Chinese Fairy Tales
NOTSCHA
THE oldest daughter of the Ruler of Heaven had married
the great general Li Dsing. Her sons were named Gintscha, Mutscha and
Notscha. But when Notscha was given her, she dreamed at night that a
Taoist priest came into her chamber and said: “Swiftly receive the
Heavenly Son!” And straightway a radiant pearl glowed within her. And
she was so frightened at her dream that she awoke. And when Notscha
came into the world, it seemed as though a ball of flesh were turning
in circles like a wheel, and the whole room was filled with strange
fragrances and a crimson light.
[45] Li Dsing was much
frightened, and thought it was an apparition. He clove the circling
ball with his sword, and out of it leaped a small boy whose whole body
glowed with a crimson radiance. But his face was delicately shaped and
white as snow. About his right arm he wore a golden armlet and around
his thighs was wound a length of crimson silk, whose glittering shine
dazzled the eyes. When Li Dsing saw the child he took pity on him and
did not slay him, while his wife began to love the boy dearly.
When
three days had passed, all his friends came to wish him joy. They were
just sitting at the festival meal when a Taoist priest entered and
said: “I am the Great One. This boy is the bright Pearl of the
Beginning of Things, bestowed upon you as your son. Yet the boy is wild
and unruly, and will kill many men. Therefore I will take him as my
pupil to gentle his savage ways.” Li Dsing bowed his thanks and the
Great One disappeared.
When Notscha was seven years old he once
ran away from home. He came to the river of nine bends, whose green
waters flowed along between two rows of weeping-willows. The day was
hot, and Notscha entered the water to cool himself. He unbound his
crimson silk cloth and whisked it about in the water to wash it. But
while Notscha sat there and whisked about his scarf in the water, it
shook the castle of the Dragon-King of the Eastern Sea to its very
foundations. So the Dragon-King sent out a Triton, terrible to look
upon, who was to find out what was the matter. When the Triton saw the
boy he began to scold. But the latter merely looked up and said: “What
a strange-looking beast you are, and you can actually talk!” Then the
Triton grew enraged, leaped up and struck at Notscha with his ax. But
the latter avoided the blow, [46] and threw his golden armlet at him.
The armlet struck the Triton on the head and he sank down dead.
Notscha
laughed and said: “And there he has gone and made my armlet bloody!”
And he once more sat down on a stone, in order to wash his armlet. Then
the crystal castle of the dragon began to tremble as though it were
about to fall apart. And a watchman also came and reported that the
Triton had been slain by a boy. So the Dragon-King sent out his son to
capture the boy. And the son seated himself on the water-cleaving
beast, and came up with a thunder of great waves of water. Notscha
straightened up and said: “That is a big wave!” Suddenly he saw a
creature rise out of the waves, on whose back sat an armed man who
cried in a loud voice: “Who has slain my Triton?” Notscha answered:
“The Triton wanted to slay me so I killed him. What difference does it
make?” Then the dragon assailed him with his halberd. But Notscha said:
“Tell me who you are before we fight.” “I am the son of the
Dragon-King,” was the reply. “And I am Notscha, the son of General Li
Dsing. You must not rouse my anger with your violence, or I will skin
you, together with that old mud-fish, your father!” Then the dragon
grew wild with rage, and came storming along furiously. But Notscha
cast his crimson cloth into the air, so that it flashed like a ball of
fire, and cast the dragon-youth from his breast. Then Notscha took his
golden armlet and struck him on the forehead with it, so that he had to
reveal himself in his true form as a golden dragon, and fall down dead.
Notscha
laughed and said: “I have heard tell that dragon-sinews make good
cords. I will draw one out and bring it to my father, and he can tie
his armor together with it.” And with that he drew out the dragon’s
back sinew and took it home.
[47] In the meantime the
Dragon-King, full of fury, had hastened to Notscha’s father Li Dsing
and demanded that Notscha be delivered up to him. But Li Dsing replied:
“You must be mistaken, for my boy is only seven years old and incapable
of committing such misdeeds.” While they were still quarreling Notscha
came running up and cried: “Father, I’m bringing along a dragon’s sinew
for you, so that you may bind up your armor with it!” Now the dragon
broke out into tears and furious scolding. He threatened to report Li
Dsing to the Ruler of the Heaven, and took himself off, snorting with
rage.
