Reading Notes: Chinese Fairy Tales (Part B)

Today's reading was thematically similar to Part A in that most stories didn't have a moral message, and were instead just depictions of supernatural events. Many of the stories seemed to end abruptly with a twist, as in the "fox fire" story.

The stories that I enjoyed the most were those which left a lot up in the air. "The Night on the Battlefield" and "The Little Hunting Dog" both included zany supernatural events with little to no explanation as to why. I think this method of storytelling best captures the "otherworldly", because I think we're more drawn in by what we don't know than what we know.

Several stories featured ogres, which seemed much like demons. I thought for sure that the story of "The Maiden Who was Stolen Away" would end up with a Shrek-like ending, but it looks like ogres are reviled enough in these myths that I got my hopes up for nothing.

A Chinese ogre mask. (Flickr)

Bibliography. The Chinese Fairy Book, edited by R. Wilhelm and translated by Frederick H. Martens. Web Link.