General Information about Item: 

• Verbal lore, fable
• Language: Chinese
• Country of Origin: China
• Informant: Qirong Li
• Date Collected: 11-9-19

Informant Data:

Qirong Li is a 21 year old, Dartmouth student who was born and raised in Beijing, China. She attended high school in Beijing and speaks Mandarin, English, and Japanese. 

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:

“Lord Ye is a young man who really likes dragons. His house is decorated by dragons all over. A real dragon hears about this and is deeply moved. He wants to visit Lord Ye and be friends with him. But when the real dragon comes to visit, Lord Ye is terrified and runs away as fast as he can.”

 

Associate File:

Informant’s Comments:

• This fable teaches children not to be fake and act true to her heart. 

Collector’s Comments:

• This fable is a classic example of a Chinese fable. The dragon depicted in this fable is worshiped and liked by people, whereas in European countries dragons are usually evil. 

Collector’s Name: Wenrui Zhang

Tags/Keywords: Chinese, fable