Li Dsing grew very much excited, told his wife what had
happened, and both began to weep. Notscha, however, came to them and
said: “Why do you weep? I will just go to my master, the Great One, and
he will know what is to be done.” And no sooner had he said the words
than he had disappeared. He came into his master’s presence and told
him the whole tale. The latter said: “You must get ahead of the dragon,
and prevent him from accusing you in Heaven!” Then he did some magic,
and Notscha found himself set down by the gate of Heaven, where he
waited for the dragon. It was still early in the morning; the gate of
Heaven had not yet been opened, nor was the watchman at his post. But
the dragon was already climbing up. Notscha, whom his master’s magic
had rendered invisible, threw the dragon to the ground with his armlet,
and began to pitch into him. The dragon scolded and screamed. “There
the old worm flounders about,” said Notscha, “and does not care how
hard he is beaten! I will scratch off some of his scales.” And with
these words he began to tear open the dragon’s festal garments, and rip
off some of the scales beneath his left arm, so that the red blood
dripped out. Then the dragon could no longer stand the pain and begged
for mercy. But first he had to promise Notscha that [48] he would not
complain of him, before the latter would let him go. And then the
dragon had to turn himself into a little green snake, which Notscha put
into his sleeve and took back home with him. But no sooner had he drawn
the little snake from his sleeve than it assumed human shape. The
dragon then swore that he would punish Li Dsing in a terrible manner,
and disappeared in a flash of lightning.
Li Dsing was now angry
with his son in earnest. Therefore Notscha’s mother sent him to the
rear of the house to keep out of his father’s sight. Notscha
disappeared and went to his master, in order to ask him what he should
do when the dragon returned. His master advised him and Notscha went
back home. And all the Dragon Kings of the four seas were assembled,
and had bound his parents, with cries and tumult, in order to punish
them. Notscha ran up and cried with a loud voice: “I will take the
punishment for whatever I have done! My parents are blameless! What is
the punishment you wish to lay upon me?” “Life for life!” said the
dragon. “Very well then, I will destroy myself!” And so he did and the
dragons went off satisfied; while Notscha’s mother buried him with many
tears.
But the spiritual part of Notscha, his soul, fluttered
about in the air, and was driven by the wind to the cave of the Great
One. He took it in and said to it: “You must appear to your mother!
Forty miles distant from your home rises a green mountain cliff. On
this cliff she must build a shrine for you. And after you have enjoyed
the incense of human adoration for three years, you shall once more
have a human body.” Notscha appeared to his mother in a dream, and gave
her the whole message, and she awoke in tears. But Li Dsing grew angry
when she told him about it. “It serves the accursed boy right that he
is dead! It is [49] because you are always thinking of him that he
appears to you in dreams. You must pay no attention to him.” The woman
said no more, but thenceforward he appeared to her daily, as soon as
she closed her eyes, and grew more and more urgent in his demand.
Finally all that was left for her to do was to erect a temple for
Notscha without Li Dsing’s knowledge.
And Notscha performed
great miracles in his temple. All prayers made in it were granted. And
from far away people streamed to it to burn incense in his honor.
Thus
half a year passed. Then Li Dsing, on the occasion of a great military
drill, once came by the cliff in question, and saw the people crowding
thickly about the hill like a swarm of ants. Li Dsing inquired what
there were to see upon the hill. “It is a new god, who performs so many
miracles that people come from far and near to honor him.” “What sort
of a god is he?” asked Li Dsing. They did not dare conceal from him who
the god was. Then Li Dsing grew angry. He spurred his horse up the hill
and, sure enough, over the door of the temple was written: “Notscha’s
Shrine.” And within it was the likeness of Notscha, just as he had
appeared while living. Li Dsing said: “While you were alive you brought
misfortune to your parents. Now that you are dead you deceive the
people. It is disgusting!” With these words he drew forth his whip,
beat Notscha’s idolatrous likeness to pieces with it, had the temple
burned down, and the worshipers mildly reproved. Then he returned home.
Now
Notscha had been absent in the spirit upon that day. When he returned
he found his temple destroyed; and the spirit of the hill gave him the
details. Notscha hurried to his master and related with tears what had
befallen him. The latter was roused and said: “It is Li Dsing’s fault.
