In the old days, there lived a husband and wife nicknamed Jiang. They planted a gourd pumpkin, the long tops spread over the wall to their neighbors, nicknamed Maine, and lo and behold, the neighbors grew a large pumpkin. The Mengs cut it, then cut it open, looked - there was a girl sitting in the pumpkin, and they named the girl Meng Jiang-nu - a girl from the Meng and Jiang families.
Years passed. Meng Jiang-nu grew up to be a real beauty - a fairy descended from heaven. If you look, you will immediately fall in love, but no one saw her: the Maines were rich people, they kept their daughter in a high house in the garden, no one entered the garden, and they did not let the girl out of the gate.
Only Fan Xi-liang was somehow lucky enough to see her, and they soon became loving spouses.
How did this happen? Here's how. At that time, Emperor Qin Shi Huang planned to build a Great Wall ten thousand li long. They drove people in, apparently or invisibly, they grabbed all the men indiscriminately, you can’t count how many people died there. Whoever gets caught, don’t expect to return home. And who wants to die for nothing? And then one day the guards came for Fan Si-liang, and he just ran away. He ran to the Mans' house, jumped over the garden fence, and hid behind an artificial hill made of stone. And then, as if on purpose, Meng Jiang-nu and her maid went out for a walk in the garden and saw colorful moths fluttering around. The girl wanted to catch at least one. She pulled out a silk handkerchief and threw it, but the handkerchief did not hit the moth, it fell into the pond, and the moth fluttered out and flew away. It’s a shame for the girl, she got tired, sat down on a large gray stone, and told the maid to fish the scarf out of the water. But she apparently didn’t understand; Meng Jiang-nu had to get the scarf herself. She walked up to the pond and picked up her sleeves. Then the maid screams:
- Oh, what do I see! “She noticed the young man, he was hiding behind a hill, looking at the young lady.
Meng Jiang-nu raised her head, was ashamed, and blushed: indeed, on the other side, a beautiful young man was hiding behind a hill. But Fan Si-liang is confused, doesn’t know what to do, run - the guards will grab him, stay awkward - he doesn’t know the girl. Finally he made up his mind, came forward, bowed to the maid and said:
- Please, girl, save me, save me!
And the maid has already recovered from her fright and let’s scold the young man:
-Where did you come from, tramp?
The young man fell on his face and said:
“I’m Fan Si-liang, I’m hiding from the guards, so I accidentally ran here.”
The maid won't let up:
- Do you know that this is my young lady’s garden?
The young man answers hastily:
- I didn’t know this!
Meanwhile, Meng Jiang-nu liked the young man: he was both stately and handsome. Love was born in her heart, and she began to reprimand the maid:
- You can't be so impolite. Let's take him to his father, let him teach him how to hide from the guards.
They took Fan Xi-liang to the owner.
The old man looked at him: he was a stately and handsome young man, he started a conversation with him - Fang Xiliang knows everything, whatever the old man asks, he answers without hesitation. The old man liked the young man and decided to make him his son-in-law and have a wedding on the same day.
Who would have thought that before the newlyweds had time to enter the flower hall and bow, the guards would appear.
They took the young man away, his mother and father began to cry, and all the household members were sad. And Meng Jiang-nu swore an oath not to marry anyone else and to wait for Fan Si-liang.
From that time on, she hated Emperor Qin Shi-huang with fierce hatred, and she hated his Great Wall, and the guards who seized her husband. Meng Jiang-nu sighs heavily, does not straighten her eyebrows, but speaks - her voice is so sad. He sits in his bedroom all day, doesn’t eat, doesn’t drink, doesn’t sleep at night, thinks and yearns about Fan Xi-liang. She is annoyed that she and her husband did not go to build the Great Wall then.
Spring and summer have passed, autumn has passed. Before the girl had time to look back, the first day of the tenth moon had already arrived. Then Meng Jiang-nu thought that her husband had left in a light dress, and decided to take him warm clothes. No matter how much her father and mother and the maid tried to dissuade her, it was all in vain. All that remained for the father was to send the servant along with his daughter.
Meng Jiang-nu did not paint her face, did not powder her face, tied her hair into a bun, put on a simple dress, tied a bundle with warm clothes to her back, fell on her knees in front of her father and mother and said:
- If I don’t find a husband, I won’t turn back!
