Ye Xian
Encyclopedia
Ye Xian or Yeh-Shen is a Chinese fairy tale
that is similar to the European Cinderella
story (but about a millennium older) and the Malay-Indonesian Bawang Putih Bawang Merah
tale. It is one of the oldest known variants of Cinderella, first published in the 9th-century compilation Miscellaneous Morsels from Youyang
.
of a community of cave-dwellers, had two wives and a daughter by each of them. Yeh-Shen is Wu's beautiful daughter of one wife, and she is intelligent, artistic and gifted in many skills such as pottery
and poetry
. In contrast her half-sister, Jun-li, is spoiled, self-interested and lazy.
When her mother and then her father die from a local plague, Yeh-Shen is forced to become a lowly servant and work for her father's other wife, named Jin (Yeh's evil stepmother) and her daughter, Jun-li. Despite living a life burdened with chores and housework, and suffering endless abuse
at her stepmother's hands, she finds solace when she ends up befriending a beautiful, 10 feet (3 m) fish in the lake. With golden eyes and scales, the fish is the reincarnation of her mother, who now watches out for her.
Angry that Yeh-Shen has found happiness, Jin kills the fish and serves it for dinner for herself and her daughter. Yeh-Shen is devastated until a spirit appears and tells her to bury the bones of the fish in pots at each corner of her bed. The spirit also tells her that whatever she needs will be granted if she talks to the bones.
The spring festival
takes place, where there would be dancing and feasting, with acrobats and spectacular displays. Many young women will have the opportunity to meet potential suitors. Not wishing to spoil her own daughter's chances, Jin forces her stepdaughter to remain home and clean their cave-house. After her stepfamily has left, Yeh-Shen is visited by her mother's spirit again. Her mother tells her to make a silent wish and Yeh-Shen finds herself clothed magnificently, with a cloak of kingfisher
feathers, a silk dress of azure blue, a headdress of ivory and pearls, and a pair of golden slippers. The spirit tells her not to lose one of her slippers.
Yeh-Shen goes to the festival by foot. She stays and was admired by everyone, and enjoys herself until she realizes her stepmother and sister may have recognized her and leaves, accidentally leaving behind a golden slipper. When she arrives home, she found herself back in her rags again. When her stepfamily returns, they discuss Jun-li's marriage prospects and also mention a mysterious maiden who appeared. They are unaware that it is Yeh-Shen they are speaking of.
The golden slipper is found and traded by various people until it reaches the hands of the nearby King of the island of To'Han. Fascinated by the shoe's small size, he issues a search to find the maiden whose foot will fit into the shoe and proclaims he will marry that girl. The shoe eventually reaches the cave-house of Yeh-Shen, Jun-li and her mother try to put on the shoe and fail. The shoe ends up fitting Yeh-Shen's foot perfectly.
In an attempt to dissuade the King from marrying Yeh-Shen, Jin declares that it was impossible for Yeh-Shen to have been at the festival. She saw the maiden who owns the golden slipper at the festival, the fine clothes she wore, and also mentions that Yeh-Shen was at home the entire time. Yeh-Shen proves her wrong by bringing out and putting the clothes she wore at the festival and the other golden slipper and the King, awed by Yeh-Shen's beauty, affirms that he will marry her, and she will become his chief wife in his palace. Jin makes a final attempt to dissuade the King from marrying her stepdaughter by accusing Yeh-Shen of stealing the maiden's golden shoe, but however, the King caught on and her evil plan was exposed. To punish Yeh-Shen's stepfamily for their cruelty and dishonesty, he forbids Yeh-Shen from bringing them to live with her. Jin and Jun-li were banished to a cave, where they spend the rest of their lives together until they are crushed to death by a shower of flying stones.
is a retelling of this fairy tale.
Yeh-Shen: A Cinderella Story From China retold by Ai-Ling Louie and illustrated by Ed Young
is well-known children's picture book
adaptation of the fairy tale.
Yeh-Shen was also animated for the CBS Saturday Morning show, CBS Storybreak
.
The film Year of the Fish
is a modern retelling of the story.
Fairy tale
A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features such folkloric characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments. However, only a small number of the stories refer to fairies...
that is similar to the European Cinderella
Cinderella
"Cinderella; or, The Little Glass Slipper" is a folk tale embodying a myth-element of unjust oppression/triumphant reward. Thousands of variants are known throughout the world. The title character is a young woman living in unfortunate circumstances that are suddenly changed to remarkable fortune...
story (but about a millennium older) and the Malay-Indonesian Bawang Putih Bawang Merah
Bawang Putih Bawang Merah
Bawang Putih Bawang Merah is one of the more famous of old Malay archipelago folktales, passed down orally through the generations. Like most Malay folktales, the story is laden with lessons regarding familial values, patience in the face of adversity, and that ultimately good will be rewarded and...
tale. It is one of the oldest known variants of Cinderella, first published in the 9th-century compilation Miscellaneous Morsels from Youyang
Miscellaneous Morsels from Youyang
The Miscellaneous Morsels from Youyang is a miscellany of Chinese and foreign legends and hearsay, reports on natural phenomena, short anecdotes, and tales of the wondrous and mundane, as well as notes on such topics as medicinal herbs and tattoos....
.
