March 6, 2007

Hello Lauren,

I am so glad that you are interested in the Chinese Legends that I prepared. Today I will tell you the third story about Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai.

Once upon a time, there was a girl named Zhu Yingtai who was very smart and liked poetry. At that time girls were not allowed to go to school. So Zhu dressed up so she looked like a boy to go to school.

On the way to school, she met her classmate Liang Shanbo, they became brothers. From then on they studied together. During the three years, Liang protected an looked after Zhu and didn’t know that Zhu was a girl. After three years, they went back to their homes. On the way, she implied to Liang that she was a girl, but Liang didn’t understand her intention. Zhu had no choice but to say she had a sister and she wanted her sister to marry him, so Zhu asked Liang to marry her sister in her home as soon as he arrived at his home.

But because Liang was late and missed the date, Zhu was forced to marry another boy called Ma. Having known the fact, Liang regreted it so much that he died. On the day that Zhu married, she passed the tomb of Liang and was very sorrowful and cried before the grave of Liang. Then it was dark all around and began to rain heavily. Meanwhile, thunder cracked the tomb and Zhu jumped into it. Instantly, the tomb closed. Then there was a rainbow in the sky and two big butterflies who flew with each other. It is said that the two butterflies were Liang and Zhu’s spirits. This story is also called the Chinese Romeo and Juliet.

Best wishes, Tingting