The Legend of Chang-O

According to one popular legend, the Emperor of Heaven had ten sons. One day the mischievous sons decided to transform themselves into suns and appear simultaneously in the sky. Unfortunately for the earth, such heat was scorching and the creatures on earth began to suffer terribly.

Living at the time was a famous archer named Hao-yi. He saw the suffering that was taking place around him and, furious, began shooting down the suns, careful to leave one in the sky. The people were ecstatic and gratefully implored Hao-yi to be their leader. During his early years he was a generous and benevolent leader. But, as the years passed, he came more and more tyrannical. His faithful wife, Chang-O, saw this change and feared for him.

Aging, Hao-yi began to long for immortality and sought out the elixir of life from the Empress Dowager of the West Heaven. The Empress Dowager unaware of Hao-yi's true nature, granted his wish and Hao-yi brought the elixir back in the form of a pill to his palace to await an auspicious date to swallow it.

Chang-O feared her husband's growing cruelty to the people and knew that if he were to become immortal, humans would suffer forever. She made up her mind to hid the pill when suddenly Hao-yi came upon her and, stumbling, Chang-O accidentally swallowed the pill herself.

As Hao-yi ran toward her furious, Chang-O backed away and found herself floating into the sky. Higher and higher she floated until she landed on the moon. There she resides forever, in the company of a jade rabbit in a beautiful jade palace.

The End.