Plot
A scholar named Wu, who is chieftainChieftain
Chieftain may refer to:The leader or head of a group:* a tribal chief or a village head.* a member of the 'House of chiefs'.* a captain, to which 'chieftain' is etymologically related.* Clan chief, the head of a Scottish clan....
of a community of cave-dwellers, had two wives and a daughter by each of them. Yeh-Shen is Wu's beautiful daughter of one wife, and she is intelligent, artistic and gifted in many skills such as pottery
Pottery
Pottery is the material from which the potteryware is made, of which major types include earthenware, stoneware and porcelain. The place where such wares are made is also called a pottery . Pottery also refers to the art or craft of the potter or the manufacture of pottery...
and poetry
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
. In contrast her half-sister, Jun-li, is spoiled, self-interested and lazy.
When her mother and then her father die from a local plague, Yeh-Shen is forced to become a lowly servant and work for her father's other wife, named Jin (Yeh's evil stepmother) and her daughter, Jun-li. Despite living a life burdened with chores and housework, and suffering endless abuse
Abuse
Abuse is the improper usage or treatment for a bad purpose, often to unfairly or improperly gain benefit. Abuse can come in many forms, such as: physical or verbal maltreatment, injury, sexual assault, violation, rape, unjust practices; wrongful practice or custom; offense; crime, or otherwise...
at her stepmother's hands, she finds solace when she ends up befriending a beautiful, 10 feet (3 m) fish in the lake. With golden eyes and scales, the fish is the reincarnation of her mother, who now watches out for her.
Angry that Yeh-Shen has found happiness, Jin kills the fish and serves it for dinner for herself and her daughter. Yeh-Shen is devastated until a spirit appears and tells her to bury the bones of the fish in pots at each corner of her bed. The spirit also tells her that whatever she needs will be granted if she talks to the bones.
The spring festival
Chinese New Year
Chinese New Year – often called Chinese Lunar New Year although it actually is lunisolar – is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. It is an all East and South-East-Asia celebration...
takes place, where there would be dancing and feasting, with acrobats and spectacular displays. Many young women will have the opportunity to meet potential suitors. Not wishing to spoil her own daughter's chances, Jin forces her stepdaughter to remain home and clean their cave-house. After her stepfamily has left, Yeh-Shen is visited by her mother's spirit again. Her mother tells her to make a silent wish and Yeh-Shen finds herself clothed magnificently, with a cloak of kingfisher
Kingfisher
Kingfishers are a group of small to medium sized brightly coloured birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species being found in the Old World and Australia...
feathers, a silk dress of azure blue, a headdress of ivory and pearls, and a pair of golden slippers. The spirit tells her not to lose one of her slippers.
Yeh-Shen goes to the festival by foot. She stays and was admired by everyone, and enjoys herself until she realizes her stepmother and sister may have recognized her and leaves, accidentally leaving behind a golden slipper. When she arrives home, she found herself back in her rags again. When her stepfamily returns, they discuss Jun-li's marriage prospects and also mention a mysterious maiden who appeared. They are unaware that it is Yeh-Shen they are speaking of.
The golden slipper is found and traded by various people until it reaches the hands of the nearby King of the island of To'Han. Fascinated by the shoe's small size, he issues a search to find the maiden whose foot will fit into the shoe and proclaims he will marry that girl. The shoe eventually reaches the cave-house of Yeh-Shen, Jun-li and her mother try to put on the shoe and fail. The shoe ends up fitting Yeh-Shen's foot perfectly.
In an attempt to dissuade the King from marrying Yeh-Shen, Jin declares that it was impossible for Yeh-Shen to have been at the festival. She saw the maiden who owns the golden slipper at the festival, the fine clothes she wore, and also mentions that Yeh-Shen was at home the entire time. Yeh-Shen proves her wrong by bringing out and putting the clothes she wore at the festival and the other golden slipper and the King, awed by Yeh-Shen's beauty, affirms that he will marry her, and she will become his chief wife in his palace. Jin makes a final attempt to dissuade the King from marrying her stepdaughter by accusing Yeh-Shen of stealing the maiden's golden shoe, but however, the King caught on and her evil plan was exposed. To punish Yeh-Shen's stepfamily for their cruelty and dishonesty, he forbids Yeh-Shen from bringing them to live with her. Jin and Jun-li were banished to a cave, where they spend the rest of their lives together until they are crushed to death by a shower of flying stones.
Adaptations
The novel Bound by Donna Jo NapoliDonna Jo Napoli
Donna Jo Napoli is an author of children's and young adult books, as well as a prominent linguist who has worked in syntax, phonetics, phonology, morphology, historical and comparative linguistics, Romance studies, structure of Japanese, structure of American Sign Language, poetics, writing for...
is a retelling of this fairy tale.
Yeh-Shen: A Cinderella Story From China retold by Ai-Ling Louie and illustrated by Ed Young
Ed Young (illustrator)
Ed Young is a Caldecott Medal-winning illustrator and author of picture books.-Biography:...
is well-known children's picture book
Picture book
A picture book combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, most often aimed at young children. The images in picture books use a range of media such as oil paints, acrylics, watercolor and pencil.Two of the earliest books with something like the format picture books still retain now...
adaptation of the fairy tale.
Yeh-Shen was also animated for the CBS Saturday Morning show, CBS Storybreak
CBS Storybreak
CBS Storybreak is a Saturday morning anthology television series that originally aired on the CBS network during the 1985 season. Hosted by Captain Kangaroo's Bob Keeshan , the episodes are half-hour animated adaptations of some of the most beloved children's books published at the time of airing,...
.
The film Year of the Fish
Year of the Fish
Year of the Fish is a 2008 American animated film based on Ye Xian, a ninth century Chinese variant of the fairy tale Cinderella, starring Tsai Chin , Randall Duk Kim, Ken Leung and An Nguyen...
is a modern retelling of the story.