Yi, Hou-yi (“shooter Yi”) is a cultural hero in ancient Chinese mythology, the son of the supreme deity Di-jun, sent to earth to rid people of natural disasters and cleanse the earth of monsters. And he was a skilled archer due to the fact that his left arm was longer than his right. According to one ancient myth, one day ten suns appeared in the sky at once. The monstrous heat melted the rocks and dried out the plants. But the archer Yi saved the earth from destruction by hitting nine extra suns with arrows.
“You saved us from the scorching nine suns, so save us from the terrible animals that the heat drove out of the forests!” - Ruler Yao told him. “Then God will forgive you for violating his request: instead of scaring his children, you killed them all, except one.”
He took his wonderful bow and went to perform feats.
The most ferocious beast at that time was Yayu, who lived on the plain. His body was that of a bull, but red, the legs of a horse, and the face of a man. His shrill voice sounded like a child crying. Yayu devoured people. Seeing the archer, Yayu screamed like a child and opened his mouth. But Yi coolly released an arrow that pierced Yayu through and through.
And he accomplished his next feat on the Southern Wasteland. There lived the monster Tsochi with a human body and an animal head. A terrible fang, like a gimlet, protruded from its mouth. People did not dare to approach Tsochi, fearing his terrible fang, and Tsochi harmed all the inhabitants of the wasteland with impunity. Tsochi grabbed a spear to hit the brave Yi from afar, but remembered the stories about how accurately the hero shoots a bow and covered himself with a shield. But the arrow pierced the shield and pierced the monster.
After that, I headed north, to the great river. There lived Jiuying, a beast with nine heads that spewed water and fire. All government officials could not calculate how much harm Jiuying brought to the people. He released nine arrows that hit all nine heads. After this, Yi approached the lifeless body of the harmful beast and threw it into the waves of the great river.
On the way back, Yi met the fierce wind bird Dafeng. When Dafeng took off, a terrible wind rose from the flapping of his wings, blowing away huts, people, and livestock like feathers. The shooter knew that this bird flies very quickly. He was afraid that if the arrow wounded her, it would fly away, heal her wounds, and then he would have to fight again. Cunning And tied a rope woven from green silk to the end of the arrow and hid in the forest. Having waited until the bird flew over him, he fired an arrow and hit Dafeng right in the chest. A rope tied to the arrow prevented the bird from flying away. He pulled Yi Dafeng to the ground and cut it into several pieces. So people were delivered from this evil.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru