December 9, 2024 • 80 mins
It's story time! Make your sweet self a hot cup of tea and cuddle up! We will hear the stories of ancient China: the story of the Girl with the the Horse Head AKA the Silkworm Goddess, the story of the Flower Elves, and the story of the Dragon Princess!
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Episode Transcript
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(00:36):
Hello, welcome to Esoterica and Nonsense, a podcast where we
discuss myths, legends, folk tales, fairy tales, supernatural
phenomenon and religions from around the world.
I am your host, Annabelle, and today I'm going to read us a few
(01:01):
stories from China. Yeah, it's Sagittarius season.
Umm, humanity is busy. Umm, I guess I should say parts
of humanity are busy murdering innocent people.
(01:28):
Umm, parts of humanity are making art, parts of humanity
are just trying to get by. I think this might just be
another classic era in, in humanity where everyone's just
kind of doing their own thing. I don't know.
(01:51):
I, I've, I've been thinking philosophically a lot because I
think when I think about war slash genocide and colonization
and human exploitation and I, I start getting really
(02:12):
philosophical because the question that comes to my mind
is how can this stop? How, how does one stop a
downward spiral like this? Because of course, we're
traumatizing each other and thenwe keep recreating the trauma,
(02:34):
you know? And honestly, I'm just
philosophizing here, but I feel like it's art.
I feel like everyone needs to take art seriously.
I think if everyone started making art as a way to process
their trauma truly, I really think that we could change the
(02:57):
course of the human experience because human beings are so
creative. And if they want to be, they can
use their creativity to live a life that's easier.
Because really all you have to do is take care of the earth,
and then the earth feeds you andwaters you and gives you
everything you need. But I feel like we just don't
(03:21):
have healthy ways to process ourpain and it it is incredibly
painful to be a human being because we're watching each
other murder each other and it'shorrifying.
So if you've been looking for a sign to start making art, even
(03:43):
if it's just for fun, like it doesn't need to be
professionally, you don't need to sell your art.
But if you've been wanting to make music or paint or draw like
this is your sign. Fucking do it.
Because what if everyone today, what if today every single human
on earth decided to start makingart to process their pain?
(04:09):
And then we could start making art to make things beautiful or
to to make things more harmonious.
And like, what if everyone did that?
Even the people who right now are like calling the shots and
pressing the buttons that are detonating bombs or whatever.
Anyway, that's what's just on mymind.
(04:33):
But I have a feeling that if you're listening to this, you
already are someone who's interested in creativity.
Do you hear the wind outside? It's really windy today.
It's really beautiful. Super, super beautiful.
Anyway, it's about to be holidayseason.
I don't personally celebrate holiday season, but I know that
(04:55):
some of you do. If you're a fan of the podcast,
get yourself some podcast merch or get yourself some really cool
sweatshirts or blankets or T-shirts that I have on my shop.
There's a link in the episode details of this episode and in
fact every episode in the details in the show notes.
(05:18):
I should say there's a link to my online store.
I just dropped my policy on one second, one second.
I got it. Also, if you like the podcast,
please consider subscribing to my Patreon.
It is very helpful and I appreciate all donations that
(05:40):
helps me make more episodes. But enough business darling.
Let's get to the meat. Let's get to the meat.
I have hand selected a few cute stories.
I'm drinking some Chai. I'm burning a little bit of sage
(06:01):
and some Palo Santo right now because I'm just saying a prayer
for all the sweet angels on earth right now who are not safe
and who have have their livelihood and danger and are
watching horrific things unfold around them.
(06:22):
I'm saying a prayer for these people and I'm saying a prayer
for the people who are perpetrating violence because
obviously they are incredibly hurt individuals.
And I really, I really pray for all human beings.
I really do, because I really think humans can be really cool.
I think the potential of humans is, is fucking cool.
(06:47):
And, and I would really love to see that.
I'd really love to see humans step into their coolness, to
their creativity, to their kindness, to their, to their
beauty. So I'm just burning the fuck out
of these magical items that I have.
(07:10):
I'm drinking some delicious Chai.
So anyway, let's fucking do it guys. 1st, we are going to hear
the story of the girl with the Horse's Head, AKA the Silkworm
(07:33):
Goddess. Yeah, yeah, you're welcome.
We're going to learn about the Silkworm Goddess.
Fuck yeah. In the dim ages of the past,
there once was an old man who went on a journey.
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No one remained at home, save his only daughter and a white
stallion. The daughter fed the horse day
by day, but she was lonely, and she yearned for her father.
So it happened that one day she said in jest to the horse, If
(08:17):
you will bring back my father tome, then I will marry you.
No sooner had the horse heard her say this, then he broke
loose and ran away. He ran until he came to the
place where her father was. When her father saw the horse he
was pleasantly surprised, caughthim and seated himself on his
(08:41):
back. And the horse turned back the
way he had come, naying without a pause.
What can be the matter with the horse, thought the father.
Something must have surely gone wrong at home.
So he dropped the reins and rodeback, and he fed the horse
liberally because he had been sointelligent.
(09:05):
But the horse ate nothing, and when he saw the girl, he struck
out at her with his hooves and tried to bite her.
This surprised the father. He questioned his daughter and
she told him the truth, just as it had occurred.
You must not say a word about itto anyone.
(09:27):
Spoke her father or else people will talk about us.
And he took down his crossbow, shot the horse and hung up his
skin in the yard to dry. Then he went on his travels
again. What?
(09:48):
Oh my God. OK, pause.
This is like the this is the most toxic like portrayal of
like right literally in his words quote.
You must not say a word about itto anyone or else people will
talk about us. So let's kill the white
(10:10):
stallion. Like what?
I'm sorry humans, you made a deal that you would marry this
horse. You told the horse that the
horse got your father home, and now you're embarrassed what
people will say. So you're going to murder the
horse? This is so unacceptable.
(10:41):
This is so unacceptable. OK, OK, well, let's see where
this goes. I I couldn't even guess where
this is going to go. OK.
One day his daughter went out walking with the daughter of a
neighbor. When they entered the yard, she
(11:02):
pushed the horse hide with her foot and said what an
unreasonable animal. You were wanting to marry a
human being. What happened to you Served you
right. What?
Dude, this girl's and her dad, they're sick in the head.
That is so rude. Like, OK, whatever.
(11:26):
But before she had finished her speech, the horse hide moved,
rose up, wrapped itself about the girl, and ran off.
OK, you know what? Justice.
Justice for the white stallion. Horrified, her companion ran
home to her father and told him what had happened.
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The neighbors looked for the girl everywhere, but she could
not be found. That's actually pretty
traumatizing. Imagine like walking with one of
your home girls and then a horsehide wraps itself around her and
runs away. That's horrifying.
At last, some days afterwards, they saw the girl hanging from
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the branches of a tree, still wrapped in the horse hide, and
gradually she turned into a silkworm and wove a cocoon, and
the threads which she spun were strong and thick.
Her girlfriend then took down the cocoon and let her slip out
(12:29):
of it, and then she spun the silk and sold it at a large
profit. OK, this is, This is wild.
OK. But the girl's relatives longed
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for her greatly. So one day the girl appeared
riding in the clouds on her horse.
Is this in her silkworm form? I'm assuming so.
So the girl is now in a silkwormform.
And now she's riding in the clouds on her white stallion.
And she was followed by a great company.
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And she said, in heaven I have been assigned to the task of
watching over the growing of silkworms.
You must yearn for me no longer.And thereupon they built temples
to her in her native land. And every year at the silkworm
season, sacrifices are offered to her, and her protection is
(13:40):
implored. And the silkworm goddess is also
known as the girl with the horse's head.
Note this tale is placed in the times of the emperor How and the
legend seems to have originated in Szechuan.
(14:00):
The stallion is the sign of the Zodiac, which rules the
springtime, the season when the silkworms are cultivated.
Hence, she is called the Goddesswith the horse's head.
The legend itself tells a different tale.
In addition to this goddess, thespouse of Shannon, the divine
(14:20):
husbandmen, is also worshipped as the goddess of the silkworm
culture. The goddess with the horse's
head is more of a totemic representation of the silkworm
as such, while the wife of Shannon is regarded as the
protecting goddess of silk culture and is supposed to have
(14:41):
been the 1st to teach women its details, the spouse of the
Yellow Lord is mentioned in the same connection.
The popular belief distinguishes3 goddesses who protect the
silkworm culture in turn. The second is the best of the
three, and when it is her year, the silk turns out well.
(15:06):
That is fascinating. Interesting.
OK, so let's, I'm, I'm just likepontificating here.
That little note at the end of the story was helpful.
But the horse is the symbol of the springtime.
(15:27):
She promises to marry the horse,but she and her dad are too
embarrassed, so they kill the horse, which is the symbol of
the springtime. But then because she had
promised the horse, she still marries the horse in a sense.
(15:49):
And they're like bound together as spring deities, I guess,
right. And so then now she's like a
silkworm goddess and is like theprotector of silkworm goddesses.
I'm, I'm, my brain is like trying to wrap, I'm trying to
wrap my brain around this symbolically.
(16:10):
This is why PSA, This is why it is so important to keep oral
traditions alive, because when we lose oral traditions, it is
possible, you know, obviously there are written accounts, but
without the cultural context, without the details about what a
lot of these symbols mean to thepeople who are telling these
(16:32):
stories, we lose out on what these stories are really about,
You know, and I'm just a simple dim witted American, so I, I'm
not qualified to interpret the story allegorically and to like
get into the meat of it. But I think that this is, I
(16:55):
don't know, from from my perspective, this man's daughter
was a little bit of an asshole for like kind of like being so
rude to this white stallion, right.
So I don't think it's like, I don't think it's a terrible
punishment. She still gets to be a silkworm
goddess. That's kind of beautiful.
I I, I would be down to be a silkworm goddess and to protect
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the silkworms during springtime.That was oddly beautiful, but
also dark. All right, well, that was the
story of the girl with the horse's head, AKA the silkworm
goddess. I wish you could smell the sage
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right now. I can't stop burning it.
It smells so good. It smells incredible.
This would be a perfect time to light an incense.
I don't know what you're doing, but I think it's time to light
an incense, if you know what I mean.
OK, Next up we have the story ofthe flower elves.
(18:12):
Once Upon a time there was a scholar who lived retired from
the world in order to gain hidden wisdom.
Oh yeah, sign me up. He lived alone in a secret
place, and all about the little house in which he dwelt he had
planted. He had planted every kind of
(18:35):
flower, and bamboos and other trees.
Oh my God, we love this guy. There it lay quite concealed in
its thick Grove of flowers. With him he had only a boy
servant who dwelt in a separate Hut, and who carried out his
(18:55):
orders. He was not allowed to appear
before his master unless summoned.
The scholar loved his flowers ashe did himself.
Never did he set foot beyond theboundaries of his garden.
I'm loving this guy. It chanced that once there came
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a lovely spring evening. Flowers and trees stood in full
bloom, A fresh breeze was blowing, the moon shone clearly
and the scholar sat over his goblet and was grateful for the
great gift of life. What?
(19:40):
Literally, this is my dream life.
Flowers, trees in full bloom, Spring evening, a breeze blowing
the moon's out and you're just looking over your goblet, being
grateful to be alive. This sounds like the story of my
life. Suddenly he saw a maiden in dark
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garments come tripping up in themoonlight.
Oh my God, yes. She made a deep curtsy, greeted
him and said. I am your neighbour.
We are a company of young maids.Who are on our way to visit the
18 aunts. We should like to rest in this
(20:28):
court for a while and therefore ask your permission to do so.
The scholar saw that this was something quite out of the
common and gladly gave his consent.
The maiden thanked him and went away.
In a short time she brought backa whole crowd of maids carrying
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flowers and Willow branches. They all greeted the scholar.
They were charming with delicatefeatures and slender, graceful
figures. When they moved their sleeves, a
delightful fragrance was exhaled.
Exhaled. There are the Peppers.
(21:10):
There is no fragrance known to the human world which could be
compared to it. Yeah, these girls are definitely
the fairies. You know what I'm saying?
Or the elves. Sorry.
Sorry. The flower elves.
They have to be the flower elves.
I can sense it in my bones, the Peppers.
(21:33):
I just don't want to close my window because it's so nice.
The breeze is so nice. Come on.
Gosh. OK, Good enough.
