Chinese Fairy Tales
LAOTSZE
LAOTSZE is really older than heaven and earth put
together. He is the Yellow Lord or Ancient, who created this world
together with the other four. At various times he has appeared on
earth, under various names. His most celebrated incarnation, however,
is that of Laotsze, “The Old Child,” which name he was given because he
made his appearance on earth with white hair.
He acquired all
sorts of magic powers by means of which he extended his life-span. Once
he hired a servant to do his bidding. He agreed to give him a hundred
pieces of copper daily; yet he did not pay him, and finally he owed him
seven million, two hundred thousand pieces of copper. Then he mounted a
black steer and rode to the West. He wanted to take his servant along.
But when they reached the Han-Gu pass, the servant refused to go
further, and insisted on being paid. Yet Laotsze gave him nothing.
When
they came to the house of the guardian of the pass, red clouds appeared
in the sky. The guardian understood this sign and knew that a holy man
was drawing near. So he went out to meet him and took him into his
house. He questioned him with regard to hidden knowledge, but Laotsze
only stuck out his tongue at him and would not say a word.
Nevertheless, the guardian of the pass treated him with the greatest
respect in his home. Laotsze’s servant told the servant of the guardian
that his master owed him a great deal of money, and begged the latter
to put in a good word for him. When the guardian’s servant [74] heard
how large a sum it was, he was tempted to win so wealthy a man for a
son-in-law, and he married him to his daughter. Finally the guardian
heard of the matter and came to Laotsze together with the servant. Then
Laotsze said to his servant: “You rascally servant. You really should
have been dead long ago. I hired you, and since I was poor and could
give you no money, I gave you a life-giving talisman to eat. That is
how you still happen to be alive. I said to you: ‘If you will follow me
into the West, the land of Blessed Repose, I will pay you your wages in
yellow gold. But you did not wish to do this.’” And with that he patted
his servant’s neck. Thereupon the latter opened his mouth, and spat out
the life-giving talisman. The magic signs written on it with cinnabar,
quite fresh and well-preserved, might still be seen. But the servant
suddenly collapsed and turned into a heap of dry bones. Then the
guardian of the pass cast himself to earth and pleaded for him. He
promised to pay the servant for Laotsze and begged the latter to
restore him to life. So Laotsze placed the talisman among the bones and
at once the servant came to life again. The guardian of the pass paid
him his wages and dismissed him. Then he adored Laotsze as his master,
and the latter taught him the art of eternal life, and left him his
teachings, in five thousand words, which the guardian wrote down. The
book which thus came into being is the Tao Teh King, “The Book of the
Way and Life.” Laotsze then disappeared from the eyes of men. The
guardian of the pass however, followed his teachings, and was given a
place among the immortals.
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