Ye Xian is a character in the notebook novel Youyang Za Mi written by Duan Chengshi in the Tang Dynasty (sequel, Volume 1, Zhinuogao). Leaf Limit is generally considered as one of the sources of the fairy tale Cinderella. Youyang Miscellany was written in the 9th century, which was earlier than Cinderella written by Huchard Perrault in 1697 and Cinderella in Grimm's Fairy Tales published by Brothers Grimm in 1812.
Before the Qin and Han Dynasties, a cave owner surnamed Wu married two wives. One of his wives died young, leaving a daughter named Ye Xian. Ye xian is clever and good at gold panning, and won his father's love; But after her father died, Ye was abused by her stepmother, who often asked her to cut trees in dangerous places or fetch water from deep-water wells. One day, Ye Xian got a goldfish with two inches long and golden eyes, and took it home to raise it. The goldfish grew up day by day and had to be kept in the pond. Only when Ye Xian walks to the edge of the pool will the goldfish float to the surface and stick its head out.
Ye Yan's stepmother cheated Ye Yan's clothes, put them on and walked to the pool, then killed the goldfish and burned it to eat. Ye Xian found that the goldfish was not in the pool and burst into tears. Suddenly, a fairy from heaven came to comfort Ye Yan and asked her to pick up the fishbone and hide it at home. In this way, the desire to pray to it can be realized. So Ye Xian got gold, silver, jewelry and fancy clothes.
On a festival, my stepmother took part in the grand event, and she told Ye Xian to stay at home and watch the fruit trees. Ye Xian waited for her stepmother to go away, followed her quietly, and put on a turquoise spun coat and a pair of gold shoes. The daughter born to her stepmother recognized Ye Limit, and her stepmother became suspicious when she saw Ye Limit. Ye Xian was afraid of being discovered by them, so he hurried home, leaving one of the golden shoes on the way, which was picked up by other cave people. When the stepmother came home, she found Ye Lim sleeping with a tree in her arms, so she didn't pursue it.
A cave man brought gold shoes to Tuohan, a powerful island country near the cave, for sale. After the king got the gold shoes, he ordered them to be tried on left and right, but no one wore them together. So the king ordered women all over the country to try on the shoe and found that none of them belonged to the shoe. That gold shoe is as light as a feather, and it won't make a sound when you put it on the stone. King Tuohan thought that the cave man was snatched back, so he imprisoned him, but after torturing him, he could not know the origin of the golden shoes.
The king left the golden shoe on the roadside, and sent people everywhere to search people's homes. If another golden shoe was found, he would arrest the family members. King Tuohan found Ye Xian indoors and found that she could wear gold shoes. People believed that she was the owner of the gold shoes. Because Ye Xian's clothes and manners are all beautiful, the king married her and returned to China with Ye Xian and fish bones. Ye Xian's stepmother and half-sister were killed by flying stones. In order to mourn them, the cave people buried them in a stone pit and named them the "Pit of Women". In the future, people will sacrifice in front of the tomb, and it has also become a place to ask for women.
When King Tuohan returned to China, Ye Xian was crowned Queen. In the first year after returning to China, King Tuohan was very greedy and often prayed for treasure from fishbone. Although they all got what they wanted, in the second year, fishbone didn't work. The king buried the fish bones on the coast, covered them with pearls, and surrounded the tomb with gold and silver. Later, when King Tuohan went out to crusade against the soldiers in the rebellion, he planned to use all those gold, silver and jewels as military salaries, but all those gold, silver and jewels were washed away by the waves one night.