OK. The scholar invited them to sit
down for a time in his room. Then he asked them, Whom have I
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really the honor of entertaining?
Have you come from the Castle ofthe Lady in the Moon, or the
Jade Spring of the Queen Mother of the West?
Oh my God, take me there. Take me to the Castle of the
Lady in the Moon, into the jade spring of the Queen Mother of
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the West. Oh my God, how could we claim
such high descent? Said the maiden in a green gown
with a smile. My name is Salix.
Then she presented another clad in white and said This is
(22:36):
Mistress Pruna Fora. Then one in a rose dress said
and this is Persica and finally one in a dark red gown and this
is Punica. We are all sisters and we want
to visit the 18 Zephyr ants today.
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The moon shines so beautifully this evening and it is so
charming here in the garden. We are most grateful to you for
taking pity on us. OK, wait, pause.
Zephyr. I need to look up Zephyr because
every time I think of Zephyr, I think of Lords of Dogtown and I
(23:21):
always forget what it means. OK, so a Zephyr has multiple
meanings, including one a gentlebreeze, a light wind, or a West
wind. It could mean a lightweight
fabric. It could mean a Peach blossom.
(23:44):
It could also mean a kitchen range hood and wine cooler.
What? Oh my God.
OK, it seems that usually it refers to the wind because
Zephyrus was the Greek God of the West wind and associated
with springtimes, flowers and procreation.
OK, got it. So most likely these women are
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talking about the West wind aunts, OK?
And they say the moonshine so beautifully this evening and it
is so charming here in the garden.
We are most grateful to you for taking pity on us.
Yes, yes, said the scholar. Then the sober clad servant
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suddenly announced. The Zephyr aunts have already
arrived. At once the girls rose and went
to the door to meet them. We were just about to visit you
aunts, they said, smiling. This gentleman here had just
invited us to sit for a moment. What a pleasant coincidence that
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you aunts have come here too. This is such a lovely night that
we must drink a goblet of nectarin honor of you aunts.
Oh my God, a goblet of nectar this is.
I'm hooked. Thereon they ordered the servant
to bring what was needed. May 1, Sit down here, asked the
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aunts. The master of the house is most
kind, replied the maids, and thespot is quiet and hidden.
And then they presented the aunts to the scholar.
He spoke a few kindly words to the 18 aunts.
They had a somewhat irresponsible and airy manner.
(25:45):
Me. Their words fairly gushed out,
and in their neighbourhood 1 felt a frosty chill.
Meanwhile the servant had already brought in a table and
chairs. The 18 aunts sat at the upper
end of the board, the maids followed, and the scholar sat
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down with them at the lowest place.
Soon the entire table was covered with the most delicious
foods and the most magnificent fruits, and the goblets were
filled with a fragrant nectar. There were delights such as the
world of men does not know. The moon shone brightly and the
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flowers exhaled intoxicating odors.
Odors. After they had partaken a food
and drink, the maids rose, danced and sung Fuck yeah
sweetly. The sound of their singing
echoed through the falling gloam, and their dance was like
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that of butterflies fluttering about the flowers.
The scholar was so overpowered with delight that he no longer
knew whether he were in heaven or on earth.
Oh, this is so cute. When the dance had ended, the
girl sat down again at the tableand drank the health of the
(27:16):
aunts in flowing nectar. The scholar too was remembered
with a toast, to which he replied with well turned
phrases. But the 18 aunts were somewhat
irresponsible in their ways. One of them, raising her goblet
by accident, poured some nectar on Punica's dress.
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Punica, who was young and fiery and very neat, stood up angrily
when she saw the spot on her reddress.
You are really very careless, she said in her anger.
My other sisters may be afraid of you, but I am not.
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Then the aunts grew angry as well and said, How dare this
young chit insult us in such a manner?
Chit. What do you mean by chit?
Is that a? Is that a word that people use?
(28:23):
Usually a chit means a short official note, a memorandum, a
voucher, usually a record of a sum that's owed.
Oh, a child got it. OK, so she called her a child.
That's what a chit is. Is that?
Does everyone know these words? And am I just tripping or like,
(28:44):
you know, I don't know who knows?
OK, so the aunt calls her a chit.
And with that they gathered up their garments and they rose.
All the maids crowded around them and said, Punica is so
young and inexperienced, you must not bear her any ill will.
(29:10):
Tomorrow she shall go to you, switch in hand and receive her
punishment. OK, whatever.
I'm kind of, I'm kind of on Punica's side, though.
You spilled your drink on me. I mean, it's not a big deal, but
like, come on. But the 18 aunts would not
listen to them, and they went off.
(29:31):
Thereupon the maids also said farewell, scattering among the
flowerbeds, and disappeared. The scholar sat for a long time
lost in dreamy yearning. On the following evening all the
maids came back again. We all live in your garden, they
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told him. Every year we are tormented by
naughty winds, and therefore we have always asked the 18 aunts
to protect us. But yesterday Punica insulted
them, and now we fear that they will help us no more.
But we know that you have alwaysbeen well disposed towards us,
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for which we are heart heartily grateful.
And now we have a great favor toask of you, that every New
Year's Day you must make a smallscarlet flag, paint the sun,
moon, and five planets on it, and set it up in the eastern
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part of the garden. Then we sisters will be left in
peace and will be protected fromall evil.
But since New Year's Day has passed for this year, we beg
that you will set up the flag onthe 21st of this month, for the
east wind is coming and the flagwill protect us against him.
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The scholar readily promised to do as they wished, and the maids
all said with a single voice. We thank you for your great
kindness and will repay it. Then they departed, and a sweet
fragrance filled the entire garden.
The scholar, however, made a redflag as described, and when
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early in the morning of the day in question, the east wind
really did begin to blow, he quickly set it up in the garden.
Suddenly a wild storm broke out,one that caused the forests to
bend and broke the trees. The flowers in the garden alone
did not move. Then the scholar noticed that
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Salix was the Willow, Pruna Forathe plum, Persica the Peach, and
the saucy punica, the pomegranate, whose powerful
blossoms the wind cannot tear. The 18 Zephyr aunts, however,
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were the spirits of the winds. In the evening, the flower elves
all came and brought the scholarradiant flowers as a gift of
thanks. You have saved us, they said,
and we have nothing else we can give you.
If you eat these flowers you will live long and avoid old
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age, and if you in turn will protect us every year, then we
sisters too will live long. The scholar did as they told him
and ate the flowers and his figure changed and he grew young
again, like a youth of 20, and in the course of time he
attained the hidden wisdom and was placed amongst the
(32:49):
immortals. Wow, that was such a cute story.
OK, there's a little footnote. Note Salix, the name of the
flower elves are given in the Chinese as family names whose
sounds suggest the flower names without exactly using them in
(33:13):
the translation. The play on words is indicated
by the Latin names Zephyr ONS inChinese these in Chinese.
The name given the aunt is Fong,which is another stylization
meaning wind. Oh interesting.
(33:39):
Wow, that's really helpful context that that is.
This is very interesting and that this is kind of an example
of what I mean of like how much we miss when things are
translated and and translated without cultural context.
(34:02):
But that was a super cute story.I want to be a flower elf.
It's so beautiful. It reminds me of this book I had
as a kid. I don't remember the name, but
it was about a little girl who fell asleep in the Meadow.
And when she wakes up, she like witnesses like a ball, like all
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the flowers are attending a ball.
And so like the Rose is the queen and she has this
incredible ball gown, like made of rose petals.
And there's like a rose petal collar around her face.
And then let's see, there's likea buttercup family.
So there's like, like a plump blonde mother in kind in like a
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Derndal and she wears like a buttercup hat.
And she has all these like younglittle kids with rosy cheeks who
are wearing buttercup hats. And then there's like a water
Lily goddess and she doesn't leave the water, but she has
like a water Lily on her head. And then, like, all the weeds
are like troll people. And then like, there's like
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these acorn boys, they look likea lot like the Lost boys from
Peter Pan. They all, like, live in the
trees with pulleys and. And they have tree houses.
And they're. Yeah.
Anyway, it just reminded me of these flower elves.
Very, very cute. Oh, that was so cute.
OK. And then let me have one more
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story. This is going to be a good one.
This is a little bit of a long one, and this one is called the
Dragon Princess. I'm very excited.
All right. Are you ready?
I'm ready. In the sea of Daunting there is
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a hill. And in that hill there is a
hole. And this hole is so deep that it
has no bottom. Once a fisherman was passing.
A fisherman was passing there and he slipped and fell into the
(36:24):
hole. He came to a country full of
winding ways, which led over a hill and a Dale for several
miles. Wow this is crazy.
So literally second sentence of this story.
He's in an underground country. This is so interesting.
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So he's fallen into this hole and now he's underground, going
over hill and Dale for several miles.
Finally he reached a dragon castle lying in a great plain.
There grew a green slime which reached to his knees.
(37:07):
He went to the gate of the castle.
It was guarded by a dragon who spouted water, which dispersed
in a fine mist. Within the gate lay a small
hornless dragon who raised his head, showed his claws and would
not let him in. The fisherman spent several days
(37:28):
in The Cave, satisfying his hunger with the green slime
which he found edible and which tasted like rice mush.
OK, at last he found a way out again.
He told the district Mandarin what had happened to him, and
the latter reported the matter to the emperor.
(37:48):
The emperor sent for a wise man and questioned him concerning
it. The wise man said There are 4
paths to this cave. One path leads to the southwest
shore of the Sea of Dong Ting. The second path leads to a
valley in the land of the Four Rivers, the third path ends in a
(38:11):
cave on the mountain of Lo Fu, and the fourth in an island of
the Eastern Sea. In this cave dwells the 7th
daughter of the Dragon King of the Eastern Sea, who guards his
pearls and his treasure. It happened once in the ancient
days that a fisherboy dived intothe water and brought up a Pearl
(38:35):
from beneath the chin of a blackdragon.
Oh my God, this is so good. Oh my God.
I can't wait to meet the dragon Princess who guards the pearls
and the treasure. Yeah, the story goes that the
dragon was asleep, which was thereason the Fisher boy brought
(38:57):
the Pearl to the surface withoutbeing harmed.
The treasure which the daughter of the Dragon King has in charge
is made-up of thousands and millions of such jewels.
Several thousands of small Dragons watch over them in her
service. Dragons have the peculiarity of
fighting shy of wax. Interesting.
(39:22):
But they are fond of beautiful jade stones and of konsing the
hollow Greenwood. And they like to eat swallows.
Interesting. Let's do some quick research on
the hollow Greenwood. The hollow Greenwood.
(39:56):
Oh my gosh, I'm getting full on deja vu right now.
This is so wild. Interesting.
I'm what? OK, let's look up Kong Singh.
The hollow Greenwood. I've never heard of this.
Have you heard of this? It's fascinating.
(40:21):
Oh, my God. Google.
Google. Google sucks sometimes.
You know what I mean? OK, well all of these references
I've looked into have no idea what I'm talking about.
So if you know what Hollow Greenwood is slash Kong sing,
(40:42):
please write us an e-mail at esotericaandnonsense@gmail.com.
That would be so appreciated, but the story must go on.
So if one were to send a messenger with a letter, it
would be possible to obtain precious pearls.
(41:03):
OK, so obviously now the king isinterested in procuring
treasures from the Dragon Kingdom.
The Emperor was greatly pleased,and announced a large reward for
the man who was competent to go to the Dragon Castle as his
(41:25):
messenger. The 1st man who came forward was
named so Pillow. But the wise man said a great,
great, great, great grandfather of yours once slew more than 100
of the Dragons of the Eastern Sea and was finally himself
slain by the Dragons. Do you hear the wind?
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That's so good. Let me hold on.
I'm going to move my table closer to me.
Boom. OK, OK.
Oh, this is crazy. So the wise man is saying to so
Pedro that one of his great great great great grandfathers
slayed more than 100 Dragons andthen he himself was finally
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slain by the Dragons. The Dragons are the enemies of
your family and you cannot go. Then came a man from Canton,
Lohdse Shun. Damn I I wish I could speak
every language. OK, so this man is named Lohse
Shun and he came with his two brothers who said that his
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ancestors had been related to the Dragon King, hence they were
well liked by Dragons and well known to them.
They begged to be entrusted withthe message.
