Tales from the Taiwanese (World Folklore Series)

195 Pages·2004·29.32 MB·English

by  Gary Marvin Davison

Tales from the Taiwanese
World Folklore Advisory Board
Simon J. Bronner, Ph.D.
Distinguished Professor of Folklore and American Studies
Pennsylvania State University at Harrisburg
Joseph Bruchac, Ph.D.
Abenaki Storyteller and Writer
Natalie O. Kononenko, Ph.D.
Professor of Slavic language and Literature
University of Virginia
Norma J. Livo, Ed.D.
Writer and Storyteller
Margaret Read MacDonald, Ph.D.
King County Library Systems
Tales from the Taiwanese
Retold By
Gary Marvin Davison
World Folklore Series
LIBRARIES
U N L I M I T E D
A Member of ike Greenwood Publishing Group
Westport, Connecticut • London
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Davison, Gary Marvin, 1951-
Tales form the Taiwanese / Retold by Gary Marvin Davison.
p. cm. — (World folklore series)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-59158-111-7
1. Tales—Taiwan. I. Title. II. Series.
GR338.D38 2004
398.2'095124'9—dc22 2004044197
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available.
Copyright © 2004 by Libraries Unlimited
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be
reproduced, by any process or technique, without the
express written consent of the publisher.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2004044197
ISBN: 1-59158-111-7
First published in 2004
Libraries Unlimited, 88 Post Road West, Westport, CT 06881
A Member of the Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc.
www.lu.com
Printed in the United States of America
The paper used in this book complies with the
Permanent Paper Standard issued by the National
Information Standards Organization (Z39.48-1984).
10 987654321
Contents
Introduction ix
Taiwan's History 1
Part One
Taiwanese Values
One: Little-Bitty Banping Mountain 11
Two: The Much-Deserved Good Fortune of Li Menhuan 15
Three: A Tale of Three Brothers 21
Four: Justice Comes to Elder Sister Lintou 25
Five: The Magical Rice Pot of Fairy Cave 29
Six: The Fate of a Kind-Hearted Servant Girl 33
Seven: The Virtuous Wife of Dajia 37
Part Two
Taiwanese Religion and Ethics
Eight: The Friendship of Taiyang Pian and Zhi Wuye 43
Nine: The Origins of the Taiwanese Ancestral Tablet 49
Ten: A Heart Buzzing with Kindness 53
Eleven: A Wealthy Landowner, a River Spirit, a City God 57
Part Three
Taiwanese Tales of Natural Origins
Twelve: The Origin of Fireflies 65
Thirteen: How Saltwater Came to Fill the Seas 71
Fourteen: The God of Thunder and the Mother of Lightning 75
Fifteen: The Strange Plant Known as White-Horse Mateng 79
V
Part Four
Taiwanese Sayings and Their Origins
Sixteen: When Three People Have Only Five Eyes 85
Seventeen: The Tiger-Nosed Lion Who Wanted to Burn Up Heaven 89
Eighteen: Reckless Words Spoken Once Too Often 95
Part Five
Taiwanese Legends and Historical Tales
Nineteen: Iron Anvil Mountain and the Well of Koxinga 103
Twenty: The Luck of Zhishan 107
Twenty-One: The Origins of Aiyu Ill
Twenty-Two: The Trials and Triumphs of General Chen-Fu 115
Twenty-Three: The Red-Haired Well 121
Twenty-Four: The Stone Turtle That Could Swim 124
Twenty-Five: The Legend and History of Longshan Temple 127
Twenty-Six: The Legend of Sun Moon Lake 131
Part Six
Taiwanese Humor
Twenty-Seven: The Goofiness of Chen Ah Ai 137
Twenty-Eight: A Thoroughly Goofy Son-in-Law 141
Recipes
Twice-Cooked Pork 149
Stir-Fried Sesame Spinach 149
Chinese Noodles 150
Spicy Bok Choy Cabbage 150
Garlic Shrimp with Onions and Bell Pepper 151
Stir-Fried Green Beans 152
Black Pepper Shrimp with Onions 152
Drunken Chicken 153
Spicy Sweet and Sour Cucumbers 153
Stir-Fried Cabbage with Shrimp Bits 154
Stir-Fried Rice with Peas and Carrots 154
Pork Slices with Fresh Garlic and Onions 155
Pinto Beans in Soy Sauce 156
y| / Contents
Coriander Chicken 156
Basil Tomatoes and Onions 157
Spicy Sweet and Sour Cabbage 158
Chicken and Mushrooms 158
Beef and Green Pepper Strips 159
Homestyle Roast Beef 160
Mongolian Barbecue 160
Sweet and Sour Chicken 162
Stir-Fried Carrots and Broccoli 163
Spicy Sesame Beef 163
Stir-Fried Snow Peas 164
Spicy Chicken with Peanuts 165
Stir-Fried Mixed Vegetables 166
Honey-Fried Chicken Drummies 166
Taiwanese Scrambled Egg 167
Index 169
Contents / yJJ
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Introduction
Taiwan is an island with a unique culture and a highly successful economy. It
is one of those places in the world that for centuries came under the control of for
eigners, even as its people were developing an identity separate from any of those
outside governing groups. The world is full of societies that did not emerge as in
dependent nations until the nineteenth or twentieth centuries. These countries in
clude South American nations, such as Brazil, Venezuela, and Argentina;
European nations, such as Latvia, Slovakia, and Croatia; Central Asian nations,
such as Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, and Kyrgystan; Middle Eastern (West Asian) na
tions, such as Jordan, Israel, and Iraq; and Southeast Asian nations, such as Indo
nesia, Singapore, and the Philippines. Even the United States did not declare
independence from Great Britain until 1776, and it only had its status as a nation
recognized with the Treaty of Paris of 1783, following the American Revolution.
For centuries, Taiwan was occupied exclusively by its original settlers, peo
ple who today are known as "aborigines." Then, from the seventeenth century
forward, Dutch, Spanish, Manchu, Japanese, and Chinese people competed for
control of the island. The ancestors of most people on Taiwan today came origi
nally from China, during that same span of time, beginning in the seventeenth
century, when Taiwan was governed by the various outsider groups. Taiwan was
then controlled by Japan from 1895 to 1945, and from 1945 until 2000 was gov
erned by a political party, the Guomindang, that had escaped to Taiwan after los
ing a civil war to the Chinese Communist Party, which since 1949 has controlled
China. Throughout the twentieth century, then, Taiwan's history unfolded sepa
rately from that of China, and its people came to look upon themselves first as
Taiwanese, people whose deeper roots were mostly in China but who, over the
course of decades and even centuries, had developed an identity only partially
connected to the land of their ancestral origins.
Today there is an ongoing effort on the island to state in clear terms what
makes Taiwan's identity unique and what part aborigine, European, Chinese,
Japanese, and American influences have played in shaping the island's distinct
culture. Up until the 1990s, the Guomindang discouraged the production of
books, plays, and art that focused on a uniquely Taiwanese identity, but in the last
ix