2? Origin of the story
There are still different opinions about the origin of Ye Xian. Translator Yang Xianyi believes that this story originated in Europe and was introduced to Asia. In his book My Translation, he pointed out that the story was told to Duan Chengshi by a man from Yongzhou, which is equivalent to Nanning in Guangxi today, so "this story was introduced from the South China Sea". Yang Xianyi pointed out that the Brothers Grimm version of Cinderella is called "Aschenbr? Del "(usually" Aschenputtel "), and Aschen is German" ash "(ashes；; Anglo-Saxon: Asecen) means "Asan" in Sanskrit, which is similar in language pronunciation, so "Ye Xian" is a transliteration of Aschen and Asan. 3
However, some scholars who advocate that the story was spread from Asia to Europe think that the above statement actually shows Yang Xianyi's ignorance of Middle Chinese. For example, Ding Naitong, a scholar, thinks that the pronunciation of "Ye Xian" in modern dialects in Guangxi and Guangdong is quite different from that in Aschen or Asan, and even the translation error is not enough to explain the problem. He thinks the story should come from Vietnam or the Vietnamese. However, there are still many opinions about the specific location of the story, including those of Zhuang nationality in Guangxi (Da Jia and Da Cang) and Sumatra in Indonesia.
The gold shoes worn by Ye Lim are "as light as wool, and the stones are silent", which Yang Xianyi thinks is closer to the shoes made of squirrel hair (Vair) in French. However, Perot changed the word "Vair" to "Verre", which explains why Cinderella always wears glass shoes in fairy tale books or adapted animations.
3. The original text
According to legend in the south, there was a cave owner Wu before the Qin and Han Dynasties, and the natives called it "Wu Cave". Marry two wives, one wife died, with a female name Ye Xian, less wise, good at panning for gold, and father loved it. At the end of the year, my father died, suffering from my stepmother, which often made firewood dangerous. When I tasted a scale, I tasted more than two inches, and my fins were golden, so I sneaked into the basin water. The days are long and easy to count, which is unbearable, but it is thrown into the back pool. If a woman earns more food, she should sink into it. When a woman comes to the pool, the fish will show her head on the pillow. If others arrive, they will not return.
the mother knows it, and every time she waits for it, the fish has never seen it. Because of cheating the woman, she said, "Are you tired? I am new to you. " It was easy for her to take off her clothes, and then she ordered her to take it to his spring, counting miles. The mother dressed her daughter's clothes, and her sleeves were sharp, and she called the fish to the pool, and the fish came out first, so she killed it. Fish has grown more than a foot, eating its meat tastes like a fish, and hiding its bones under the stagnation. After the day, the woman went to the pool and no longer saw the fish, but cried in the wild. Suddenly, someone sent coarse clothes and fell from the sky. Comfort the daughter: "I didn't cry, my mother killed my fish!" The bone is under the dung. When you return, you can hide the fish in the room. If you need to pray first, you should follow me. " Women use their words, eat jade, and have whatever they want.
and the cave festival, the mother goes, so that the woman keeps the court fruit. A woman waits for her mother to go far, but also goes, spinning her coat in clothes and walking on gold shoes. The daughter born to the mother recognized it, saying that the mother said, "This is very similar to my sister." Mother also doubts it. The woman felt that she was rebellious, so she left a shoe for the cave people. Mother returns, but I don't care if I see a woman sleeping in a tree.
its cave is adjacent to the island, where there are dozens of islands with the country name Tuohan and powerful soldiers, and the water boundary is thousands of miles. The cave people then shipped their goods to the kingdom of Tuohan. The Lord of the country got it, and ordered him to perform it left and right. If he is small enough, his performance will be reduced by one inch. It is a woman who makes a country walk, but there is no one to say it. It's as light as wool, and it's silent. King Tuo Khan meant that the people in his cave got it by non-Tao, so he imprisoned it and plundered it, but he didn't know what to do. Therefore, I abandoned the shoe on the roadside, and I went through others to catch it. If there is a female shoe, I will catch it. The strange thing about King Tuo Khan is that he searched his room and got a leaf limit, which made him believe in it. The leaves are limited by the clothes, and they creep in, and the color is like heaven and man. It began with the king, and the fish bones and leaves were returned to the country. His mother and daughter were killed by flying stones. The cave people mourned it, buried it in a stone pit, and called it "the sorrowful female tomb." The cave people think that they worship and ask for women's response. Tuo khan king to the country, with leaf limit as the wife.
for one year, Wang was greedy and prayed for fish bones, and the precious stones were infinite. After one year, he never responded. Wang Nai buried fish bones on the coast. Hide it with a hundred pearls, with gold as the occasion. To levy pawn rebellion, will be sent to support the army. One night, it was lost by the tide.