The wise man asked. And have you still in your
possession the stone which compels the Dragons to do your
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will? Yes, said they, we have brought
it along with us. The wise man had them show him
the stone. Then he spoke.
The stone is only obeyed by the Dragons who make clouds and send
down the rain. It will not do for the Dragons
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who guard the pearls of the Sea King.
Then he questioned them further.Have you the dragon brain
vapour? What dragon brain vapour?
Oh my God, I need to know more. When they admitted that they had
not, the wise man said, How thenwill you compel the Dragons to
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yield their treasure? And the emperor said, What shall
we do? The wise man replied, On the
western ocean sail foreign merchants who deal in dragon
brain vapor. What an industry to be in.
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Someone must go to them and seekit from them.
I also know a holy man who is anadept in the art of taming
Dragons and who has prepared 10 lbs of the dragon stone.
Someone should be sent for that as well.
Well OK, first of all I would love to hear the life story of
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the dragon tamer. Also, you know what this reminds
me of? There's this thing called like
glowing jade, I think, right? I, I don't know what it would
refer to in Chinese culture, butthere's this really rare stone
known as glowing jade in English.
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And it's basically jade, but it glows in the dark.
So if it absorbs enough like sunlight, it can glow in the
dark. And I found out about this from
this like dude I met once I was in high school and it was so
trippy. Maybe I already told the story
on the aliens episode, but when I was in high school, I started
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researching aliens and like, I think one of the first nights
that I went on this deep dive and like felt like discovered
the Anunnaki and the Pleiadians and like all this stuff.
Literally the next day I was walking down the street and this
dude who was middle-aged was like, oh, I know you.
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I met you at like some convention or whatever last
week. And I was like, no, dude, you
don't know me. What?
And like he walked with me to mybus stop, which he was like,
this is also my bus stop. And he was like telling me that
he was born in the year of the dragon, in the month of the
dragon, in the week of the dragon.
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And when he was in his 40s, he went to the Dragon province in
China, to the Temple of the Dragon.
And outside he found this spherical stone of glowing jade.
And he just picked it up. It was like on the ground.
And so he didn't think anything of it.
He just thought it was like somespecial rock.
It turns out the piece that he picked up was worth millions of
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dollars, and he was in a fairly touristy area.
And, like, it was a perfectly round sphere.
And so he asked everyone in the temple, like, was this stolen
from the temple? Or was it misplaced?
No one had seen this stone before, and he had literally
just picked it up on the ground.And so he obviously was
convinced this was like divine fate, which I, I can't even
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argue with him. This is like a wild story.
And he was like, you don't believe me, do you?
And I was like, I don't know. I do you.
I do believe you. How can you, like make this shit
up? So then he was telling me that
like, now his job was that he was like a glowing jade dealer.
And he was wearing a piece around his neck.
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And he gave me his business card.
And it was like, it was a photograph of this, of this
giant orb of glowing jade he brought.
And he was talking about like, since he found the glowing jade,
like his whole, I don't know, all these like weird psychic
things started happening to him.And I met him in 2011.
So he was telling me that on like December 21st, 2012, he was
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going to bring his glowing jade to Machu Picchu and ask the
aliens to pick him up. That's what he told me.
But I wonder anyway, I'm tellingyou the story because I'm
wondering if that's what Dragonstone is because they did
mention that the Dragons love jade.
And this is glowing jade, which is extra magical.
And you know that dude who was born allegedly in the year of
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the dragon on the month of the dragon on the day.
And I don't even know if that's like a real thing.
But that's what this more randomdude I met once told me.
It was actually also really crazy because he told me that
after he found the glowing jade that he started like aging
backwards and that he like looked younger than he did when
he first picked it up. And he told me he was 70, which
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is crazy because he looked like he was like 40, like a really
healthy 40. But this guy also could have
been a nut, you know what I mean?
Like, this was in Berkeley, CA. So this guy, you know, I'm just
saying take it with a grain of salt.
OK, so the wise man is saying that we need a Dragonstone stat
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and we need some dragon brain vapor.
And then we're going to go talk to the Dragon Tamer, who is my
idol. So the Emperor sent out his
messengers. They met one of the holy man's
disciples and obtained 2 fragrant fragments of dragon
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stone from him. Said the wise man.
This is what we want. Several more months went by, and
at last a pill of Dragon Brain Vapor had also been secured.
This is so wild a pill. I wasn't expecting the Dragon
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Brain Vapor to come in a pill. Whatever.
The Emperor felt much pleased and had his jewellers carved 2
little boxes of the finest jade.These were polished with the
ashes of the Wu Tongue Tree. What if it was Wu Tang Tree?
Can you imagine? And he had an essence prepared
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of the very best hollow Greenwood, pasted with sea fish
lime and hardened with fire. Interesting of this of this, two
vases were made and then the bodies and the clothing of the
messengers were rubbed with treewax and they were given 500
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roasted swallows to take with them.
This is a wild mission. Could you imagine being one of
the messengers of the king? And you're going to be rubbed
with tree wax, You're going to be given a vase made out of
hallow Greenwood and sealed withsea fish lime and hardened with
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fire. Like what the fuck are you
talking about? And then they're you're going to
be given 500 roasted swallows. This is a wild mission, dude.
This this is the kind of MissionImpossible I want to see.
You know what I mean? Mission Impossible Dragon's
Lair. Like this.
This is the movie I want to see.OK, so the messengers went into
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The Cave, and when they reached the dragon castle, the little
dragon who guarded the gate smelled the tree wax.
So he crouched down and did themno harm.
They gave him 100 roasted swallows as a bribe to announce
them to the daughter of the Dragon King.
They were admitted to her presence and offered her the
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jade caskets, the vases, and the400 roasted swallows as gifts.
The Dragon's daughter received them graciously and they
unfolded the Emperor's letter. In the castle, there was a
dragon who was over 1000 years old.
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He could turn himself into a human being and could interpret
the language of human beings. Oh my God, that's so cool.
Let's write a story about his life.
Hello. Through him, the Dragon's
daughter learned that the emperor was sending her the
gifts, and she returned them with the gift of three great
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pearls, 7 smaller pearls, and a whole bushel of ordinary pearls.
The messengers took leave, rode off with their pearls on a
Dragon's back, and in a moment they had reached the banks of
the Young Sea Kyung. They made their way to Nong
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King, the imperial capital, and there they handed over their
treasure of gems. The Emperor was much pleased and
showed them to the wise man. He said of the three great
pearls, 1 is a divine wishing Pearl of the third class, and
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two are black dragon pearls of medium quality.
Of the seven smaller pearls, 2 are serpent pearls and five are
mussel pearls. The remaining pearls are in part
sea crane pearls, in part snail and oyster pearls.
They do not approach the great pearls in value, and yet few
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will be found to equal them on earth.
The Emperor also showed them to all of his servants.
They, however, thought this wiseman's words were all talk, and
did not believe what he said. The wise man said the radiance
of wishing pearls of the first class is visible for 40 miles,
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that of the second class for 20 miles, and that of the third
class for 10 miles, as far as their radiance carries neither
wind nor rain, Thunder nor lightning, water, fire nor
weapons may reach. The pearls of the black dragon
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are 9 colored and glow by night within the circle of their
light. The poison of serpents and worms
is powerless. The serpent pearls are 7
colored, the muscle pearls 5 colored.
Both shine by night. Those must free from spots our
best. They grow within the muscle and
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increase and decrease in size asthe moon waxes and wanes.
Someone asked how the serpent and the sea Crane pearls could
be told apart, and the wise man answered The animals themselves
recognize them. Then the Emperor selected a
serpent Pearl and a sea crane Pearl and put them together with
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a whole bushel of ordinary pearls, and poured the lot out
into the courtyard. Then a large yellow serpent and
a black crane were fetched and placed among the pearls.
At once the crane took up a Sea crane Pearl in his bill, and
began to dance and sing and flutter around.
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But the serpent snatched at the serpent Pearl and wound himself
about it in many coils. And when the people saw this,
they acknowledged the truth of the wise man's words as regards
to the radiance of the larger and smaller pearls.
It turned out to just as the wise Man had said.
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In the Dragon Castle the messengers had enjoyed dainty
fair which tasted like flowers, herbs, ointments and sugars.
They had brought a remnant of itwith them to the capital, yet
exposed to the air had become hard as stone.
The Emperor commanded that thesefragments must be preserved in
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the treasury. Then he bestowed high rank and
titles on the three brothers andmade each one of them present.
Oh, and made each one of them a present of 1000 rolls of fine
silk. He also had investigated why it
was that the fisherman, when he had chanced upon The Cave, had
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not been destroyed by the Dragons, and it turned out that
his fishing clothes had been soaked in oil tree wax and the
Dragons had dreaded the odor. Some 20 miles east of Gingshow
lies this Lake of the Maidens. It is several miles square and
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surrounded on all sides by thickgreen thickets and tall forests.
Its waters are clear and dark blue.
Often all kinds of wondrous creatures show themselves in the
lake. The people of the vicinity have
erected a temple there for the dragon goddess, and in times of
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drought all make pilgrimage there to OfferUp prayers.
West of Ginghao, 200 miles away,is another lake whose God is
named Shuana and who performs many miracles.
During the time of the Tang Dynasty, there lived in Ginghao,
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a Mandarin by name of Xiao Bao. I I'm promise you I'm not
pronouncing this correctly, so Ijust needed to say that because
there are so many names here that I dearly wish I was
pronouncing perfectly. OK.
So while Chow Bao was in office,it chanced that in the 5th
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month, clouds suddenly arose in the sky, piling themselves up
like mountains, among which wriggled Dragons and serpents.
They rolled up and down between two seas, Tempest and rain,
Thunder and lightning arose, so that the houses fell to pieces,
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trees were torn up by the roots,and much damage was done to the
crops. Zhao Bao took the blame upon
himself and prayed to the heavens that his people might be
pardoned. On the 5th day of the sixth
month he sat in his hall of audience and gave judgement, and
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suddenly he felt quite weary andsleepy.
He took off his hat and laid down on the cushions.
No sooner had he closed his eyesthan he saw a warrior in a
helmet and armor, with a hull bared in his hand, standing on
the steps leading to the hall. Who announced, a lady is waiting
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outside who wishes to enter? Zhao Bao asked him, Who are you?
The answer was, I am your doorkeeper in the invisible
world. I already have been performing
this duty for many years. Meanwhile, 2 figures clad in
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green came up the steps, knelt before him and said, Our
mistress has come to visit you. Jow Bao rose.
He beheld lovely clouds from which fell of fine rain and
strange fragrance. Fragrances enchanted him.
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Suddenly he saw a lady clad in asimple gown but of surpassing
beauty, float down from on high with a retinue of many male
servants. Oh, love her, she sounds hot.
These were all neat and clean inappearance and waited upon the
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lady as though she were a Princess.
When the latter entered the hall, she raised her arms in
greeting. Zhao Bao came forward to meet
her and invited her to be seatedfrom all sides.
Bright colored clouds came floating in, and the courtyard
was filled with a purple ether. Zhao Bao had wine and food
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brought and entertained them allin the most splendid way.
But the goddess sat staring straight before her with
wrinkled brows and seemed to feel very sad.
Then she rose and said with a blush.
I have been living in this neighbourhood for many years.
(01:00:04):
A wrong which has been done to me permits me to pass the bounds
of what is fitting. And encourages me to ask a favor
of you. Yet I do not know whether you
wish to save me. May I hear what it is all about?
Answered Xiao Bao. If I could help you, I will be
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glad to place myself at your disposal.
The goddess said. For hundreds of years, my family
has been living in the depths ofthe Eastern Sea.
But we were unfortunate in that our treasures excited the
jealousy of men. The ancestor of Pilau, nearly of
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of Pilo. Pilo, my bad.
The ancestor of Pilo nearly destroyed our entire clan by
fire. My ancestors had to fly and hide
themselves, and not long ago ourenemy P Lo himself wanted to
deliver an imperial letter in The Cave of the Sea of Dung
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Ting. Under the pretext of begging for
pearls and treasures, he wished to enter the Dragon Castle to
destroy our family. Fortunately a wise man saw
through his treacherous purpose,and Loathsi Shun and his
brothers were sent in his stead.Yet my people did not feel safe
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from future attacks. For this reason they withdrew to
the distant W. My father has done much good to
mankind and hence is highly honoured there.
