Live Your Myths

Chinese Folktale | Legend of the White Snake

✿ There are several versions of the white snake folktale that exist in Chinese mythology and other Asian mythologies. However, all focus on the "forbiddenness" of the snake demon and human man relationship.

✿ The Legend of the White Snake is one of four of China's greatest folktales.

✿ The Legend of the White Snake has been adapted many times into television dramas and movies. Some of the most notable include the 2011 film The Sorcerer and the White Snake starring Huang Shengyi, Raymond Lam, and Jet Li and the 2019 television drama The Legend of the White Snake starring Ju Jingyi and Yu Menglong.

Xu Xian, a young boy, buys tangyan from Lü Dongbin, one of the Eight Immortals who disguises himself as a tangyuan vendor at the Broken Bridge near the West Lake in Hangzhou. However, unknown to Xu Xian, the tangyuan are actually immortality pills. He eats them and doesn't feel hungry for the next three days. When he asks Lü Dongbin, the Immortal laughs and takes him to the bridge where he flips Xu Xian upside down. He vomits the tangyuan he ate into the lake, where a white snake spirit dwells.

The white snake spirit has been practicing Taoist magical arts and after she eats the pills that have been spilled into the lake, she gains 500 years worth of magical powers. After this, she is convinced her fate is intertwined with Xu Xian. A tortoise spirit who is also training in the lake didn't get to eat any of the pills so he becomes jealous of the white snake.

One day, the white snake spirit comes across a beggar on the bridge who has a green snake that he intends to dig its gall out to sell. The white snake transforms into a beautiful woman and buys the green snake from the beggar to save its life. The green snake expresses gratitude towards the white snake and begins regarding her as her elder sister.

Eighteen years pass, and during the Qingming Festival, the white and green snakes transform into two beautiful young women known as Bai Suzhen and Xiaoqing. They meet Xu Xian at the bridge and he lends them his umbrella because of the rain. Xu Xian and Bai Suzhen fall in love and marry eventually. After that, they move to Zhenjiang, where they open a medicine shop.

The tortoise spirit accumulates enough powers to take on a human form, so he transforms into a Buddhist monk known as Fahai. He plots against Bai Suzhen to break up her relationship with Xu Xian because of his jealousy over her powers. He approaches Xu Xian and tells him his wife should drink realgar wine during Duanwu Festival, which is an alcoholic drink.

Bai Suzhen drinks the wine and it reveals her true form as a large white snake. Xu Xian dies of shock when he discovers his wife is not human. Then, Bai Suzhen and Xiaoqing travel to Mount Emei to steal a magical herb to revive Xu Xian.

After coming back to life, Xu Xian still loves Bai Suzhen despite knowing what she really is. Fahai tries to separate them by capturing Xu Xian and imprisoning him in Jinshan Temple. In order to rescue Xu Xian, Bai Suzhen and Xiaoqing fight with Fahai. Bai Suzhen uses her powers to flood the temple, which drowns many innocent people and brings about a lot of destruction. Despite bringing about great calamity, her powers are limited due to her being pregnant with Xu Xian's child. She fails to save Xu Xian, but he manages to escape the temple and reunite with Bai Suzhen in Hangzhou, where their son, Xu Mengjiao is born.

Fahai manages to track them down and defeats Bai Suzhen. He imprisons her in Leifeng Pagoda and Xiaoqing flees, vowing to avenge Bai Suzhen.

Twenty years have passed and Xu Mengjiao has earned the position of top scholar in the imperial examination. He returns home to visit his parents. At the same time, Xiaoqing, who had spent the intervening years refining her powers, goes to the Jinshan Temple to confront Fahai and defeats him. Bai Suzhen is freed from Leifeng Pagoda and reunited with her husband and son, while Fahai flees and hides inside the stomach of a crab. There is a saying that a crab's internal fat is orange because it resembles the color of Fahai's kasaya.

❀ Tangyuan: a Chinese dessert which contains glutinous rice flour and water and is served in a broth or syrup.

❀ Eight Immortals: a group of legendary immortals in Chinese mythology.

❀ Snake Spirit / Demon: a creature whose true form is a snake.

❀ Tortoise Spirit: a creature whose true form is a tortoise.

❀ Qingming Festival: also known as Tomb-Sweeping Day in English; it is a day where ancestors are commemorated.

❀ Realgar Wine: a Chinese alcoholic drink that is typically consumed at Duanwu Festival.

❀ Duanwu Festival: also known as Dragon Boat Festival. The most common activities during this event is racing dragon boats, drinking realgar, and preparing/eating zongzi (a traditional Chinese rice dish stuffed with various fillings and wrapped in bamboo).

❀ Kasaya: robes of Buddhist monks.

✿ Tell us what you thought about this folktale in the comments! What is your favorite part? What do you wish was different?

✿ If you could rewrite this story, what would you change?

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