So Meng Jiang-nu left her home.
He and his servant passed one village, then another, passed one field, then another, approached an outpost, and from this outpost lay the path to the Great Wall. The official at the outpost liked Meng Jiang-nu, and he wanted to take her as his wife, but Meng Jiang-nu began to scold him so much, to vilify him so much that the official had no choice but to let her go. And that official dreamed of wealth and high ranks, so he decided to write a report to his superiors that there was such a beautiful and wise girl named Meng Jiang-nu. The boss will be happy, take the girl for himself, and give him a promotion. Who could have known that the boss also thirsts for wealth and fame and would write a report to Emperor Shi Huang himself?!
Meng Jiang-nu and his servant passed the outpost and came to an abyss. They look - you can’t walk along the narrow mountain path together, it’s scary alone. There are deep gorges on both sides. And it had to happen for the servant to suddenly plan something evil. He decided to force Meng Jiang-nu to become his wife.
And Meng Jiang-nu was indeed smart. She was not afraid, smiled and said:
“I agree, but we need to find a matchmaker.”
-Where can you find her here? — the servant scratched the back of his head.
Meng Jiang-nu smiled again, pointed to a small red flower that grew in the very middle of the mountain, and said:
- Let this flower be for the matchmaker, pick it, and I will become your wife!
The servant looked - the flower was beckoning to him. He forgot about the danger, climbed down, and Meng Jiang-nu pushed him! Then the servant flew - the heart of a wolf, the guts of a dog - straight into the abyss.
The girl was left alone. She doesn’t know anything: maybe her husband has not been alive for a long time.
She reached the Great Wall, sat down on the ground, and cried bitterly. I cried for three days and three nights. The Great Wall was washed away by her tears, it collapsed to the ground, and here Meng Jiang-nu saw her husband’s remains.
And at that time, Emperor Qin Shi-huang just received a report from an official. And he wanted to make Meng Jiang-nu his wife. The emperor ordered the guards to find the girl and take her straight to the imperial office.
When Meng Jiang-nu saw the emperor, she hated her more than ever, but the emperor, it must be said, liked her. He ordered her to sit next to her and said:
- Become my wife, Meng Jiang-nu!
“Okay,” the girl answers. - Just first fulfill my three conditions.
“It’s not like I’m ready to fulfill three, three times a hundred conditions.” What's the first one? Speak!
- Allow me to mourn for my husband for three months.
The emperor rejoiced:
- How important! Wear it for your health! Speak quickly about the second condition!
“I want you to give my husband a magnificent funeral.”
“And this is possible,” the emperor agreed. “I will order you to buy the best coffin, the largest sarcophagus and one hundred and twenty-eight poles, and I will order you to read prayers seven times for seven to forty-nine days.” Well, now say the third condition!
- Third? I want you to put on a simple canvas dress, a hat with a mourning ribbon, to carry the mourning flag yourself, and to order all the courtiers, military men and officials to wear mourning.
The emperor listened to the third condition and hesitated: “It turns out that I must recognize myself as the son of Fan Si-liang. But then she will become mine, the emperor immediately thought. “Well, I recognize myself as the son of Fan Si-liang!”
So the emperor agreed to the third condition.
The day of the funeral arrived. The emperor forgot about decency, dressed up in a canvas dress, put on a hat with a mourning ribbon, and really, just think - a respectful son is burying his father. Meng Jiang-nu is also in a mourning dress, the remains are being carried in a cart, Meng Jiang-nu is walking next to him. Officials, military personnel - everyone came to the funeral in mourning. They blow trumpets, beat drums, and go to the Fan family cemetery. They came across a river on the way, big and deep. Meng Jiang-nu walked away from the cart, threw herself into the river and drowned.
Qin Shi-huang was left with nothing, he lost his mind from rage, he thinks about Meng Jiang-nu day and night. And he began to execute everyone indiscriminately. He comes out into the hall and asks:
— Is the stone horse at the gate eating hay?
The dignitary, of course, answers:
- A stone horse cannot eat hay.
The emperor gets angry and shouts:
- How can it not? Execute him!