I am his ninth daughter. When I was 16, I was wedded to
the youngest son of the rock dragon.
(01:01:53):
But my good husband had a fiery temper which often caused him to
offend against the laws of courtesy, and in less than a
year's time the punishment of heaven was his portion.
I was left alone and returned tothe home of my parents.
My father wished me to marry again, but I had promised to
(01:02:15):
remain true to the memory of my husband and made a vow not to
comply with my father's wish. My parents grew angry, and I was
obliged to retire to this place in view of their anger.
That was three years ago. Who could imagine that the
contemptible dragon Shuana, who was seeking a wife for his
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younger brother, would try to force the wedding gift upon me
and refuse to accept it? But Chuana knew how to gain his
point with my father and was determined to carry out his
intention. My father, regardless of my
wishes, promised me to him. And then the dragon Chuana
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appeared with his youngest brother and wanted to carry me
off by sheer force of arms. I encountered him with 50
faithful followers, and we fought on the Meadow before the
city. We were defeated, and I am more
than ever afraid that Shuana will attempt to drag me off.
(01:03:22):
So I have plucked up courage to beg you to lend me your
mercenaries so that I may beat off my foes and remain as I am.
If you will help me, I will be grateful to you till the end of
my days. Chow Bao answered.
You come from a noble family. Have you know kinsfolk who will
(01:03:45):
hasten to help you in your need that you are compelled to turn
to a mortal man? It is true that my kinsfolk are
far famed and numerous. If I were to send out letters
and they came to my aid, they would rub out that scaly
scoundrel shwana as one might rub garlic.
(01:04:09):
I love that phrase. My deceased husband offended the
high heavens and he has not beenpardoned, and my parents will
too is opposed to mine so that Idare not call upon my kinsfolk
for help. You will understand my need
(01:04:31):
then, Shou. Thou promised to help her, and
the Princess thanked him and departed.
When he awoke, he sighed, long thinking over his strange
experience. In the following day, he sent
off 1500 soldiers to stand guardby the Lake of the Maidens.
(01:04:53):
On the 7th day of the sixth month, Chow Bao rose early.
Darkness still lay before the windows, yet it seemed to him as
though he could glimpse a man before the curtain.
He asked who it might be. The man said I in the Princess's
advisor yesterday you were kind enough to send soldiers to aid
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us in our distress, but they were all living men, and such
cannot fight against invisible spirits.
You will have to send U.S. soldiers of yours who have died
if you wish to aid us. Oh, this is spooky, this is
cool, Zhao Bao reflected for a time, and then it occurred to
(01:05:38):
him that of course such must be the case.
So he had his field secretary examine the roster to see how
many of his soldiers had fallen in battle, and the latter
counted up to some 2000 foot soldiers and 500 horsemen.
(01:05:59):
Zhao Bao appointed his deceased officer Mung Wan as their leader
and wrote his commands on a paper which he burned in order
thus, pardon me, in order thus to place them at the princess's
disposal. This is fucking amazing dude.
(01:06:21):
He's talking to ghosts to help the Princess of Dragons.
Like this is sick as fuck. Let's make this a movie.
This is so cool I love this. A ghost army.
The living soldiers were recalled.
They were being reviewed in the courtyard.
(01:06:42):
After their return, a soldier suddenly fell unconscious.
It was not until early the following morning that he came
to his senses again. He was questioned and replied.
I saw a man clad in red who approached me and said, Our
(01:07:03):
Princess is grateful for the aidyour master has so kindly given
her, yet she still has a requestto make and has asked me to call
you. I followed him to the temple.
The Princess bade me come forward and said to me, I thank
your master from my heart for sending me the ghost soldiers,
(01:07:26):
but Meng Wan, their leader, is incapable.
Yesterday the robbers came with 3000 men, and Meng Wan was
beaten by them. When you return and again see
your master, say that I earnestly beg him to send me a
good general. Perhaps that will save me in my
(01:07:47):
need. Then she had me LED back again
and I regained consciousness. This is so fucking cool.
She's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, thanks.
But like, maybe a better general.
Could you imagine being a soldier for a king and then
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dying and then you being summoned in ghost form?
Like I, I don't think I would ever want to be a soldier, but
this would be like, one thing that would be cool to be a ghost
soldier for the Princess of Dragons.
This is so sick. So when Zhao Bao had heard these
words, which seemed to fit strangely well with what he had
(01:08:32):
dreamed, he thought he would tryto see if this was really the
case. Therefore he chose his
victorious general, Chung Chung Chung Fu, to take the place of
Mong Wang. That evening he buried incense,
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offered wine, and handed over tothe Princess his captain's soul.
On the 26th of the month news came from the general's camp
that he had suddenly died. At midnight on the 13th Chow Bao
was frightened and sent a man tobring him a report.
(01:09:12):
The latter informed him that thegeneral's heart had hardly
ceased to beat, and that in spite of the hot summer weather,
his body was free from any traceof decay.
So the order was given not to bury him.
Then one night an icy spectral wind arose, which whirled up
(01:09:32):
sand and stones, broke trees, and tore down houses.
The standing corn in the fields was blown down.
The storm lasted all day. Finally the crash of a terrific
Thunderbolt was heard, and then the skies cleared and the clouds
scattered. That very hour the dead general
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began to breathe painfully on his couch, and when his
attendants came to him he had returned to life again.
They questioned him, and he toldthem first.
I saw a man in a purple gown riding a Black Horse, who came
up with a great retinue. He dismounted before the door.
(01:10:18):
In his hand he held a decree of appointment, which he gave me,
saying, Our Princess begs you most respectfully to become her
general. I hope that you will not refuse.
Then he brought forth gifts and heaped them before the steps.
Jade's stones, brocades and silken garments, saddles,
(01:10:42):
horses, helmets and suits of mail.
He heaped them all up in the courtyard.
I wished to decline, but this hewould not allow and urge me to
enter his chariot with him. We drove 100 miles and met a
train of 300 armored horsemen who had ridden out to escort me.
(01:11:05):
They led me to a great city, andbefore the city a tent had be
had been erected in which playeda band of musicians.
A high official welcomed me. When I entered the city, the
onlookers were crowded together like walls.
This is riveting. This is so crazy dude, this is
(01:11:29):
so sick. Servants ran to and fro bearing
orders. We passed through more than a
dozen gates before we reached the Princess.
There I was requested to dismount and change my clothes
in order to enter the presence of the Princess, for she wished
to received me. She wished to receive me as her
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guest, but I thought this too great an honor and greeted her
below on the steps. She, however, invited me to seat
myself near her in the hall. She sat upright in all her
incomparable beauty, surrounded by female attendants adorned
with the richest jewels. These plucked lute strings and
(01:12:17):
played flutes. Oh my God, this is incredible.
A throng of servitors stood about in golden girdles with
purple tassels, ready to carry out her commands.
The the use of purple and gold, so beautiful.
Also I love the image earlier ofthe man in a purple robe on a
(01:12:39):
Black Horse. This is like this is stunning.
We love the color scheme. A throng.
OK, yes, yes, yes. The golden girdles, purple
tassels, yes. Countless crowds were assembled
before the palace, 5 or 6 visitors sat in a circle about
the Princess, and a general led me to my place.
(01:13:03):
The Princess said to me, I have begged you to come here in order
to entrust the command of my army to you.
If you will break the power of my foe, I will reward you
richly. I promise to obey her.
Then wine was brought in, and the banquet was served to the
Sound of Music. While we are at the table, a
(01:13:27):
messenger entered the robber. Chauhanna has invaded our land
with 10,000 footmen and horsemenand is approaching our city by
various roads. His way is marked by columns of
fire and smoke. The guests all grew pale with
(01:13:47):
terror when they heard the news,and the Princess said, This is
the foe, because of whom I have sought your aid, save me in my
hour of need. Then she gave me two chargers, a
suit of golden armour, and the Insignia of a commander in
chief, and bowed to me. I thanked her and went called
(01:14:12):
together. 3 captains had the army mustered and rode out
before the city. At several decisive points I
placed troops in ambush. The enemy was already
approaching in great force, careless and unconcerned,
intoxicated by its former's victories.
(01:14:35):
I sent out my most untrustworthysoldiers in advance, who allowed
themselves to be beaten in orderto lure him in.
Oh, this is brilliant light. Armed men then went out against
him and retreated in skirmish order, and thus he fell into my
ambush. Drums and kettle drums sounded
(01:14:56):
together, the ring closed aroundthem on all sides, and the
robber army suffered a grievous defeat.
The dead lay about like hempstocks, but little Chauhna
succeeded in breaking through the circle.
I sent out the light horsemen after him, and they seized him
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before the tent of the enemy's commanding general.
Hastily, I sent word to the Princess.
She reviewed the prisoners before the palace.
All the people, high and low, streamed together to acclaim her
little Chowna. I know, I'm saying that's so
(01:15:37):
wrong it's driving me crazy. He was about to be executed in
the marketplace when a messengercame spurring up with a command
from the princess's father to pardon him.
The Princess did not dare to disobey, so he was dismissed to
his home after he had sworn to give up all the thought of
(01:16:00):
realizing his traitorous plans. I was loaded with benefits.
As a reward for my victory, I was invested with an estate with
3000 peasants. Oh, great slaves, and was given
a palace, horse and wagons, all sorts of jewels, men servants
(01:16:21):
and women servants, gardens and forests, banners and suits of
mail, and my subordinate officers too, were duly
rewarded. On the following day a banquet
was held, and the Princess herself filled the goblet, sent
it to me by one of her attendants, and said.
(01:16:41):
Widowed early in life, I opposedthe wishes of my stern father,
and fled to this spot. Here the infamous chawna
harassed me, and well nigh put me to shame.
Had not your master's great kindness and your own courage
come to my assistance, hard would have been my lot.
(01:17:06):
Then she began to think me, and her tears of emotions flowed
like a stream. I bowed and begged her to grant
me leave of absence, so that I might look after my family.
I was given a month's leave, andthe following day she dismissed
me with a splendid retinue. Before the city a pavilion had
(01:17:27):
been erected in which I drank the stirrup cup.
Then I rode away, and when I arrived before our gate a
Thunder peel crashed and I awoke.
Thereupon the general wrote an account of what happened to Shao
Bao, in which he conveyed the princess's thanks.
(01:17:48):
Then he paid no further heed to worldly matters, but set his
house in order and turned it over to his wife and son.
When a month had passed, he diedwithout any sign of illness.
That same day, one of his officers was out walking.
Suddenly he saw a heavy cloud ofdust rising along the highway
(01:18:12):
while flags and banners darkenedthe sun. 1000 Knights were
escorting a man who sat his horse proudly like a hero, and
when the officer looked at his face, it was the general Chung
Chung Sung Fu. Hastily, he stepped to the edge
(01:18:34):
of the road in order to allow the cavalcade to pass and
watched it ride by. The horsemen took the way to the
Lake of Maidens, where they disappeared.
Wow, that was such a pretty story.
(01:18:59):
Wow that was so cool. I love this like this like ghost
army situation that was so spooky and esoteric.
Like I want to know more about the dragon lore because like
Pylo's family were dragon fighters, right?
And they had like dragon beef for centuries.
(01:19:22):
Then there's the dragon tamer. Then there's the dragon lineages
who have like some of them have alliances with humans and the
dragon kingdoms. Like this is sick dude.
I always feel like every time I read some of these stories, I
feel so like, I want to know more details.
I want to know about the dragon tamer.
I want to know about Pylo's family beef.
(01:19:45):
I want to know more about the dragon Princess.
I want to know more about like ghost soldiers do go, can ghost
soldiers be killed? Like I want to know the physics
behind this. Oh that was so fun.
Thank you so much for listening.That was so super sweet.
Please take good care of yourself.
We need more kind human beings on planet earth.
(01:20:07):
We need to look after ourselves.Community is the only way we're
going to make it through this without ruining the world and
each other. We need community.
So take good care of yourself. I have so much love and
appreciation for you. Have the most beautiful day.
Over and out, baby.
Hello, welcome to Esoterica and Nonsense, a podcast where we
discuss myths, legends, folk tales, fairy tales, supernatural
phenomenon and religions from around the world.
I am your host, Annabelle, and today I'm going to read us a few
(01:01):
stories from China. Yeah, it's Sagittarius season.