4. Translation
Southerners say that before the Qin and Han Dynasties, there was a cave owner named Wu, and the locals called him Wu Dong. He married two wives, the first of which died, leaving a daughter named Ye Xian, who was gentle and virtuous since childhood and could make gorgeous clothes with gold thread. Wu Dong loved her very much. A few years later (at the end of the year), Wu Dong also died, and Ye Xian was rejected by her stepmother, who often asked her to chop wood on the high mountain and draw water from the deep pool.
Ye Xian once got a fish, two inches long, with red ridged fins and golden eyes, and secretly fed the fish in a basin. The fish grew up day by day, and the leaf limit changed the basin several times. When the basin was too big to fit, the leaf limit put it in the pond behind the yard. Every day, she throws in some meals she has saved. When the leaf limit passes, the fish will swim to the shore and show its head. When others came to the pond, the fish stopped coming out. Her stepmother noticed this, and every time she peeked at the pond, she couldn't see the fish. I lied to Ye Xian and said, "Are you tired recently? I made you a new dress." So she hid her old clothes, and then let her go to other springs to draw water, with a distance of hundreds of miles. The stepmother slowly put on her daughter's clothes, and went to the pond with a sharp knife hidden in her sleeve to call for the fish. The fish exposed its head and the stepmother took the opportunity to chop it to death. The fish has grown to more than ten feet long. The stepmother cooked the fish and its taste was several times stronger than that of ordinary fish. The stepmother hid the leftover fish bones in the cesspit. After a day, the leaves were limited to the edge of the pond, but no fish could be seen, so he ran to the wild and cried sadly. Suddenly, someone fell from the sky with loose hair and coarse clothes and told her, "Don't cry, your fish was hacked to death by your mother and eaten!" The bone is thrown into the cesspit. When you go back, you can take it out and hide it in the house. Just pray to it if you need anything, and you can get it. " Ye Yan adopted his words, and sure enough, you can get anything you want to eat and wear.
At the Cave Festival, the stepmother (with her own daughter) went to attend, leaving Ye Limited to watch the door at home. When Ye Xian and her stepmother left, she put on clothes made of kingfisher feathers and shoes made of gold and silver silk thread followed. The stepmother's daughter recognized her and told her mother, "That man looks like her sister." Stepmother is also very skeptical. Ye Yan noticed it and hurried back. He lost a shoe and got it by a cave man. When the stepmother came back, she saw her daughter sleeping with the tree in the yard, so she no longer doubted her.
Wu's tribe is close to the island. On the island, there is a country called Tuohan, which is powerful and rules dozens of nearby islands, covering an area of several thousand nautical miles. The cave man sold them the gold thread shoe. When King Tuohan got it, he asked the left and right servants to try it on. The smallest foot put on the shoe and it was an inch short. So he ordered all the women in the country to try them on, but none of them were suitable. The shoes were as light as feathers, and there was no sound when they stepped on the stone. King Tuohan guessed that the cave man got the shoes through improper means, so he detained and tortured him, and finally he didn't know where the shoes came from. The king thought who left it on the side of the road, so he sent people to search the houses in this cave. If there are shoes worn by the same women, he will report them. Find the leaf limit, let her try it on, and then believe it. So Ye Xian put on her jade clothes and gold shoes again, looking like a fairy in the sky. This just stated the fact to the king, and King Tuohan returned to China with the leaf limit and fish bones. The stepmother and her daughters were killed by flying stones, and the cave people felt sorry for them, so they dug a stone pit and buried it, which was called the "Pit of Women".
after the king brought Ye Yan back to China, he was made the first lady. One year, the king became greedy, prayed to the fishbone and got countless jewels. After a year, if you ask for fishbone again, you will get nothing. The king buried the fishbone by the sea, hid it with a hundred hugs of pearls and jade, and took gold as the boundary. When he conquered the rebels for insurrection, the king decided to dig out jewels to support his troops. As a result, the buried place was submerged by the tide overnight.