STORIES TOLD TO CHILDREN The Chinese Boy and Girl | ||
MARS, THE GOD OF WAR.
"Once upon a time there was a great rebel whose name was Ch'ih Yu. He was the first great rebel that ever lived
"He had eighty-one brothers, of whom he was the leader. They had human speech, but bodies of beasts, foreheads of iron, and fed upon the dust of the earth.
"When the time for the battle came, he called upon the Chief of the Wind and the Master of the Rain to assist him, and there arose a great tempest. But the Chief sent the Daughter of Heaven to quell the storm, and then seized and slew the rebel. His spirit ascended to the Fire-Star (Mars) —the embodiment of which he was while upon earth,— where it resides and influences the conduct of warfare even to the present time.''
"Tell me the story of the man who went to the mountain to gather fire-wood and did not come home for such a long time.''
The old nurse began a story which as it progressed reminded me of
STORIES TOLD TO CHILDREN The Chinese Boy and Girl | ||