Umm, humanity is busy. Umm, I guess I should say parts
of humanity are busy murdering innocent people.
(01:28):
Umm, parts of humanity are making art, parts of humanity
are just trying to get by. I think this might just be
another classic era in, in humanity where everyone's just
kind of doing their own thing. I don't know.
(01:51):
I, I've, I've been thinking philosophically a lot because I
think when I think about war slash genocide and colonization
and human exploitation and I, I start getting really
(02:12):
philosophical because the question that comes to my mind
is how can this stop? How, how does one stop a
downward spiral like this? Because of course, we're
traumatizing each other and thenwe keep recreating the trauma,
(02:34):
you know? And honestly, I'm just
philosophizing here, but I feel like it's art.
I feel like everyone needs to take art seriously.
I think if everyone started making art as a way to process
their trauma truly, I really think that we could change the
(02:57):
course of the human experience because human beings are so
creative. And if they want to be, they can
use their creativity to live a life that's easier.
Because really all you have to do is take care of the earth,
and then the earth feeds you andwaters you and gives you
everything you need. But I feel like we just don't
(03:21):
have healthy ways to process ourpain and it it is incredibly
painful to be a human being because we're watching each
other murder each other and it'shorrifying.
So if you've been looking for a sign to start making art, even
(03:43):
if it's just for fun, like it doesn't need to be
professionally, you don't need to sell your art.
But if you've been wanting to make music or paint or draw like
this is your sign. Fucking do it.
Because what if everyone today, what if today every single human
on earth decided to start makingart to process their pain?
(04:09):
And then we could start making art to make things beautiful or
to to make things more harmonious.
And like, what if everyone did that?
Even the people who right now are like calling the shots and
pressing the buttons that are detonating bombs or whatever.
Anyway, that's what's just on mymind.
(04:33):
But I have a feeling that if you're listening to this, you
already are someone who's interested in creativity.
Do you hear the wind outside? It's really windy today.
It's really beautiful. Super, super beautiful.
Anyway, it's about to be holidayseason.
I don't personally celebrate holiday season, but I know that
(04:55):
some of you do. If you're a fan of the podcast,
get yourself some podcast merch or get yourself some really cool
sweatshirts or blankets or T-shirts that I have on my shop.
There's a link in the episode details of this episode and in
fact every episode in the details in the show notes.
(05:18):
I should say there's a link to my online store.
I just dropped my policy on one second, one second.
I got it. Also, if you like the podcast,
please consider subscribing to my Patreon.
It is very helpful and I appreciate all donations that
(05:40):
helps me make more episodes. But enough business darling.
Let's get to the meat. Let's get to the meat.
I have hand selected a few cute stories.
I'm drinking some Chai. I'm burning a little bit of sage
(06:01):
and some Palo Santo right now because I'm just saying a prayer
for all the sweet angels on earth right now who are not safe
and who have have their livelihood and danger and are
watching horrific things unfold around them.
(06:22):
I'm saying a prayer for these people and I'm saying a prayer
for the people who are perpetrating violence because
obviously they are incredibly hurt individuals.
And I really, I really pray for all human beings.
I really do, because I really think humans can be really cool.
I think the potential of humans is, is fucking cool.
(06:47):
And, and I would really love to see that.
I'd really love to see humans step into their coolness, to
their creativity, to their kindness, to their, to their
beauty. So I'm just burning the fuck out
of these magical items that I have.
(07:10):
I'm drinking some delicious Chai.
So anyway, let's fucking do it guys. 1st, we are going to hear
the story of the girl with the Horse's Head, AKA the Silkworm
(07:33):
Goddess. Yeah, yeah, you're welcome.
We're going to learn about the Silkworm Goddess.
Fuck yeah. In the dim ages of the past,
there once was an old man who went on a journey.
(07:55):
No one remained at home, save his only daughter and a white
stallion. The daughter fed the horse day
by day, but she was lonely, and she yearned for her father.
So it happened that one day she said in jest to the horse, If
(08:17):
you will bring back my father tome, then I will marry you.
No sooner had the horse heard her say this, then he broke
loose and ran away. He ran until he came to the
place where her father was. When her father saw the horse he
was pleasantly surprised, caughthim and seated himself on his
(08:41):
back. And the horse turned back the
way he had come, naying without a pause.
What can be the matter with the horse, thought the father.
Something must have surely gone wrong at home.
So he dropped the reins and rodeback, and he fed the horse
liberally because he had been sointelligent.
(09:05):
But the horse ate nothing, and when he saw the girl, he struck
out at her with his hooves and tried to bite her.
This surprised the father. He questioned his daughter and
she told him the truth, just as it had occurred.
You must not say a word about itto anyone.
(09:27):
Spoke her father or else people will talk about us.
And he took down his crossbow, shot the horse and hung up his
skin in the yard to dry. Then he went on his travels
again. What?
(09:48):
Oh my God. OK, pause.
This is like the this is the most toxic like portrayal of
like right literally in his words quote.
You must not say a word about itto anyone or else people will
talk about us. So let's kill the white
(10:10):
stallion. Like what?
I'm sorry humans, you made a deal that you would marry this
horse. You told the horse that the
horse got your father home, and now you're embarrassed what
people will say. So you're going to murder the
horse? This is so unacceptable.
(10:41):
This is so unacceptable. OK, OK, well, let's see where
this goes. I I couldn't even guess where
this is going to go. OK.
One day his daughter went out walking with the daughter of a
neighbor. When they entered the yard, she
(11:02):
pushed the horse hide with her foot and said what an
unreasonable animal. You were wanting to marry a
human being. What happened to you Served you
right. What?
Dude, this girl's and her dad, they're sick in the head.
That is so rude. Like, OK, whatever.
(11:26):
But before she had finished her speech, the horse hide moved,
rose up, wrapped itself about the girl, and ran off.
OK, you know what? Justice.
Justice for the white stallion. Horrified, her companion ran
home to her father and told him what had happened.
(11:47):
The neighbors looked for the girl everywhere, but she could
not be found. That's actually pretty
traumatizing. Imagine like walking with one of
your home girls and then a horsehide wraps itself around her and
runs away. That's horrifying.
At last, some days afterwards, they saw the girl hanging from
(12:09):
the branches of a tree, still wrapped in the horse hide, and
gradually she turned into a silkworm and wove a cocoon, and
the threads which she spun were strong and thick.
Her girlfriend then took down the cocoon and let her slip out
(12:29):
of it, and then she spun the silk and sold it at a large
profit. OK, this is, This is wild.
OK. But the girl's relatives longed
(12:53):
for her greatly. So one day the girl appeared
riding in the clouds on her horse.
Is this in her silkworm form? I'm assuming so.
So the girl is now in a silkwormform.
And now she's riding in the clouds on her white stallion.
And she was followed by a great company.
(13:16):
And she said, in heaven I have been assigned to the task of
watching over the growing of silkworms.
You must yearn for me no longer.And thereupon they built temples
to her in her native land. And every year at the silkworm
season, sacrifices are offered to her, and her protection is
(13:40):
implored. And the silkworm goddess is also
known as the girl with the horse's head.
Note this tale is placed in the times of the emperor How and the
legend seems to have originated in Szechuan.
(14:00):
The stallion is the sign of the Zodiac, which rules the
springtime, the season when the silkworms are cultivated.
Hence, she is called the Goddesswith the horse's head.
The legend itself tells a different tale.
In addition to this goddess, thespouse of Shannon, the divine
(14:20):
husbandmen, is also worshipped as the goddess of the silkworm
culture. The goddess with the horse's
head is more of a totemic representation of the silkworm
as such, while the wife of Shannon is regarded as the
protecting goddess of silk culture and is supposed to have
(14:41):
been the 1st to teach women its details, the spouse of the
Yellow Lord is mentioned in the same connection.
The popular belief distinguishes3 goddesses who protect the
silkworm culture in turn. The second is the best of the
three, and when it is her year, the silk turns out well.
(15:06):
That is fascinating. Interesting.
OK, so let's, I'm, I'm just likepontificating here.
That little note at the end of the story was helpful.
But the horse is the symbol of the springtime.
(15:27):
She promises to marry the horse,but she and her dad are too
embarrassed, so they kill the horse, which is the symbol of
the springtime. But then because she had
promised the horse, she still marries the horse in a sense.
(15:49):
And they're like bound together as spring deities, I guess,
right. And so then now she's like a
silkworm goddess and is like theprotector of silkworm goddesses.
I'm, I'm, my brain is like trying to wrap, I'm trying to
wrap my brain around this symbolically.
(16:10):
This is why PSA, This is why it is so important to keep oral
traditions alive, because when we lose oral traditions, it is
possible, you know, obviously there are written accounts, but
without the cultural context, without the details about what a
lot of these symbols mean to thepeople who are telling these
(16:32):
stories, we lose out on what these stories are really about,
You know, and I'm just a simple dim witted American, so I, I'm
not qualified to interpret the story allegorically and to like
get into the meat of it. But I think that this is, I
(16:55):
don't know, from from my perspective, this man's daughter
was a little bit of an asshole for like kind of like being so
rude to this white stallion, right.
So I don't think it's like, I don't think it's a terrible
punishment. She still gets to be a silkworm
goddess. That's kind of beautiful.
I I, I would be down to be a silkworm goddess and to protect
(17:18):
the silkworms during springtime.That was oddly beautiful, but
also dark. All right, well, that was the
story of the girl with the horse's head, AKA the silkworm
goddess. I wish you could smell the sage
(17:43):
right now. I can't stop burning it.
It smells so good. It smells incredible.
This would be a perfect time to light an incense.
I don't know what you're doing, but I think it's time to light
an incense, if you know what I mean.
OK, Next up we have the story ofthe flower elves.
(18:12):
Once Upon a time there was a scholar who lived retired from
the world in order to gain hidden wisdom.
Oh yeah, sign me up. He lived alone in a secret
place, and all about the little house in which he dwelt he had
planted. He had planted every kind of
(18:35):
flower, and bamboos and other trees.
Oh my God, we love this guy. There it lay quite concealed in
its thick Grove of flowers. With him he had only a boy
servant who dwelt in a separate Hut, and who carried out his
(18:55):
orders. He was not allowed to appear
before his master unless summoned.
The scholar loved his flowers ashe did himself.
Never did he set foot beyond theboundaries of his garden.
I'm loving this guy. It chanced that once there came
(19:18):
a lovely spring evening. Flowers and trees stood in full
bloom, A fresh breeze was blowing, the moon shone clearly
and the scholar sat over his goblet and was grateful for the
great gift of life. What?
(19:40):
Literally, this is my dream life.
Flowers, trees in full bloom, Spring evening, a breeze blowing
the moon's out and you're just looking over your goblet, being
grateful to be alive. This sounds like the story of my
life. Suddenly he saw a maiden in dark
(20:06):
garments come tripping up in themoonlight.
Oh my God, yes. She made a deep curtsy, greeted
him and said. I am your neighbour.
We are a company of young maids.Who are on our way to visit the
18 aunts. We should like to rest in this
(20:28):
court for a while and therefore ask your permission to do so.
The scholar saw that this was something quite out of the
common and gladly gave his consent.
The maiden thanked him and went away.
In a short time she brought backa whole crowd of maids carrying
(20:49):
flowers and Willow branches. They all greeted the scholar.
They were charming with delicatefeatures and slender, graceful
figures. When they moved their sleeves, a
delightful fragrance was exhaled.
Exhaled. There are the Peppers.
(21:10):
There is no fragrance known to the human world which could be
compared to it. Yeah, these girls are definitely
the fairies. You know what I'm saying?
Or the elves. Sorry.
Sorry. The flower elves.
They have to be the flower elves.
I can sense it in my bones, the Peppers.
(21:33):
I just don't want to close my window because it's so nice.
The breeze is so nice. Come on.
Gosh. OK, Good enough.
OK. The scholar invited them to sit
down for a time in his room. Then he asked them, Whom have I
(21:55):
really the honor of entertaining?
Have you come from the Castle ofthe Lady in the Moon, or the
Jade Spring of the Queen Mother of the West?
Oh my God, take me there. Take me to the Castle of the
Lady in the Moon, into the jade spring of the Queen Mother of
(22:16):
the West. Oh my God, how could we claim
such high descent? Said the maiden in a green gown
with a smile. My name is Salix.
