Chinese legend · 声匠改编 · 4:20
The Legend of the White Snake
A borrowed umbrella on West Lake begins a love story. Lady White saves Xu Xian and floods a temple, but the monk Fahai traps her under Leifeng Pagoda.
Narrator
Lady White (Bai Suzhen)
Xiaoqing (Little Green)
Xu Xian
FahaiOther languages · 2 languages
About this story
The Legend of the White Snake is one of China's Four Great Folktales. The oldest complete version is Madam White Kept Forever Under Leifeng Pagoda, in the Ming writer Feng Menglong's story collection Stories to Caution the World (1624); later Qing-dynasty operas added the stolen herb, the flood at Jinshan Temple, the reunion on the Broken Bridge and the baby son, and made Lady White ever kinder. This version tells the best-known scenes and ends the way many operas and folk tellings do, with Xiaoqing coming back to bring the pagoda down.
What it teaches
Judge people by their hearts and deeds, not by where they come from. Lady White risks everything for the people she loves, and the story warns against doubting someone who truly cares for you just because of what others whisper.
Suits
Ages 6–12
Tips for telling it
- Tell it around the Dragon Boat Festival in early summer, and make clear that realgar wine contains arsenic and is not for drinking.
- Speed up and get louder for the flood at Golden Hill, then slow down and soften for the reunion on the Broken Bridge.
- Save the crab joke at the end for the next time you have crab for dinner.
Questions people ask
- What is the Legend of the White Snake about?
- A white snake spirit who has trained for a thousand years becomes a woman, Bai Suzhen, and marries Xu Xian after he lends her an umbrella at West Lake. The monk Fahai believes a spirit and a human cannot be married, separates them and traps her under Leifeng Pagoda; many versions end with the pagoda falling and the family reunited.
- Why do people drink realgar wine at the Dragon Boat Festival?
- Realgar, an orange mineral, was mixed into wine as an old Dragon Boat Festival custom believed to drive away snakes, insects and bad luck, which is why it reveals Lady White in the story. Realgar contains arsenic, so today doctors warn against drinking it.
- Is Leifeng Pagoda real?
- Yes. Leifeng Pagoda stands beside West Lake in Hangzhou. The original tower, first built in the 10th century, collapsed in 1924, and a new pagoda was built on the site in 2002.
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