Chinese myth · 声匠改编 · 4:06
Hou Yi Shoots Down the Suns
Ten mischievous suns rise all at once and scorch the earth. The archer Hou Yi climbs the highest peak, warns them first, then shoots down nine.
Narrator
Xihe, the Sun Mother
The Sun Brothers
The Littlest Sun
Emperor Yao
Hou YiOther languages · 2 languages
About this story
Hou Yi Shoots Down the Suns is one of China's best-known ancient myths. The Huainanzi, compiled in the 2nd century BC, says that in the time of the sage-king Yao ten suns rose together and scorched the crops, so Yao sent the archer Yi to shoot them; the Han-dynasty scholar Wang Yi, commenting on the poem Heavenly Questions in the Songs of Chu, adds that Yi hit nine and left one. The Classic of Mountains and Seas describes the ten suns bathing beneath the Fusang tree and names Xihe as their mother. This version makes the suns a gang of mischievous brothers and lets Hou Yi warn them before he shoots.
What it teaches
Great strength is for protecting others, and Hou Yi tries words before arrows. The littlest sun shows children that rules exist to look after everyone, and that owning up to a mistake earns a second chance.
Suits
Ages 4–10
Tips for telling it
- Speed up as the arrows fly, and let your child count the falling suns with you.
- Afterwards, ask: what did the sun brothers do wrong, and why did one sun have to stay?
- Follow it with Chang'e Flies to the Moon. In the old stories, Hou Yi is Chang'e's husband.
Questions people ask
- What is the story of Hou Yi and the ten suns?
- Long ago ten suns rose into the sky at once, scorching the crops and drying up the rivers. The archer Hou Yi shot down nine of them with his red bow and white arrows, leaving one sun to light the world.
- How many suns did Hou Yi shoot down?
- Nine. The Han-dynasty commentator Wang Yi says nine suns were hit and the crows that lived inside them fell to earth, so one sun was left in the sky.
- Is Hou Yi the husband of Chang'e?
- Yes. In Chinese mythology Chang'e is Hou Yi's wife. The Huainanzi says Yi obtained the elixir of immortality from the Queen Mother of the West, and Chang'e took it and flew to the moon.
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