Then she presented another clad in white and said This is
(22:36):
Mistress Pruna Fora. Then one in a rose dress said
and this is Persica and finally one in a dark red gown and this
is Punica. We are all sisters and we want
to visit the 18 Zephyr ants today.
(22:59):
The moon shines so beautifully this evening and it is so
charming here in the garden. We are most grateful to you for
taking pity on us. OK, wait, pause.
Zephyr. I need to look up Zephyr because
every time I think of Zephyr, I think of Lords of Dogtown and I
(23:21):
always forget what it means. OK, so a Zephyr has multiple
meanings, including one a gentlebreeze, a light wind, or a West
wind. It could mean a lightweight
fabric. It could mean a Peach blossom.
(23:44):
It could also mean a kitchen range hood and wine cooler.
What? Oh my God.
OK, it seems that usually it refers to the wind because
Zephyrus was the Greek God of the West wind and associated
with springtimes, flowers and procreation.
OK, got it. So most likely these women are
(24:10):
talking about the West wind aunts, OK?
And they say the moonshine so beautifully this evening and it
is so charming here in the garden.
We are most grateful to you for taking pity on us.
Yes, yes, said the scholar. Then the sober clad servant
(24:35):
suddenly announced. The Zephyr aunts have already
arrived. At once the girls rose and went
to the door to meet them. We were just about to visit you
aunts, they said, smiling. This gentleman here had just
invited us to sit for a moment. What a pleasant coincidence that
(24:57):
you aunts have come here too. This is such a lovely night that
we must drink a goblet of nectarin honor of you aunts.
Oh my God, a goblet of nectar this is.
I'm hooked. Thereon they ordered the servant
to bring what was needed. May 1, Sit down here, asked the
(25:21):
aunts. The master of the house is most
kind, replied the maids, and thespot is quiet and hidden.
And then they presented the aunts to the scholar.
He spoke a few kindly words to the 18 aunts.
They had a somewhat irresponsible and airy manner.
(25:45):
Me. Their words fairly gushed out,
and in their neighbourhood 1 felt a frosty chill.
Meanwhile the servant had already brought in a table and
chairs. The 18 aunts sat at the upper
end of the board, the maids followed, and the scholar sat
(26:08):
down with them at the lowest place.
Soon the entire table was covered with the most delicious
foods and the most magnificent fruits, and the goblets were
filled with a fragrant nectar. There were delights such as the
world of men does not know. The moon shone brightly and the
(26:29):
flowers exhaled intoxicating odors.
Odors. After they had partaken a food
and drink, the maids rose, danced and sung Fuck yeah
sweetly. The sound of their singing
echoed through the falling gloam, and their dance was like
(26:54):
that of butterflies fluttering about the flowers.
The scholar was so overpowered with delight that he no longer
knew whether he were in heaven or on earth.
Oh, this is so cute. When the dance had ended, the
girl sat down again at the tableand drank the health of the
(27:16):
aunts in flowing nectar. The scholar too was remembered
with a toast, to which he replied with well turned
phrases. But the 18 aunts were somewhat
irresponsible in their ways. One of them, raising her goblet
by accident, poured some nectar on Punica's dress.
(27:39):
Punica, who was young and fiery and very neat, stood up angrily
when she saw the spot on her reddress.
You are really very careless, she said in her anger.
My other sisters may be afraid of you, but I am not.
(27:59):
Then the aunts grew angry as well and said, How dare this
young chit insult us in such a manner?
Chit. What do you mean by chit?
Is that a? Is that a word that people use?
(28:23):
Usually a chit means a short official note, a memorandum, a
voucher, usually a record of a sum that's owed.
Oh, a child got it. OK, so she called her a child.
That's what a chit is. Is that?
Does everyone know these words? And am I just tripping or like,
(28:44):
you know, I don't know who knows?
OK, so the aunt calls her a chit.
And with that they gathered up their garments and they rose.
All the maids crowded around them and said, Punica is so
young and inexperienced, you must not bear her any ill will.
(29:10):
Tomorrow she shall go to you, switch in hand and receive her
punishment. OK, whatever.
I'm kind of, I'm kind of on Punica's side, though.
You spilled your drink on me. I mean, it's not a big deal, but
like, come on. But the 18 aunts would not
listen to them, and they went off.
(29:31):
Thereupon the maids also said farewell, scattering among the
flowerbeds, and disappeared. The scholar sat for a long time
lost in dreamy yearning. On the following evening all the
maids came back again. We all live in your garden, they
(29:52):
told him. Every year we are tormented by
naughty winds, and therefore we have always asked the 18 aunts
to protect us. But yesterday Punica insulted
them, and now we fear that they will help us no more.
But we know that you have alwaysbeen well disposed towards us,
(30:13):
for which we are heart heartily grateful.
And now we have a great favor toask of you, that every New
Year's Day you must make a smallscarlet flag, paint the sun,
moon, and five planets on it, and set it up in the eastern
(30:34):
part of the garden. Then we sisters will be left in
peace and will be protected fromall evil.
But since New Year's Day has passed for this year, we beg
that you will set up the flag onthe 21st of this month, for the
east wind is coming and the flagwill protect us against him.
(30:55):
The scholar readily promised to do as they wished, and the maids
all said with a single voice. We thank you for your great
kindness and will repay it. Then they departed, and a sweet
fragrance filled the entire garden.
The scholar, however, made a redflag as described, and when
(31:17):
early in the morning of the day in question, the east wind
really did begin to blow, he quickly set it up in the garden.
Suddenly a wild storm broke out,one that caused the forests to
bend and broke the trees. The flowers in the garden alone
did not move. Then the scholar noticed that
(31:41):
Salix was the Willow, Pruna Forathe plum, Persica the Peach, and
the saucy punica, the pomegranate, whose powerful
blossoms the wind cannot tear. The 18 Zephyr aunts, however,
(32:04):
were the spirits of the winds. In the evening, the flower elves
all came and brought the scholarradiant flowers as a gift of
thanks. You have saved us, they said,
and we have nothing else we can give you.
If you eat these flowers you will live long and avoid old
(32:27):
age, and if you in turn will protect us every year, then we
sisters too will live long. The scholar did as they told him
and ate the flowers and his figure changed and he grew young
again, like a youth of 20, and in the course of time he
attained the hidden wisdom and was placed amongst the
(32:49):
immortals. Wow, that was such a cute story.
OK, there's a little footnote. Note Salix, the name of the
flower elves are given in the Chinese as family names whose
sounds suggest the flower names without exactly using them in
(33:13):
the translation. The play on words is indicated
by the Latin names Zephyr ONS inChinese these in Chinese.
The name given the aunt is Fong,which is another stylization
meaning wind. Oh interesting.
(33:39):
Wow, that's really helpful context that that is.
This is very interesting and that this is kind of an example
of what I mean of like how much we miss when things are
translated and and translated without cultural context.
(34:02):
But that was a super cute story.I want to be a flower elf.
It's so beautiful. It reminds me of this book I had
as a kid. I don't remember the name, but
it was about a little girl who fell asleep in the Meadow.
And when she wakes up, she like witnesses like a ball, like all
(34:28):
the flowers are attending a ball.
And so like the Rose is the queen and she has this
incredible ball gown, like made of rose petals.
And there's like a rose petal collar around her face.
And then let's see, there's likea buttercup family.
So there's like, like a plump blonde mother in kind in like a
(34:53):
Derndal and she wears like a buttercup hat.
And she has all these like younglittle kids with rosy cheeks who
are wearing buttercup hats. And then there's like a water
Lily goddess and she doesn't leave the water, but she has
like a water Lily on her head. And then, like, all the weeds
are like troll people. And then like, there's like
(35:14):
these acorn boys, they look likea lot like the Lost boys from
Peter Pan. They all, like, live in the
trees with pulleys and. And they have tree houses.
And they're. Yeah.
Anyway, it just reminded me of these flower elves.
Very, very cute. Oh, that was so cute.
OK. And then let me have one more
(35:37):
story. This is going to be a good one.
This is a little bit of a long one, and this one is called the
Dragon Princess. I'm very excited.
All right. Are you ready?
I'm ready. In the sea of Daunting there is
(36:02):
a hill. And in that hill there is a
hole. And this hole is so deep that it
has no bottom. Once a fisherman was passing.
A fisherman was passing there and he slipped and fell into the
(36:24):
hole. He came to a country full of
winding ways, which led over a hill and a Dale for several
miles. Wow this is crazy.
So literally second sentence of this story.
He's in an underground country. This is so interesting.
(36:46):
So he's fallen into this hole and now he's underground, going
over hill and Dale for several miles.
Finally he reached a dragon castle lying in a great plain.
There grew a green slime which reached to his knees.
(37:07):
He went to the gate of the castle.
It was guarded by a dragon who spouted water, which dispersed
in a fine mist. Within the gate lay a small
hornless dragon who raised his head, showed his claws and would
not let him in. The fisherman spent several days
(37:28):
in The Cave, satisfying his hunger with the green slime
which he found edible and which tasted like rice mush.
OK, at last he found a way out again.
He told the district Mandarin what had happened to him, and
the latter reported the matter to the emperor.
(37:48):
The emperor sent for a wise man and questioned him concerning
it. The wise man said There are 4
paths to this cave. One path leads to the southwest
shore of the Sea of Dong Ting. The second path leads to a
valley in the land of the Four Rivers, the third path ends in a
(38:11):
cave on the mountain of Lo Fu, and the fourth in an island of
the Eastern Sea. In this cave dwells the 7th
daughter of the Dragon King of the Eastern Sea, who guards his
pearls and his treasure. It happened once in the ancient
days that a fisherboy dived intothe water and brought up a Pearl
(38:35):
from beneath the chin of a blackdragon.
Oh my God, this is so good. Oh my God.
I can't wait to meet the dragon Princess who guards the pearls
and the treasure. Yeah, the story goes that the
dragon was asleep, which was thereason the Fisher boy brought
(38:57):
the Pearl to the surface withoutbeing harmed.
The treasure which the daughter of the Dragon King has in charge
is made-up of thousands and millions of such jewels.
Several thousands of small Dragons watch over them in her
service. Dragons have the peculiarity of
fighting shy of wax. Interesting.
(39:22):
But they are fond of beautiful jade stones and of konsing the
hollow Greenwood. And they like to eat swallows.
Interesting. Let's do some quick research on
the hollow Greenwood. The hollow Greenwood.
(39:56):
Oh my gosh, I'm getting full on deja vu right now.
This is so wild. Interesting.
I'm what? OK, let's look up Kong Singh.
The hollow Greenwood. I've never heard of this.
Have you heard of this? It's fascinating.
(40:21):
Oh, my God. Google.
Google. Google sucks sometimes.
You know what I mean? OK, well all of these references
I've looked into have no idea what I'm talking about.
So if you know what Hollow Greenwood is slash Kong sing,
(40:42):
please write us an e-mail at esotericaandnonsense@gmail.com.
That would be so appreciated, but the story must go on.
So if one were to send a messenger with a letter, it
would be possible to obtain precious pearls.
(41:03):
OK, so obviously now the king isinterested in procuring
treasures from the Dragon Kingdom.
The Emperor was greatly pleased,and announced a large reward for
the man who was competent to go to the Dragon Castle as his
(41:25):
messenger. The 1st man who came forward was
named so Pillow. But the wise man said a great,
great, great, great grandfather of yours once slew more than 100
of the Dragons of the Eastern Sea and was finally himself
slain by the Dragons. Do you hear the wind?
(41:48):
That's so good. Let me hold on.
I'm going to move my table closer to me.
Boom. OK, OK.
Oh, this is crazy. So the wise man is saying to so
Pedro that one of his great great great great grandfathers
slayed more than 100 Dragons andthen he himself was finally
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slain by the Dragons. The Dragons are the enemies of
your family and you cannot go. Then came a man from Canton,
Lohdse Shun. Damn I I wish I could speak
every language. OK, so this man is named Lohse
Shun and he came with his two brothers who said that his
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ancestors had been related to the Dragon King, hence they were
well liked by Dragons and well known to them.
They begged to be entrusted withthe message.
The wise man asked. And have you still in your
possession the stone which compels the Dragons to do your
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will? Yes, said they, we have brought
it along with us. The wise man had them show him
the stone. Then he spoke.
