou Yi made a report of his mission to the Jade Emperor, who was furious at Hou Yi's cruelty in killing nine of his sons. He refused to let the hero return to Heaven. He was more welcome in the world of the mortals, though, and the heads of the various groups of the Eastern Tribes confirmed him in the position of collective chief, asking him to work for the welfare of mankind.
So Hou Yi could not go back home, and there was much for him to do on earth. If man was to overcome nature, with all its noxious insects and fierce beasts, he would first have to learn to fight. So he began teaching archery.
He was so busy outside that he frequently had no time to return home, and his lovely wife Chang-o became neglected and lonely. She was especially unhappy because, being in the world of the mortals now, she could not avoid the mortal sufferings of birth, aging, sickness, and death. She was angry at Hou Yi's shooting down of the Jade Emperor's nine sons, which had so angered the Divine Sovereign that the two were no longer able to live as the "Divine Couple." Instead, they became a "mortal mismatch."
Hou Yi loved his wife deeply, and to avoid squabbling with her he went traveling about alone. This way he could familiarize himself with the world, and somewhat relieve his boredom.
During his travels he did many good works for the people. Most notably he killed the 100,000-foot snake and the nine-headed monster, which had taken countless lives and caused just as much distress as those ten suns. His fame deepened and spread far and wide. Several times he prayed to the Jade Emperor to let himself and his wife return to Heaven, but still he was not forgiven. And so, Hou Yi and Chang-o were changed from immortals into ordinary human beings. Mortals could not avoid pain and suffering, sorrow and anxiety; so while Hou Yi's travels did much good for the people, they also added to the enmity between him and his wife. The reason was that during his wanderings, Hou Yi chanced to meet Mi Fei-the most beautiful of all mortal women.
Mi Fei is said to have been the daughter of Fu Hsi, a legendary ruler of ancient China; she lost her footing and drowned in the River Lo, whereupon she became the Goddess of Lo. She was married to Feng Yi, the God of Waters, who controlled the Nine Rivers. He was dissipated and a womanizer, ignoring his lovely wife at home. She was playing in a river one day when Hou Yi came galloping along on his horse. Since she was a married woman and did not want the stranger to see her there, she sank out of sight in the water; but he had already seen her and, thinking she was drowning, he jumped unconsciousness and allowed the strong and sturdy Hou Yi to perform artificial respiration upon her body. she felt a comfort she had never experienced before, and let out a long sigh that captivated the man with its fragrance. He could not restrain himself from kissing her.
"You'd better leave, because if my husband see you are a dead man," Mi Fei warned him.
"Your husband ?!You have a husband?" Hou Yi asked with some disappointment. "Who is he?"
"Feng Yi, God of the Waters."
"Oh, him!" Hou Yi said, and he laughed nonchalantly, for he had heard of Feng Yi's bad reputation. He pitied this for he had heard of Feng Yi's bad reputation .He pitied this beautiful and gentle woman for being matched to such a man. "How can you laugh about it? My husband has a terrible temper, and he'll kill you for sure. He's a man of many marvels."
"Then you're the Goddess of Lo?" Hou Yi asked; The girl nodded.
"That's okay, "Hou Yi continued." If Feng Yi really does have the ability to kill me, I won't mind-so long as I can be with the loveliest woman in the world. "He took her in a strong embrace as he continued," But I doubt if his marvels can match those of the sun in the sky!"
Mi Fei looked at the magic bow and arrows on Hou Yi's saddle and realized at once who he was. Perhaps she was awed by him, or maybe it was her loneliness; at any rate, she snuggled into his arms and cried.
So he, stuck with a cantankerous wife; and she, saddled to an inattentive hasband, felt their tinder-dry hearts burst into flame. He forgot his wife, she her husband.
Such abnormal love, however, never lasts long. The lovers were chatting intimately on a mountain slope one day when Feng Yi returned. Infuriated by his wife's infidelity, he transformed himself into a white dragon and roared in on the waves, wiping out the houses and destroying the fields along the river. Thinking that this was an evil river monster, Hou Yi took out his bow and fired off an arrow; Mi Fei tried to stop him, for she had recognized her husband, but she was too late. The arrow blinded one eye of Feng Yi, who thereupon registered a complaint with the Jade e Mmperor. But since Hou Yi had done so much good, and since he was already under punishment for'having shot down the nine suns, the Jade Emperor closed one eye to his transgressions with Mi Fei. He merely ordered Hou Yi not to see her again.
Heartbroken, Hou Yi could do nothing but return to his own home. Chang-o did not welcome him with open arms. "How dare you come back here, after what you've been up to?! Get yourself bake to that shameless woman!" she said. Hou Yi did not resent this reception too much, for he knew that he himself was in the wrong. All he could do was bear the indignity.
Meanwhile Feng Yi, still unhappy for what he considered the Jade Emperor's lenient treatment of Hou Yi, contacted the dragons of the Nine Rivers and had them stir up the clouds and send down rain for a solid month. This brought disaster upon the earth equal that of the ten suns; it drowned animals and crops, and the people had nothing to eat. So once again Hou Yi took up his bow and arrows, called together his followers, and went about shooting what birds, animals, and fish he could find to feed Chang-o and other members of his tribes.
Chang-o did not find the taste of this wild game to her liking for long. She wanted peaches and other fruits, and she once again prevailed mightily on Hou Yi. "I could pluck the stars out of the skies for you," Hou Yi moaned. " But we're mortals now; and with the whole world flooded and everything dead, where do you expect me to find any fruit?!"
"It was you yourself who decided to come with me!"
"But those suns were the children of the Jade Emperor, and you shouldn't have killed them. And how could you go sleeping around with that Mi Fei, who's married to Feng Yi?! You shameless thing! "Chang-o yelled and she cried, and created a real scene.
