General Information about Item:
- Verbal lore, fable
- Language: Chinese
- Country of Origin: China
- Informant: Penny Liu
- Date Collected: 11-10-19
Informant Data:
Penny Liu is a 21 year old, Dartmouth student who was born and raised in Shenyang, China. She attended high school in Shenyang and speaks Mandarin, and English.
Contextual Data:
This fable is usually told by parents/teachers for an educational purpose during childhood. It is wide-known in China and everyone is familiar with the moral that this fable is trying to teach.
Item:
“Once upon a time, the youngest daughter of Emperor Yan, legendary ruler of primitive China, went boating on the eastern sea. While she was enjoying herself, a strong wind rose on the sea and her boat capsized. Just before she was buried by the surging waves, her spirit turned into a beautiful bird. As it flew over the roaring sea, it cried sadly in the sound “Jinwei, Jingwei.” That was why people called it “jingwei.”
The bird lived on a mountain near the sea. It hated the sea so much that it decided to fill it up. Every day, it flew to and from between the mountains and the sea, carrying in a twig or a pebble from the mountain and dropping it into the sea.
One day, the roaring sea said to Jingwei, “poor little bird, stop doing that meaningless thing! You’ll never fill me up.” Jingwei replied, “I’ll fill you up no doubt! I will, even if it’ll take me thousands of years! I’ll fight on until doomsday!”
The brave little bird kept carrying twigs and pebbles from the mountain to the eastern sea without taking a rest.”
Associated file:
Informant’s Comments:
- This fable teaches children the importance of perseverance. A person can achieve anything as long as he/she persists.
Collector’s Comments:
- This fable is a classic example of a Chinese fable. It contains a Chinese magical creature Jingwei which is well-known in China.
Collector’s Name: Wenrui Zhang
Tags/Keywords: Chinese, fable