The stone is only obeyed by the Dragons who make clouds and send
down the rain. It will not do for the Dragons
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who guard the pearls of the Sea King.
Then he questioned them further.Have you the dragon brain
vapour? What dragon brain vapour?
Oh my God, I need to know more. When they admitted that they had
not, the wise man said, How thenwill you compel the Dragons to
(43:40):
yield their treasure? And the emperor said, What shall
we do? The wise man replied, On the
western ocean sail foreign merchants who deal in dragon
brain vapor. What an industry to be in.
(44:02):
Someone must go to them and seekit from them.
I also know a holy man who is anadept in the art of taming
Dragons and who has prepared 10 lbs of the dragon stone.
Someone should be sent for that as well.
Well OK, first of all I would love to hear the life story of
(44:24):
the dragon tamer. Also, you know what this reminds
me of? There's this thing called like
glowing jade, I think, right? I, I don't know what it would
refer to in Chinese culture, butthere's this really rare stone
known as glowing jade in English.
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And it's basically jade, but it glows in the dark.
So if it absorbs enough like sunlight, it can glow in the
dark. And I found out about this from
this like dude I met once I was in high school and it was so
trippy. Maybe I already told the story
on the aliens episode, but when I was in high school, I started
(45:09):
researching aliens and like, I think one of the first nights
that I went on this deep dive and like felt like discovered
the Anunnaki and the Pleiadians and like all this stuff.
Literally the next day I was walking down the street and this
dude who was middle-aged was like, oh, I know you.
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I met you at like some convention or whatever last
week. And I was like, no, dude, you
don't know me. What?
And like he walked with me to mybus stop, which he was like,
this is also my bus stop. And he was like telling me that
he was born in the year of the dragon, in the month of the
dragon, in the week of the dragon.
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And when he was in his 40s, he went to the Dragon province in
China, to the Temple of the Dragon.
And outside he found this spherical stone of glowing jade.
And he just picked it up. It was like on the ground.
And so he didn't think anything of it.
He just thought it was like somespecial rock.
It turns out the piece that he picked up was worth millions of
(46:15):
dollars, and he was in a fairly touristy area.
And, like, it was a perfectly round sphere.
And so he asked everyone in the temple, like, was this stolen
from the temple? Or was it misplaced?
No one had seen this stone before, and he had literally
just picked it up on the ground.And so he obviously was
convinced this was like divine fate, which I, I can't even
(46:38):
argue with him. This is like a wild story.
And he was like, you don't believe me, do you?
And I was like, I don't know. I do you.
I do believe you. How can you, like make this shit
up? So then he was telling me that
like, now his job was that he was like a glowing jade dealer.
And he was wearing a piece around his neck.
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And he gave me his business card.
And it was like, it was a photograph of this, of this
giant orb of glowing jade he brought.
And he was talking about like, since he found the glowing jade,
like his whole, I don't know, all these like weird psychic
things started happening to him.And I met him in 2011.
So he was telling me that on like December 21st, 2012, he was
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going to bring his glowing jade to Machu Picchu and ask the
aliens to pick him up. That's what he told me.
But I wonder anyway, I'm tellingyou the story because I'm
wondering if that's what Dragonstone is because they did
mention that the Dragons love jade.
And this is glowing jade, which is extra magical.
And you know that dude who was born allegedly in the year of
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the dragon on the month of the dragon on the day.
And I don't even know if that's like a real thing.
But that's what this more randomdude I met once told me.
It was actually also really crazy because he told me that
after he found the glowing jade that he started like aging
backwards and that he like looked younger than he did when
he first picked it up. And he told me he was 70, which
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is crazy because he looked like he was like 40, like a really
healthy 40. But this guy also could have
been a nut, you know what I mean?
Like, this was in Berkeley, CA. So this guy, you know, I'm just
saying take it with a grain of salt.
OK, so the wise man is saying that we need a Dragonstone stat
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and we need some dragon brain vapor.
And then we're going to go talk to the Dragon Tamer, who is my
idol. So the Emperor sent out his
messengers. They met one of the holy man's
disciples and obtained 2 fragrant fragments of dragon
(48:47):
stone from him. Said the wise man.
This is what we want. Several more months went by, and
at last a pill of Dragon Brain Vapor had also been secured.
This is so wild a pill. I wasn't expecting the Dragon
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Brain Vapor to come in a pill. Whatever.
The Emperor felt much pleased and had his jewellers carved 2
little boxes of the finest jade.These were polished with the
ashes of the Wu Tongue Tree. What if it was Wu Tang Tree?
Can you imagine? And he had an essence prepared
(49:29):
of the very best hollow Greenwood, pasted with sea fish
lime and hardened with fire. Interesting of this of this, two
vases were made and then the bodies and the clothing of the
messengers were rubbed with treewax and they were given 500
(49:51):
roasted swallows to take with them.
This is a wild mission. Could you imagine being one of
the messengers of the king? And you're going to be rubbed
with tree wax, You're going to be given a vase made out of
hallow Greenwood and sealed withsea fish lime and hardened with
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fire. Like what the fuck are you
talking about? And then they're you're going to
be given 500 roasted swallows. This is a wild mission, dude.
This this is the kind of MissionImpossible I want to see.
You know what I mean? Mission Impossible Dragon's
Lair. Like this.
This is the movie I want to see.OK, so the messengers went into
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The Cave, and when they reached the dragon castle, the little
dragon who guarded the gate smelled the tree wax.
So he crouched down and did themno harm.
They gave him 100 roasted swallows as a bribe to announce
them to the daughter of the Dragon King.
They were admitted to her presence and offered her the
(50:56):
jade caskets, the vases, and the400 roasted swallows as gifts.
The Dragon's daughter received them graciously and they
unfolded the Emperor's letter. In the castle, there was a
dragon who was over 1000 years old.
(51:16):
He could turn himself into a human being and could interpret
the language of human beings. Oh my God, that's so cool.
Let's write a story about his life.
Hello. Through him, the Dragon's
daughter learned that the emperor was sending her the
gifts, and she returned them with the gift of three great
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pearls, 7 smaller pearls, and a whole bushel of ordinary pearls.
The messengers took leave, rode off with their pearls on a
Dragon's back, and in a moment they had reached the banks of
the Young Sea Kyung. They made their way to Nong
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King, the imperial capital, and there they handed over their
treasure of gems. The Emperor was much pleased and
showed them to the wise man. He said of the three great
pearls, 1 is a divine wishing Pearl of the third class, and
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two are black dragon pearls of medium quality.
Of the seven smaller pearls, 2 are serpent pearls and five are
mussel pearls. The remaining pearls are in part
sea crane pearls, in part snail and oyster pearls.
They do not approach the great pearls in value, and yet few
(52:41):
will be found to equal them on earth.
The Emperor also showed them to all of his servants.
They, however, thought this wiseman's words were all talk, and
did not believe what he said. The wise man said the radiance
of wishing pearls of the first class is visible for 40 miles,
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that of the second class for 20 miles, and that of the third
class for 10 miles, as far as their radiance carries neither
wind nor rain, Thunder nor lightning, water, fire nor
weapons may reach. The pearls of the black dragon
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are 9 colored and glow by night within the circle of their
light. The poison of serpents and worms
is powerless. The serpent pearls are 7
colored, the muscle pearls 5 colored.
Both shine by night. Those must free from spots our
best. They grow within the muscle and
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increase and decrease in size asthe moon waxes and wanes.
Someone asked how the serpent and the sea Crane pearls could
be told apart, and the wise man answered The animals themselves
recognize them. Then the Emperor selected a
serpent Pearl and a sea crane Pearl and put them together with
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a whole bushel of ordinary pearls, and poured the lot out
into the courtyard. Then a large yellow serpent and
a black crane were fetched and placed among the pearls.
At once the crane took up a Sea crane Pearl in his bill, and
began to dance and sing and flutter around.
(54:32):
But the serpent snatched at the serpent Pearl and wound himself
about it in many coils. And when the people saw this,
they acknowledged the truth of the wise man's words as regards
to the radiance of the larger and smaller pearls.
It turned out to just as the wise Man had said.
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In the Dragon Castle the messengers had enjoyed dainty
fair which tasted like flowers, herbs, ointments and sugars.
They had brought a remnant of itwith them to the capital, yet
exposed to the air had become hard as stone.
The Emperor commanded that thesefragments must be preserved in
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the treasury. Then he bestowed high rank and
titles on the three brothers andmade each one of them present.
Oh, and made each one of them a present of 1000 rolls of fine
silk. He also had investigated why it
was that the fisherman, when he had chanced upon The Cave, had
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not been destroyed by the Dragons, and it turned out that
his fishing clothes had been soaked in oil tree wax and the
Dragons had dreaded the odor. Some 20 miles east of Gingshow
lies this Lake of the Maidens. It is several miles square and
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surrounded on all sides by thickgreen thickets and tall forests.
Its waters are clear and dark blue.
Often all kinds of wondrous creatures show themselves in the
lake. The people of the vicinity have
erected a temple there for the dragon goddess, and in times of
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drought all make pilgrimage there to OfferUp prayers.
West of Ginghao, 200 miles away,is another lake whose God is
named Shuana and who performs many miracles.
During the time of the Tang Dynasty, there lived in Ginghao,
(56:44):
a Mandarin by name of Xiao Bao. I I'm promise you I'm not
pronouncing this correctly, so Ijust needed to say that because
there are so many names here that I dearly wish I was
pronouncing perfectly. OK.
So while Chow Bao was in office,it chanced that in the 5th
(57:08):
month, clouds suddenly arose in the sky, piling themselves up
like mountains, among which wriggled Dragons and serpents.
They rolled up and down between two seas, Tempest and rain,
Thunder and lightning arose, so that the houses fell to pieces,
(57:30):
trees were torn up by the roots,and much damage was done to the
crops. Zhao Bao took the blame upon
himself and prayed to the heavens that his people might be
pardoned. On the 5th day of the sixth
month he sat in his hall of audience and gave judgement, and
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suddenly he felt quite weary andsleepy.
He took off his hat and laid down on the cushions.
No sooner had he closed his eyesthan he saw a warrior in a
helmet and armor, with a hull bared in his hand, standing on
the steps leading to the hall. Who announced, a lady is waiting
(58:14):
outside who wishes to enter? Zhao Bao asked him, Who are you?
The answer was, I am your doorkeeper in the invisible
world. I already have been performing
this duty for many years. Meanwhile, 2 figures clad in
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green came up the steps, knelt before him and said, Our
mistress has come to visit you. Jow Bao rose.
He beheld lovely clouds from which fell of fine rain and
strange fragrance. Fragrances enchanted him.
(58:56):
Suddenly he saw a lady clad in asimple gown but of surpassing
beauty, float down from on high with a retinue of many male
servants. Oh, love her, she sounds hot.
These were all neat and clean inappearance and waited upon the
(59:17):
lady as though she were a Princess.
When the latter entered the hall, she raised her arms in
greeting. Zhao Bao came forward to meet
her and invited her to be seatedfrom all sides.
Bright colored clouds came floating in, and the courtyard
was filled with a purple ether. Zhao Bao had wine and food
(59:42):
brought and entertained them allin the most splendid way.
But the goddess sat staring straight before her with
wrinkled brows and seemed to feel very sad.
Then she rose and said with a blush.
I have been living in this neighbourhood for many years.
(01:00:04):
A wrong which has been done to me permits me to pass the bounds
of what is fitting. And encourages me to ask a favor
of you. Yet I do not know whether you
wish to save me. May I hear what it is all about?
Answered Xiao Bao. If I could help you, I will be
(01:00:26):
glad to place myself at your disposal.
The goddess said. For hundreds of years, my family
has been living in the depths ofthe Eastern Sea.
But we were unfortunate in that our treasures excited the
jealousy of men. The ancestor of Pilau, nearly of
(01:00:48):
of Pilo. Pilo, my bad.
The ancestor of Pilo nearly destroyed our entire clan by
fire. My ancestors had to fly and hide
themselves, and not long ago ourenemy P Lo himself wanted to
deliver an imperial letter in The Cave of the Sea of Dung
(01:01:08):
Ting. Under the pretext of begging for
pearls and treasures, he wished to enter the Dragon Castle to
destroy our family. Fortunately a wise man saw
through his treacherous purpose,and Loathsi Shun and his
brothers were sent in his stead.Yet my people did not feel safe
(01:01:32):
from future attacks. For this reason they withdrew to
the distant W. My father has done much good to
mankind and hence is highly honoured there.