Hou Yi thought that he was in the wrong, and anyway he couldn't act like a woman; so he said soothingly, " Okay, okay-it's all my fault, my lovely wife. Calm down. Getting angry makes you age faster."
At the mention of the world "aging," Chang-o trembled and rushed to look at her reflection in the water, for in those days there were no mirrors. And to her horror she saw wrinkles-lines on her forehead, crows,-feet at the corners of her eyes. She knew that this was the natural effect of the passage of time in the mortal world, and a terror arose in her heart. She screamed hysterically: "I don't want to change! I don't want to get ugly! I want to go back to Heaven."
"That's imposwsible, " said Hou Yi." The Jade Emperor won't let us return." "I don't care! I don't want to change! I don't want to get ugly! You've got to find some way to get me some elixir of immortality!"
"Okay, okay-I'll think of something," said Hou Yi. But where could he go to get that rare commodity? Yet if he didn't do it, there would be no end to Chang-o's rantings. So he went out and dared not return home. He wanted to go to Mi Fei, but he couldn't violate the Jade Emperor's orders; his mood became lower day by day. He became violent, a drunkard, and he began treating his disciples and the members of his tribes cruelly; and naturally, the people became dissatisfied with him-especially his disciple Feng Meng, and Feng Meng's subordinate Han Cho. Feng Meng had learned archery from Hou Yi, and he considered himself unexcelled at it-he even surpassed Hou Yi, he thought. He was secretly in love with Chang-o, too, but he took no action because he was afraid of Hou Yi's magic bow and arrows. Han Cho was an opportunist, who had a good chance of becoming head of the Eastern Tribes if Hou Yi could be eliminated. So the two plotted to drive a wedge between Hou Yi and his wife, while on the surface continuing to curry favor with them. They told Hou Yi that the Royal Mother, who resided a top the Kunlun Mountains, had the elixir he sought.
For the sake of Chang-o, Hou Yi climbed up the Kunluns with great difficulty, where he found the Royal Mother. Since he had gone to such trouble to get there, she gave him her one remaining pill of immortality. If one person took the pill, she told Hou Yi, he could ascend to Heaven; if two people divided it, they could live forever. But it had to be taken on the 15th night of the 8th lunar month, when the moon was full, she told him. Hou Yi was very excited; taking the pill, he thanked the Royal Mother profusely and went home to tell his waiting wife. They decided to divide the pill and take it at the proper time, so that they could both attain immortality.
It was already the 12th day of the 8th moon; only three days remained till the appointed time. But then Hou Yi heard of a "jade elixir" on the Tienshan mountains that could prevent women from aging, and would keep them eternally beautiful; so, to make Chang-o happy and resume his life of contentment with her, he decided to go after this marvelous liquid. He could machete trip, he figured, in three days. But he wanted to give Chang-o a surprise, so he told her nothing. Three days passed and Chang-o saw no sign of Hou Yi. She asked Feng Meng about it, and that scoundrel pretended that he could say nothing. Under continued questioning, however, Feng Meng told a monumental lie:
"He won't allow me to say anything," Feng Meng said.
"Why not? Where did he go ?" Chang-o inquired further.
"I really can't say anything; he'd kill me!"
"It's okay; I wouldn't let him harm you .Jest tell me," she persisted.
"He...He went looking for Mi Fei," said Feng Meng.
Chang-o was furious. How unfaithful her husband was, she thought-how heartlessi Her anger burned red like the setting sun.
As the moon slowly rose, Chang-o took out the pill of immortality that Hou Yi had given her, made her slow way into the courtyard, and looked up into the sky. She remembered the life of comfort and contentment she had known in Heaven. There were no floods, no droughts, no sickness and suffering there, and none of the sadness of war. But the mortal world had all of these disadvantages, and the sorrows of aging and death. How much better was life in Heaven!
How she had her chance to go back to Heaven by way of this pill of immortality from the Royal Mother. She could go back to Heaven, if she took the whole pill herself; but-they had decided to take it together, so that she and Hou Yi could both have immortality. Could she turn her back on her husband?
But then the thought of Hou Yi and Mi Fei together welled up in her mind. Could Hou Yi be thinking of taking the pill together with Mi Fei, and abandoning herself? The happiness of Heaven; the sorrows of the world. Chang-o's heart was filled with conflicting emotions. Then, suddenly, she heard the sound of a horse's hooves, and she figured that it must be her husband returning. She put the fatal pill in her mouth and swallowed it down, and at once she felt her body becoming lighter and lighter, until she soared upward like a swallow.
"Chang-o! Chang-o!" Hou Yi yelled, holding high the jade elixir he had brought back from the Tienshan mountains. But Chang-o paid him no heed; she just kept ascending faster and faster. Hou Yi angrily threw the jade elixir away and whipped out his bow and arrows, but he couldn't bear to shoot.
Chang-o wanted to go back to Heaven, but all the deities there saw how she had rebelled against her husband and despised her for it. So she became afraid, and changed her direction toward the cold and lonely palace in the moon. Hou Yi saw all this from the earth, and he considered shooting down the moon with his bow. He could have done it, but he couldn't bear to kill his lovely wife. And so, with along sign, he destroyed his magic bow and arrows; why should he keep them, if he couldn't kill the wife he once loved so?
Feng Meng and Han Cho, watching secretly from the side, smiled happily. Hou Yi was so broken-hearted that he drank himself into a stupor; whereupon, with a yell, the two plotters and four of their followers leaped upon Hou Yi and killed him. When Chang-o arrived at the Vast Cold Palace in the moon and saw how her husband had been so cruelly murdered, she deeply regretted what she had done. But it was too late; not only was she cut off from the happu life of Heaven, But she was consigned to eternity alone.
