Memories of Connor's Adventures

Orlando the Adventurer pulled a Scimitar from beneath his Robes and smiled...

Saturday, 6 February 2016

Now Reading: Old Tales Retold

'Old Tales Retold' by Lu Hsun is a collection of very old Chinese (and earlier) stories 'rewritten' for the 'modern' audience (published 1961).

While they are in their majority early tales of China, 'Mending Heaven' is an amalgamation of the emergence of the first humans and a smattering of civilization.
The goddess Nu-wa (a protoindoeuropean two-phonetic name meaning: [now-to bend (knees) apart]; a childbirth or rape reference), aparently bored as can be...
"I've never been so bored!"
 '...scooped up a handful of soft mud.' She kneads this into a 'small creature much like herself'. Not content with this she breaths life into it.
"Nga! Nga!" The little creatures were calling out.

*I previously suggested that ng- is a phonetic associated with a particular group of 'humans' (the oldest being neanderthals: ul phonetic, the other being the very small folk who use the dj phonetic).

Nu-wa, having gone off to amuse her self leaves 'man' to his own devices.
During her time there is a great crash and 'heaven split asunder'.
Now she stumbles across creatures living in 'gullies' on some mountains.
A shaman reference here:
'Vomited on the ground beside these creatures was something resembling gold dust and powdered jade with chewed pine needles and meat.'
Nu-wa recognizes them with their white beards as that which she created.
They plead with her to save them. They are in a quest of immortality. She doesnt understand but transplants their mountains to the backs of sea turtles. All but one man who is left on a beach slapping his face...

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