I am his ninth daughter. When I was 16, I was wedded to
the youngest son of the rock dragon.
(01:01:53):
But my good husband had a fiery temper which often caused him to
offend against the laws of courtesy, and in less than a
year's time the punishment of heaven was his portion.
I was left alone and returned tothe home of my parents.
My father wished me to marry again, but I had promised to
(01:02:15):
remain true to the memory of my husband and made a vow not to
comply with my father's wish. My parents grew angry, and I was
obliged to retire to this place in view of their anger.
That was three years ago. Who could imagine that the
contemptible dragon Shuana, who was seeking a wife for his
(01:02:39):
younger brother, would try to force the wedding gift upon me
and refuse to accept it? But Chuana knew how to gain his
point with my father and was determined to carry out his
intention. My father, regardless of my
wishes, promised me to him. And then the dragon Chuana
(01:03:01):
appeared with his youngest brother and wanted to carry me
off by sheer force of arms. I encountered him with 50
faithful followers, and we fought on the Meadow before the
city. We were defeated, and I am more
than ever afraid that Shuana will attempt to drag me off.
(01:03:22):
So I have plucked up courage to beg you to lend me your
mercenaries so that I may beat off my foes and remain as I am.
If you will help me, I will be grateful to you till the end of
my days. Chow Bao answered.
You come from a noble family. Have you know kinsfolk who will
(01:03:45):
hasten to help you in your need that you are compelled to turn
to a mortal man? It is true that my kinsfolk are
far famed and numerous. If I were to send out letters
and they came to my aid, they would rub out that scaly
scoundrel shwana as one might rub garlic.
(01:04:09):
I love that phrase. My deceased husband offended the
high heavens and he has not beenpardoned, and my parents will
too is opposed to mine so that Idare not call upon my kinsfolk
for help. You will understand my need
(01:04:31):
then, Shou. Thou promised to help her, and
the Princess thanked him and departed.
When he awoke, he sighed, long thinking over his strange
experience. In the following day, he sent
off 1500 soldiers to stand guardby the Lake of the Maidens.
(01:04:53):
On the 7th day of the sixth month, Chow Bao rose early.
Darkness still lay before the windows, yet it seemed to him as
though he could glimpse a man before the curtain.
He asked who it might be. The man said I in the Princess's
advisor yesterday you were kind enough to send soldiers to aid
(01:05:17):
us in our distress, but they were all living men, and such
cannot fight against invisible spirits.
You will have to send U.S. soldiers of yours who have died
if you wish to aid us. Oh, this is spooky, this is
cool, Zhao Bao reflected for a time, and then it occurred to
(01:05:38):
him that of course such must be the case.
So he had his field secretary examine the roster to see how
many of his soldiers had fallen in battle, and the latter
counted up to some 2000 foot soldiers and 500 horsemen.
(01:05:59):
Zhao Bao appointed his deceased officer Mung Wan as their leader
and wrote his commands on a paper which he burned in order
thus, pardon me, in order thus to place them at the princess's
disposal. This is fucking amazing dude.
(01:06:21):
He's talking to ghosts to help the Princess of Dragons.
Like this is sick as fuck. Let's make this a movie.
This is so cool I love this. A ghost army.
The living soldiers were recalled.
They were being reviewed in the courtyard.
(01:06:42):
After their return, a soldier suddenly fell unconscious.
It was not until early the following morning that he came
to his senses again. He was questioned and replied.
I saw a man clad in red who approached me and said, Our
(01:07:03):
Princess is grateful for the aidyour master has so kindly given
her, yet she still has a requestto make and has asked me to call
you. I followed him to the temple.
The Princess bade me come forward and said to me, I thank
your master from my heart for sending me the ghost soldiers,
(01:07:26):
but Meng Wan, their leader, is incapable.
Yesterday the robbers came with 3000 men, and Meng Wan was
beaten by them. When you return and again see
your master, say that I earnestly beg him to send me a
good general. Perhaps that will save me in my
(01:07:47):
need. Then she had me LED back again
and I regained consciousness. This is so fucking cool.
She's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, thanks.
But like, maybe a better general.
Could you imagine being a soldier for a king and then
(01:08:08):
dying and then you being summoned in ghost form?
Like I, I don't think I would ever want to be a soldier, but
this would be like, one thing that would be cool to be a ghost
soldier for the Princess of Dragons.
This is so sick. So when Zhao Bao had heard these
words, which seemed to fit strangely well with what he had
(01:08:32):
dreamed, he thought he would tryto see if this was really the
case. Therefore he chose his
victorious general, Chung Chung Chung Fu, to take the place of
Mong Wang. That evening he buried incense,
(01:08:52):
offered wine, and handed over tothe Princess his captain's soul.
On the 26th of the month news came from the general's camp
that he had suddenly died. At midnight on the 13th Chow Bao
was frightened and sent a man tobring him a report.
(01:09:12):
The latter informed him that thegeneral's heart had hardly
ceased to beat, and that in spite of the hot summer weather,
his body was free from any traceof decay.
So the order was given not to bury him.
Then one night an icy spectral wind arose, which whirled up
(01:09:32):
sand and stones, broke trees, and tore down houses.
The standing corn in the fields was blown down.
The storm lasted all day. Finally the crash of a terrific
Thunderbolt was heard, and then the skies cleared and the clouds
scattered. That very hour the dead general
(01:09:54):
began to breathe painfully on his couch, and when his
attendants came to him he had returned to life again.
They questioned him, and he toldthem first.
I saw a man in a purple gown riding a Black Horse, who came
up with a great retinue. He dismounted before the door.
(01:10:18):
In his hand he held a decree of appointment, which he gave me,
saying, Our Princess begs you most respectfully to become her
general. I hope that you will not refuse.
Then he brought forth gifts and heaped them before the steps.
Jade's stones, brocades and silken garments, saddles,
(01:10:42):
horses, helmets and suits of mail.
He heaped them all up in the courtyard.
I wished to decline, but this hewould not allow and urge me to
enter his chariot with him. We drove 100 miles and met a
train of 300 armored horsemen who had ridden out to escort me.
(01:11:05):
They led me to a great city, andbefore the city a tent had be
had been erected in which playeda band of musicians.
A high official welcomed me. When I entered the city, the
onlookers were crowded together like walls.
This is riveting. This is so crazy dude, this is
(01:11:29):
so sick. Servants ran to and fro bearing
orders. We passed through more than a
dozen gates before we reached the Princess.
There I was requested to dismount and change my clothes
in order to enter the presence of the Princess, for she wished
to received me. She wished to receive me as her
(01:11:53):
guest, but I thought this too great an honor and greeted her
below on the steps. She, however, invited me to seat
myself near her in the hall. She sat upright in all her
incomparable beauty, surrounded by female attendants adorned
with the richest jewels. These plucked lute strings and
(01:12:17):
played flutes. Oh my God, this is incredible.
A throng of servitors stood about in golden girdles with
purple tassels, ready to carry out her commands.
The the use of purple and gold, so beautiful.
Also I love the image earlier ofthe man in a purple robe on a
(01:12:39):
Black Horse. This is like this is stunning.
We love the color scheme. A throng.
OK, yes, yes, yes. The golden girdles, purple
tassels, yes. Countless crowds were assembled
before the palace, 5 or 6 visitors sat in a circle about
the Princess, and a general led me to my place.
(01:13:03):
The Princess said to me, I have begged you to come here in order
to entrust the command of my army to you.
If you will break the power of my foe, I will reward you
richly. I promise to obey her.
Then wine was brought in, and the banquet was served to the
Sound of Music. While we are at the table, a
(01:13:27):
messenger entered the robber. Chauhanna has invaded our land
with 10,000 footmen and horsemenand is approaching our city by
various roads. His way is marked by columns of
fire and smoke. The guests all grew pale with
(01:13:47):
terror when they heard the news,and the Princess said, This is
the foe, because of whom I have sought your aid, save me in my
hour of need. Then she gave me two chargers, a
suit of golden armour, and the Insignia of a commander in
chief, and bowed to me. I thanked her and went called
(01:14:12):
together. 3 captains had the army mustered and rode out
before the city. At several decisive points I
placed troops in ambush. The enemy was already
approaching in great force, careless and unconcerned,
intoxicated by its former's victories.
(01:14:35):
I sent out my most untrustworthysoldiers in advance, who allowed
themselves to be beaten in orderto lure him in.
Oh, this is brilliant light. Armed men then went out against
him and retreated in skirmish order, and thus he fell into my
ambush. Drums and kettle drums sounded
(01:14:56):
together, the ring closed aroundthem on all sides, and the
robber army suffered a grievous defeat.
The dead lay about like hempstocks, but little Chauhna
succeeded in breaking through the circle.
I sent out the light horsemen after him, and they seized him
(01:15:17):
before the tent of the enemy's commanding general.
Hastily, I sent word to the Princess.
She reviewed the prisoners before the palace.
All the people, high and low, streamed together to acclaim her
little Chowna. I know, I'm saying that's so
(01:15:37):
wrong it's driving me crazy. He was about to be executed in
the marketplace when a messengercame spurring up with a command
from the princess's father to pardon him.
The Princess did not dare to disobey, so he was dismissed to
his home after he had sworn to give up all the thought of
(01:16:00):
realizing his traitorous plans. I was loaded with benefits.
As a reward for my victory, I was invested with an estate with
3000 peasants. Oh, great slaves, and was given
a palace, horse and wagons, all sorts of jewels, men servants
(01:16:21):
and women servants, gardens and forests, banners and suits of
mail, and my subordinate officers too, were duly
rewarded. On the following day a banquet
was held, and the Princess herself filled the goblet, sent
it to me by one of her attendants, and said.
(01:16:41):
Widowed early in life, I opposedthe wishes of my stern father,
and fled to this spot. Here the infamous chawna
harassed me, and well nigh put me to shame.
Had not your master's great kindness and your own courage
come to my assistance, hard would have been my lot.
(01:17:06):
Then she began to think me, and her tears of emotions flowed
like a stream. I bowed and begged her to grant
me leave of absence, so that I might look after my family.
I was given a month's leave, andthe following day she dismissed
me with a splendid retinue. Before the city a pavilion had
(01:17:27):
been erected in which I drank the stirrup cup.
Then I rode away, and when I arrived before our gate a
Thunder peel crashed and I awoke.
Thereupon the general wrote an account of what happened to Shao
Bao, in which he conveyed the princess's thanks.
(01:17:48):
Then he paid no further heed to worldly matters, but set his
house in order and turned it over to his wife and son.
When a month had passed, he diedwithout any sign of illness.
That same day, one of his officers was out walking.
Suddenly he saw a heavy cloud ofdust rising along the highway
(01:18:12):
while flags and banners darkenedthe sun. 1000 Knights were
escorting a man who sat his horse proudly like a hero, and
when the officer looked at his face, it was the general Chung
Chung Sung Fu. Hastily, he stepped to the edge
(01:18:34):
of the road in order to allow the cavalcade to pass and
watched it ride by. The horsemen took the way to the
Lake of Maidens, where they disappeared.
Wow, that was such a pretty story.
(01:18:59):
Wow that was so cool. I love this like this like ghost
army situation that was so spooky and esoteric.
Like I want to know more about the dragon lore because like
Pylo's family were dragon fighters, right?
And they had like dragon beef for centuries.
(01:19:22):
Then there's the dragon tamer. Then there's the dragon lineages
who have like some of them have alliances with humans and the
dragon kingdoms. Like this is sick dude.
I always feel like every time I read some of these stories, I
feel so like, I want to know more details.
I want to know about the dragon tamer.
I want to know about Pylo's family beef.
(01:19:45):
I want to know more about the dragon Princess.
I want to know more about like ghost soldiers do go, can ghost
soldiers be killed? Like I want to know the physics
behind this. Oh that was so fun.
Thank you so much for listening.That was so super sweet.
Please take good care of yourself.
We need more kind human beings on planet earth.
(01:20:07):
We need to look after ourselves.Community is the only way we're
going to make it through this without ruining the world and
each other. We need community.
So take good care of yourself. I have so much love and
appreciation for you. Have the most beautiful day.
Over and out, baby.
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