Legend of the White Snake
The Legend of the White Snake is a Chinese legend centered around a romance between a man named Xu Xian and a female snake spirit named Bai Suzhen. It is counted as one of China's Four Great Folktales, the others being Lady Meng Jiang, Butterfly Lovers, and The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl.
The story has evolved and changed over different eras and regions to suit the preferences of the populace and rulers, serving as subject matter for novels, operas, and other media.
Overview
Originally, the story was a simple folk tale with a broad framework in which a white snake demon transforms into a beautiful woman in white to abduct young men, satisfying her lust and eating their heart and liver. As times changed, various episodes were added or removed, and it eventually developed into a romance between a human male and a woman who is the incarnation of a white snake. Although the White Snake and the human become husband and wife, her true identity is eventually exposed by a Zen master or monk possessing spiritual powers, and she is imprisoned in the Leifeng Pagoda by the West Lake.However, in the process of development and change, the demon's original malicious intent was removed. The reasons for the White Snake's extermination were no longer emphasized, and the focus shifted to the romance. Eventually, versions were created that even feature a happy ending.
Kawada Ko speculates that stories involving snakes became prominently frequent in China from the medieval period onwards. As various stories were created and passed down through the early modern period, the legend was gradually formed and developed. Kawada suggests that the transition of the Legend of the White Snake projects the process of China moving from ancient times to the modern era.
The legend gained significant attention in post-war Japan. In 1956, on the orders of Zhou Enlai, a Peking opera troupe led by Mei Lanfang visited Japan and performed pieces from The Legend of the White Snake. That same year, Japan's first color special effects film, , was released. In 1958, Japan's first color feature-length animated film, The Tale of the White Serpent, was released, making the story familiar to the general Japanese public.
It has also been pointed out that this legend is related to the Lamia of Greek mythology. Chinese folklorist and scholar classified the versions of The White Snake under the Aarne–Thompson–Uther Index tale type ATU 411, "The King and the Lamia". In the Chinese type, the snake-like wife is "always" a white snake, who is confronted by a holy man and reveals her serpentine disguise to her human husband, and, in some tales, can be banished under a pagoda.
History and Evolution of the Tale
"Li Huang" (Tang Dynasty)
The Tang dynasty story collection Boyi zhi, by Gu Shenzi, contains a chuanqi tale titled "Li Huang". This is considered the oldest surviving story related to the Legend of the White Snake. It was later included in the Taiping Guangji.Synopsis of "Li Huang":
In the second year of the Yuanhe era, Li Huang, the nephew of the Salt and Iron Commissioner Li Xun, met a beautiful woman in white riding an ox cart in the East Market of Chang'an. When he asked her maidservant, he was told that she was a widow whose husband's mourning period had just ended and that she had no money. Li Huang advanced her money and silk, and was invited to her residence. An old woman claiming to be the white-clad lady's aunt appeared, claiming they were poor and owed 30,000 cash, and offered to let the lady serve him. Li Huang sent a servant to fetch 30,000 cash and stayed there for three days at their invitation. On the fourth day, the old woman urged him to return home temporarily so his uncle would not blame him for staying out so long. The servant noticed that Li Huang smelled raw and fishy but returned home as ordered. When asked by his family what he had been doing for days, he felt ill and went straight to bed. Eventually, he began to rave incoherently and told his fiancée that he was done for. When the bedding was fearfully lifted, his body had dissolved into water, leaving only his head. The family questioned the servant and went to the woman's house, but found only a desolate garden. There was a single Chinese honey locust tree; atop the tree was 15,000 cash, and beneath it another 15,000. Neighbors said that other than a large white snake often seen coiled under the tree, there was nothing there.
Another story is appended as "Another Version," where the plot is largely the same but with slight differences. The protagonist's name is Li Guan, and instead of his body turning to water, his head splits open and he dies. When the family went to the location of the woman's house, they found a withered pagoda tree, with traces of a large snake coiling. Digging up the roots, they found several small white snakes, which they killed before returning home.
"The Three Pagodas of West Lake" (Song/Ming Dynasty)
Around the Jiajing era of the Ming dynasty, a story considered to be the formation of the "White Snake Legend" appeared: "The Three Pagodas of West Lake" in the Qingpingshantang Huaben compiled by Hong Pian. This was a written record of a storyteller's script and is considered the oldest existing huaben. Aoki Masaru in "The Novel 'West Lake Three Pagodas' and 'Thunder Peak Pagoda'" suggests that a story involving the three pagodas standing in West Lake seems to be the prototype. However, in this *huaben*, the "Thunder Peak Pagoda" does not yet appear; instead, it features "three stone pagodas."Synopsis of "The Three Pagodas of West Lake":
In the Chunxi era of Emperor Xiaozong of Song, Xi Xuanzan, the only son of a commander named Xi serving under Yue Fei and living inside the Yongjin Gate of Lin'an Prefecture, went sightseeing at West Lake during the Qingming Festival. There, he found a lost girl dressed entirely in white silk. When asked, she said her name was Bai, she lived at West Lake, and had become separated from her grandmother. Since the girl grabbed Xuanzan's clothes and wouldn't let go, he took her home. Her name was Maonu. After more than ten days, an old woman dressed in black arrived in a sedan chair, claiming to be the grandmother. She invited Xuanzan to her home to thank him.
