Chinese Fairy Tales Reading Notes Part B

 

The warrior, Dschou Tschu, slaying the Tiger as his way to rid the town of three evils.

Image from KUNISADA.

For this reading, I really liked the story The Three Evils. I want to focus on the main character and his personality for this story. Dschou Tschu went from being a drunk, worthless citizen of his hometown to being a hero in a matter of days. When the Mandarin came crying to Dschou Tschu's doorstep, Dschou Tschu realized his lifelong mistakes of making the elders upset. He vowed to change his ways by slaying the three evils even though he was one of the evils. He traveled on a long journey to slay the tiger that lived in a cave on a hill then turned around to slay the dragon that lived in the sea near his town. He did all of this without complaining, and then he offered himself to a life of military service to rid his town of the last evil: himself. He was widely known for being a warrior and he helped the military during his service before he was killed in battle. I think that Dschou Tschu's service and selflessness are astounding and need to be taken into consideration when writing a new story. Just because the Mandarin was crying and exclaiming all of the evils of the world, Dschou Tschu realized his wrongdoing and vowed to fix it. This makes Dschou Tschu a great man in my eyes. Maybe to rewrite the story, I could change the ending to make Dschou Tschu return to the town and be welcomed back as a hero. Another option is to change his personality and make him more selfish and stubborn so that he does not undergo this journey at all. I am not super sure how I want to alter this story but there are many options to choose from!

Bibliography: The Chinese Fairy Book, ed. by R. Wilhelm and translated by Frederick H. Martens (1921).