The legend of the Great Beauty Tetsu crying down Great Wall

This is based on the story of Meng4 jiang1 nu3 ku1 dao3 chang2 cheng2 and some china historical beauty's story. ^^; I'm bored. and frustrated.. .. ^^;;; Oh, and as a disclaimer, some details are changed. The scientific stuff are twisted too.. .lol ^^; so dont ask me about the lightning thing. :P

In the faraway lands of China, an emperor named Qing Shi Wang ruled. He was the first emperor to unite China, and to prevent the strong nomads who lived in the north from attacking, this Emperor built a great wall stretching along the northern borders of China. He aimed to do it within ten years, as the attacks of the tribes were getting more and more frequent.

Qing Shi Wang summoned all the strong men in China to complete this job. However, these men were treated harshly and many died.

The story of the beauty Tetsu searching for his husband for miles and miles and crying down the Great Wall of China is a reflection of this situation in China at that time.

Tetsu was smart and obedient. His beauty was that of a fairy's; the birds forgot to fly when he was flying a kite, and even the fishes forgot to swim when he was washing his hankerchief by the streams. Any man would die to own this beauty's heart, and he had many suitors of his time. 

However, because he seldom smiled, the suitors were afraid that Tetsu was displeased at every thing they did. Time went by, and Tetsu's father eventually gave up having to get him married. He left Tetsu to wander by himself to play in the strawberry fields.

The local police were under orders to put Tetsu under slavery in building the Great Wall, but after taking one look at Tetsu, they gave up. Tetsu's beauty charmed them so much that eventually the magistrate got to hear about it, and the magistrate, whose name happened to be Ken, wanted Tetsu to marry him. 

Despite Tetsu's protests, his father agreed towards this, and the marriage was staged. Ken had a first wife named Yukihiro, who was yet another beauty of his time. ^^;; ;;

Yukihiro welcomed Tetsu's presence, for he felt too lonely by himself. Ken had a wonderful strawberry field; the strawberries were always ripe and beautiful. Yukihiro and Tetsu stayed in the strawberry fields everyday, playing the pipa and erhu, and discussing techniques towards playing these instruments. 

One day, Yukihiro went away for a day, and Tetsu was sitting by himself in the strawberry fields. Getting bored, he decided to wander around, so with his pipa in hand, he started walking towards a stream. Along this stream was pieces of rocks, so he sat on the rocks and started playing the pipa, while singing a famous folksong along with the music. 

Suddenly, he heard some clapping. Turning around, he saw a man who was tall and had dark, somewhat delicate features. His skin was as pale as sakura flower before bloom. Before Tetsu or Sakura knew it, they were in love at first sight, and the two of them sat down to talk. Sakura was a scholar who escaped from the clutches of slavery and was hiding out under Yukihiro's protection. Yukihiro came back, and saw that Tetsu and Sakura were in deep, hopeless love. Yukihiro listened to Tetsu's sighs night and day and day and night, especially during days when Sakura had to hide further away from the magistrate's house. Even Ken was starting to complain that Tetsu was starting to get distracted in bed, and returned to Yukihiro's chambers repeatedly. No one thought Ken suspected anything; in fact, he was often busy at work when Sakura was around. 

After Tetsu and Sakura had been seeing each other for months, they decided that they could never live in secrecy for so long, and planned to stow away to a distant countryside where no one would ever find out about them. Yukihiro was to play a part in that. 

So, Tetsu packed his things happily, in hopes to spend a happily ever after with Sakura, his now beloved. However, when Sakura came to fetch Tetsu, Ken suddenly appeared mysteriously, and in anger that his favorite wife should stow away with some unknown scholar, he sent Sakura off to slavery at the Great Wall.

Tetsu thought of Sakura every moment, and his heart felt like it was being pierced with a knife with every moment that passed. He soon got into a relationship with Yukihiro, yet he could never forget Sakura. He decided to search for Sakura. He was worried that Sakura should feel cold in the approaching winter, and knitted many sweaters and shawls for Sakura. Yukihiro tried to persuade him to stay, but Tetsu's mind was set. When Yukihiro tried to tell Ken that Tetsu was leaving, Ken had already gotten a new wife named Hyde. Hyde was much better than Tetsu was in bed, and more seductive than Tetsu would ever be, so Ken did nothing about Tetsu. Tetsu sneaked away one snowy night, and with all the knitted things, he searched for his beloved along the Great Wall's construction site. 

One day, miraculously when things were seeming hopeless, Tetsu met with a man who worked under Qing Shi Wang and was in charge of the buildings in a part of the great wall. Tetsu managed to "persuade" him into telling him where Sakura was. He found out that Sakura couldn't stand the hard slavery, and died in a horrible manner in the construction site. The cruel supervisor gave instructions to use his corpse as the foundation, and buried it under the Great Wall. 

Upon hearing this news, Tetsu went to that section of the Great Wall, his face an expression of great distress. His heart was crushed, and his tears flowed like a river. He cried for three days and nights at the place where Sakura was buried. Suddenly, the skies darkened and lightning struck the Great Wall down, immediately revealing his beloved's bones. His great love had greatly moved Heaven.

Seeing that Sakura was no more, he took out a knife, cursed the emperor, and with a swift movement, slit his own throat. His blood poured over Sakura's bones, and stained the soil. His curses rang true and the emperor gave birth to a stupid son, which explains why his dynasty was so short. ^^;

end.
by hidoko matsumoto

http://xz0ne.cjb.net
voidmatsumoto@yahoo.co.uk