Upon arriving at a mansion, a lady in white appeared. Hearing that Xuanzan had saved her daughter, she treated him to a feast of delicacies. A servant then suggested killing a "former one" since a "new one" had arrived. The lady agreed to use him as a side dish for Xuanzan. Two strong men dragged out a young man, tied him to a pillar, cut open his belly, and presented his heart and liver to the lady. Xuanzan was too terrified to drink. After the lady and the old woman finished eating the organs, the lady seduced Xuanzan, asking him to marry her since she was a widow. They stayed together for over half a month.
Xuanzan, looking yellow and emaciated, asked to go home temporarily. A servant then appeared suggesting the lady dispose of the "former one" as a "new one" had arrived. Just as his heart was about to be taken, Maonu begged for his life since he had saved her. Maonu told Xuanzan to keep his eyes closed, carried him on her back, and flew away. Xuanzan felt her neck and realized she had feathers. When he opened his eyes upon landing, he was on the city wall.
A year later, during the Qingming Festival, Xuanzan was hunting birds with a crossbow. He shot a crow, which fell and turned into the old woman in black. He was captured and again forced to be the husband of the lady in white for half a month. Again faced with death, Maonu saved him.
Later, Xuanzan's uncle, the Daoist Xi Zhenren from Mount Longhu, arrived. Seeing a black aura, he realized his nephew was possessed by demons. He summoned divine generals at the Four Sages Shrine by West Lake to capture the three demons. They appeared as a black chicken, an otter, and a white snake. The Zhenren trapped them in an iron cage, sank them into West Lake, and built three stone pagodas to suppress them. Xuanzan became a lay disciple of his uncle and lived out his life.
"Double Fish Fan Pendant" (Ming Dynasty)
Around the Wanli era of the Ming Dynasty, the story "The Double Fish Fan Pendant" appeared, seemingly based on Southern Song storytelling scripts. In this version, the seductress is a ghost rather than a white snake, but the plot of a young merchant being seduced and nearly killed, then saved by a Zhenren, parallels "The Three Pagodas of West Lake". Similarities have also been pointed out with "The Peony Lantern" from the Jiandeng Xinhua.Synopsis of "Double Fish Fan Pendant":
In the Hongzhi era, Xu Jingchun, a 26-year-old merchant, met a beautiful woman named Kong Shufang and her maid Yumei. She claimed to be the daughter of a local official. Jingchun was seduced and spent the night with her. Neighbors found him passed out in a graveyard. Although cured by rituals, he later encountered Kong Shufang again upon returning from a business trip. She gave him a fan pendant shaped like two fish. He fell under her spell again, and his health deteriorated. His father sought help from a Daoist master at Ziyang Palace. The master summoned gods to arrest the spirits. Under torture, Kong Shufang confessed she was a ghost seeking love. The master sent the two spirits to the King of Hell for punishment, and Jingchun recovered.
"Madam White Is Kept Forever Under the Thunder Peak Tower" (Ming Dynasty)
The story "Madam White Is Kept Forever Under the Thunder Peak Tower" in Feng Menglong's influential 1624 collection Stories to Caution the World became the pivot point for the development of the White Snake legend. While "The Three Pagodas" had two purposes for the demon, this version replaces the eating of liver with theft. The setting also shifts from Hangzhou/West Lake to Suzhou and Zhenjiang before returning to West Lake. This story began to portray the White Snake in a more sympathetic perspective. This story is considered the basis for the Japanese story "The Lust of the White Serpent" in Ueda Akinari's Ugetsu Monogatari.Synopsis:
During the Shaoxing era of the Southern Song, Xu Xuan is a young man working in a herbal medicine shop in Lin'an. On the Qingming Festival, he meets a beautiful woman in white and her maid in blue-green named Qingqing, on a boat in the rain. He lends them an umbrella. Bai Niangzi claims to be a widow. They become intimate, and she gives him 50 taels of silver to arrange their marriage. However, the silver turns out to be stolen from the government treasury. Xu Xuan is arrested, tortured, and exiled to Suzhou for the crime.
In Suzhou, Xu Xuan meets Bai Niangzi again. She claims the money was from her late husband and she didn't know it was stolen. They marry. Later, Xu Xuan meets a Daoist who warns him of a demon. He tries to burn a talisman to reveal her form, but she talks her way out of it. Later, Xu Xuan is accused of theft again regarding jewelry Bai Niangzi gave him, and is exiled to Zhenjiang.
In Zhenjiang, Xu Xuan works in a medicine shop. He reunites with Bai Niangzi again, who claims the items were inherited. They live together, but a lecherous birthday host spies on her in the bathroom and sees a giant white snake, frightening him to death.
Xu Xuan visits Jinshan Temple and meets the Zen master Fahai. Fahai recognizes the demon. When Bai Niangzi arrives to take Xu Xuan back, she creates a storm/flood. Fahai drives them away.
Xu Xuan returns to Hangzhou upon an amnesty. He tries to leave Bai Niangzi, but she threatens to drown the city. Xu Xuan seeks Fahai's help. Fahai gives him an alms bowl to trap her. Xu Xuan places the bowl over her head, shrinking her. Fahai reveals Bai Niangzi is a white snake and Qingqing is a blue fish. He imprisons them under the Leifeng Pagoda. Xu Xuan becomes a monk and eventually dies sitting in meditation.