Author: Yoon-Ngan CHUNG
Date: 03-29-02 23:10
The historical origin of Chinese idioms (58)
The River God wanted to get marry
河 伯 娶 婦 (He2 Bo2 Qu3 Fu4)
河 (He2) means: river
伯 (Bo2) means: a paternal elder uncle
娶 (Qu3) means: marry
婦 (Fu4) means: a female
It was during the Warring States Period (戰國時代) of the Zhou Dynasty
(周朝 1134BC to 256BC), that in 403BC, Wei Wen Hou (魏文侯, his real
name was Ji Si 姬斯), the ruler of that State of Wei (魏國 present day Kai
Feng county 開封縣 in Henan province 河南省), appointed General Xi-Men
Bao (西-門豹將軍) to be the administraor of the city of Ye Du (鄴都 present
day Lin Zhang county 臨漳縣 in Henan province). When General Xi-Men took
up residency in the city, he was surprised by the low population density of the
city and its outskirts. "他一到任﹐只見流經鄴地的漳水混濁洶涌﹐周圍田地荒蕪﹐
城鎮蕭條﹐人煙稀少﹐到處是一片淒涼景象." He summoned a meeting with the
citizens of the county and asked the reason why there were so few people
living here. The citizens replied that: "The problems was the river god wanted to
get married every year 苦為河伯娶婦". Xi-Men Bao said: "How strange! How strange! Tell me how he got married 怪事﹐怪事﹗河伯如何娶婦﹐ 汝為我詳言
之。"
General Xi-Men Bao was told that many years ago an unmarried man called
Feng Yi (馮夷) was drowned while crossing the river of Zhang (漳水), in the east
of the city. It was believed Feng Yi had become the river god (河伯) called Qing Zhang (清漳). Every year, the God of Qing Zhang wanted to marry a beautiful girl.
If the citizens refused to provide him a beautiful girl he would cause the river to
swell and inundate their farm lands and houses. If his demand were met there
would be a bountiful harvest for that year.
Xi-Men Bao asked: "Who was the one who first started to believe in this?"
The citizens replied: "According to the local witch (巫覡) they have to oblige otherwise; calamities would occur. The local district officer (廷掾) and the gentry
(三老) also support the witch. We are so scared that we also believe it. Every
year they asked us to donate over a million yuan but they only spent about twenty per cent of this amount on the celebration of the river god's wedding. The rest of
the money they divided among themselves."
Xi-Men Bao asked: "Why none of you protest ?" They told him that the witch, the gentry and district officer were also busy running around looking for young and beautiful girls to be married to the river god. If they saw a beautiful girl they would say: "This is a beautiful girl who would be the next wife for the river god"
The family of the girl would be frightened into paying a large sum of money to them to have the girl spared. They would then go around searching for another girl. If the family of any girl so found could not afford to pay them they would marry her off to the river god.
They would build a little makeshift palace (治齋宮) on a floating raft moored on the river. The makeshift palace was decorated (張緹絳帷) as if it was a residence for
the girl and the river god . When the auspicious day for the wedding arrived, the
girl would be placed on a little boat made of reeds. The girl and the boat would be pushed inside the house. The raft would be cast off the moorings and allowed to drift off in the running water. After drifting for about ten kilometers or so, the raft
sank, which meant the river god had taken her. This occured year after year. The citizens also told Xi-Men Bao: "People are afraid of the river god. They love their daughters and are frightened that their daughters might be chosen as the brides
for the river god. So, many families moved away from this district and live somewhere else. That is why there are not many people living here."
Xi-Men Bao asked them if their lands had ever been flooded. They replied that
the river was so far away and their lands were in an elevated position. Besides,
the river god should be happy because he had a new wife every year. Xi-Men
Bao asked to be informed when the next wedding was due.
"至為河伯娶婦時﹐愿三老﹐巫祝﹐ 父老送女河上﹐幸來告語之﹐吾亦往送女."
The day of the next wedding arrived and as usual the makeshift palace had been erected and beautifully decorated. Xi-Men Bao, as the officer in charge of the city, arrived with a contingent of soldiers. Acting as the presiding officer for the ceremony, he welcomed the local witch, who was an old lady of about 70-year-old, the local gentry, the district officer and all the citizens numbering about two or three thousand who came from far and near. The local witch came with over ten disciples who were all young girls, standing behind her.
The bride was brought forward to the bank of the river when the wedding ceremony was about to take place. Xi-Men Bao demanded to see the bride before she was given away to the river god: "呼河伯婦來﹐ 視其好丑". His conclusion was that the
girl was not beautiful enough and that a new girl should be found: "是女子不好﹐
煩 大巫嫗為報河伯﹐得更求好女﹐後日送之." 即使吏卒共抱大巫嫗投之河中.
He ordered a few of his soldiers to accompany the local witch to the river bed to inform the River God about the delay. Without any delay the soldiers threw the
local witch into the river.
After waiting and staring at the river for some time, Xi-Men Bao complained
that the local witch was taking too long and should have been back bu now.
He ordered one of her disciples to go and see what had happened to her
master and why it took her so long to return. A few soldiers grabbed a disciple
and tossed her into the river. Down she went to the river bed. Again nothing
had happened in the river. Xi-Men Bao was a bit annoyed. He ordered another
disciple to go down to the river bed and reported back to him without delay.
This disciple was similarly hurled into the river.
Unhappy about the going of no return of the local witch and her disciples, Xi-Men
Bao said that all the girls were useless and had taken them too long to come back. He told one of the gentry to go and find out what had happened. The soldiers took
a gentry and dumped him into the river. The audience was shocked and stunned
but soon cheered and celeberated what Xi-Men Bao had done to the gentry.
The river was still calm and it showed no sign of any turbulence. He ordered
the district officer to go and investigate on those who were led to the river
bed. He said that they must be having lunch with the River God.
Immediately, the district officer kneeled down and kowtowed to Xi-Men Bao.
Begging for mercy and forgiveness, he suggested that it was not his idea
to defraud the people. The money-making scheme was devised by the local
witch and the gentry and he was not involved.
Xi-Men Bao spoke to all the people who were standing there and watching:
"It is only a dirty trick by these bad people to swindle your money. You can see
now. Nothing has happened in the river. There is no River God. Now the local
witch is dead and the River God is gone. In future if anyone should believe in it,
I will order him to go down to the river bed and have an audience with the River God"
The citizens applauded. Xi-Men Bao consficated the property of the local witch
and the gentry. The money was used for the development of the district. He
married off the local witch's disciples to the local old bachelors hoping that they
would have children to increase the local population. With the old superstition of River God gone and a water irrigation scheme completed, more and more ex-residents returned to live in the district.
河伯何曾見娶妻﹖愚民無識被巫欺﹐
一從賢令徐疑網﹐女子安眠不受虧。
The inundation of the river caused the flood. However, the witch, the gentry,
and the district officer blamed it on the River God in order to deceive the
local folks.
In chapter 126, Hua Ji Lie Chuan (滑稽列傳),
from the book Shi Ji (史記)
By Si-Ma Qian (司-馬遷 145BC to 86BC)
CHUNG Yoon-Ngan (鄭永元0
All rights reserved 2002.
Yoon-Ngan CHUNG
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