After you had given [50] back your body to your parents, you were no
further concern of his. Why should he withdraw from you the enjoyment
of the incense?” Then the Great One made a body of lotus-plants, gave
it the gift of life, and enclosed the soul of Notscha within it. This
done he called out in a loud voice: “Arise!” A drawing of breath was
heard, and Notscha leaped up once more in the shape of a small boy. He
flung himself down before his master and thanked him. The latter
bestowed upon him the magic of the fiery lance, and Notscha
thenceforward had two whirling wheels beneath his feet: The wheel of
the wind and the wheel of fire. With these he could rise up and down in
the air. The master also gave him a bag of panther-skin in which to
keep his armlet and his silken cloth.
Now Notscha had determined
to punish Li Dsing. Taking advantage of a moment when he was not
watched, he went away, thundering along on his rolling wheels to Li
Dsing’s dwelling. The latter was unable to withstand him and fled. He
was almost exhausted when his second son, Mutscha, the disciple of the
holy Pu Hain, came to his aid from the Cave of the White Crane. A
violent quarrel took place between the brothers; they began to fight,
and Mutscha was overcome; while Notscha once more rushed in pursuit of
Li Dsing. At the height of his extremity, however, the holy Wen Dschu
of the Hill of the Five Dragons, the master of Gintscha, Li Dsing’s
oldest son, stepped forth and hid Li Dsing in his cave. Notscha, in a
rage, insisted that he be delivered up to him; but Wen Dschu said:
“Elsewhere you may indulge your wild nature to your heart’s content,
but not in this place.”
And when Notscha in the excess of his
rage turned his fiery lance upon him, Wen Dschu stepped back a pace,
shook the seven-petaled lotus from his sleeve, and [51] threw it into
the air. A whirlwind arose, clouds and mists obscured the sight, and
sand and earth were flung up from the ground. Then the whirlwind
collapsed with a great crash. Notscha fainted, and when he regained
consciousness found himself bound to a golden column with three thongs
of gold, so that he could no longer move. Wen Dschu now called Gintscha
to him and ordered him to give his unruly brother a good thrashing. And
this he did, while Notscha, obliged to stand it, stood grinding his
teeth. In his extremity he saw the Great One floating by, and called
out to him: “Save me, O Master!” But the latter did not notice him;
instead he entered the cave and thanked Wen Dschu for the severe lesson
which he had given Notscha. Finally they called Notscha in to them and
ordered him to be reconciled to his father. Then they dismissed them
both and seated themselves to play chess. But no sooner was Notscha
free than he again fell into a rage, and renewed his pursuit of his
father. He had again overtaken Li Dsing when still another saint came
forward to defend the latter. This time it was the old Buddha of the
Radiance of the Light. When Notscha attempted to battle with him he
raised his arm, and a pagoda shaped itself out of red, whirling clouds
and closed around Notscha. Then Radiance of Light placed both his hands
on the pagoda and a fire arose within it which burned Notscha so that
he cried loudly for mercy. Then he had to promise to beg his father’s
forgiveness and always to obey him in the future. Not till he had
promised all this did the Buddha let him out of the pagoda again. And
he gave the pagoda to Li Dsing; and taught him a magic saying which
would give him the mastery over Notscha. It is for this reason that Li
Dsing is called the Pagoda-bearing King of Heaven.
[52] Later on
Li Dsing and his three sons, Gintscha, Mutscha and Notscha, aided King
Wu of the Dschou dynasty to destroy the tyrant Dschou-Sin.
None
could withstand their might. Only once did a sorcerer succeed in
wounding Notscha in the left arm. Any other would have died of the
wound. But the Great One carried him into his cave, healed his wound
and gave him three goblets of the wine of the gods to drink, and three
fire-dates to eat. When Notscha had eaten and drunk he suddenly heard a
crash at his left side and another arm grew out from it. He could not
speak and his eyes stood out from their sockets with horror. But it
went on as it had begun: six more arms grew out of his body and two
more heads, so that finally he had three heads and eight arms. He
called out to his Master: “What does all this mean?” But the latter
only laughed and said: “All is as it should be. Thus equipped you will
really be strong!” Then he taught him a magic incantation by means of
which he could make his arms and heads visible or invisible as he
chose. When the tyrant Dschou-Sin had been destroyed, Li Dsing and his
three sons, while still on earth, were taken up into heaven and seated
among the gods.
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