So every day he executed one. The dignitaries tremble with fear. There was one honest and disinterested person among them. It was his turn to go to the emperor. He returned home gloomy, his eyebrows furrowed.
And at this time, the spirit of the star Tai-bo turned into a beggar Taoist, approached the official’s house, and began to beat on a wooden mallet.
When the old gatekeeper knocked, he came out and said:
“Our master has a kind heart, when you come, he always orders to give you a measure of rice and a measure of flour.” Only today you have come at the wrong time, woe to our master, he has no time for you.
The Taoist answers:
“I don’t need rice or flour, I came to save your master!”
The gatekeeper heard this, hurried to the master, then returned and led the Taoist into the house. The Taoist pulled a whip from his sleeve and said to the dignitary:
- Here is the whip “drive the mountains.” Tomorrow, when you go to the palace, hide it in your sleeve. The emperor will ask you: “Does the stone horse eat hay?” If you say, “He eats,” you’ll wave your whip. The horse will immediately begin to eat the hay. And also tell me that you can use this whip to drive mountains and that it will help you find Meng Jiang-nu.
He said so and disappeared. The next day the dignitary hid the whip in his sleeve and went to the palace.
The emperor asks him:
— Does the stone horse eat hay?
“He eats,” the dignitary answers.
The courtiers marveled and froze in place. And Qin Shi Huang asks again:
- How can a stone horse eat hay?
The dignitary answers:
- If you don’t believe me, see for yourself.
Everyone rushed to the gate, the stable boys brought hay and threw it to the stone horse. The dignitary’s heart began to pound: “What if it doesn’t work out? Okay, I’m going to die anyway!” The dignitary thought so, waved his sleeve, and shouted loudly:
- Eat hay, chew hay. Eat hay, chew hay!
Lo and behold, the horse actually began to chew hay. Here everyone clapped their hands and made noise. The emperor asked the dignitary to explain what the problem was. The dignitary gave the emperor the whip and told him everything as the Taoist ordered.
Qin Shi-huang became cheerful, left the palace, and went to look for Meng Jiang-nu. It drives small mountains into rivers, big ones into the sea. It will rush to the east, then to the west.
The king of the dragons of the four seas became alarmed: who knows what is happening around, there is a ringing throughout the crystal palace. And the king hastily sent two small dragons, sea guards, to find out what and how. They returned and reported:
- Emperor Shi Huang is waving his whip “drive the mountains”, Meng Jiang-nu is looking! A terrible danger threatens our palace. Just look - the mountain will fall right onto the roof!
The king of dragons became alarmed, and the entire army of fish, crabs and crayfish, trembled with fear. We need to save ourselves, but where should we run? Meng Jiang-nu is dead, no one knows where her body went.
Then the daughter of the king of dragons came into the hall - everything around her sparkled with her beauty - and said:
- I want to save you from misfortune, father!
The king asks:
- How will you do this, daughter?
- Let me Meng Jiang-nu turn around. When the emperor sees me, he will stop pushing mountains.
The king was sad that he would part with his daughter, but there was nothing to do, he agreed.
The emperor is driving the mountain, and suddenly he sees a drowned woman in the water. He pulled it out, and this is Meng Jiang-nu. I touched it and the chest was still warm. The emperor was delighted, the girl left, returned to the palace with her, and made her his wife.
A year later, their son was born, and then the wife told the emperor that she was not Meng Jiang-nu, but the daughter of a dragon and should return to her palace. And then one night she stole the magic whip from Shi Huang, took her son and left the palace. She abandoned her son in the distant mountains and jumped into the water herself.
An old tigress lived in the mountains, she saw a baby and began to feed him milk. A year later she took her to the main road and abandoned her there.
Not far away lived an old man and an old woman nicknamed Xiang. They have neither a son nor a daughter, they work day and day, making soy cheese. In the mornings the old man went to sell it. He was walking one day and saw a little boy lying on the road, the old man took him and returned home joyfully. The boy grew up with a huge head, long ears, and such strength that he could move a mountain. After all, he was born by the daughter of the king of dragons, and suckled by a tigress.
The old man called him Xiang Yu. Years passed, and Xiang Yu Chu became the ruler. He destroyed the Qin dynasty and avenged Meng Chiang-nu and Fan Si-liang.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru