Preface: Writing a story within a snowy fable

 

Preface: Writing a story within a snowy fable

Mr. Shenyang

 

I am a writer and folk literature artist, but in this group I can only be regarded as a private pediatrics teacher, because I have read all the famous books on various subjects, but I can't find the source of life and the true meaning of life. There are only 30,000 in life. God, when I get older, I suddenly feel like a child again and return to my childhood memories. I am moved again by those fables that I have read countless times.

Fables were originally folk oral creations and one of the literary genres. A fable is a story that contains an allegorical or obvious lesson. Its structure is brief. The protagonist can be a human, an animal, or an inanimate creature. Metaphors are often used to embody instructive themes or profound truths in simple stories, but they still need to be understood and thought about by oneself. This is the difference between fables and other literary genres.

 

1

 

The world's earliest collection of fables is "Aesop's Fables". I have known that there is a great philosopher in the world since I was a child, and he is Aesop.

Aesop, a Greek fabler from the 6th century BC, a Phrygian. According to historians, he was originally a slave of the Yadmon family on Samos Island. He was resold many times, but because of his wisdom and intelligence, he finally gained freedom. After becoming a free man, he frequented the court of Croesus, king of Lydia. "Aesop's Fables" is said to be a collection of fables written by Aesop, with Indian, Arabic and Christian stories added, totaling 357 pieces.

Most of the fables included in Aesop's Fables are related to animals. The stories told in the book are short and concise, and the images depicted are vivid and vivid. Each story contains philosophy, either exposing and criticizing social contradictions, expressing understanding of life, or summarizing daily life experience.

Most of Aesop's fables are animal stories, such as "The Debtor", "The Lion and the Wild Ass", "The Wolf and the Lamb", etc. "The Wolf and the Lamb" tells the story: The wolf came to the stream and saw the lamb drinking water there. The wolf wanted to eat the lamb, so he deliberately made excuses, saying that the lamb had soiled his water, and that the lamb had said bad things about him last year. The little sheep defended himself honestly. In the end, the wolf had nothing to say, so he showed a fierce face and ate the lamb. In this story, wolves represent authoritative rulers who use their power to squeeze some weak people like lambs without giving them a chance to speak, revealing the cruelty and hypocrisy of the rulers. Aesop used ferocious animals such as jackals and lions as metaphors for the powerful in the world, exposing their tyranny, cruelty, and abuse of the weak, reflecting the thoughts and feelings of civilians or slaves. Reflecting the social reality at that time and exposing the tyranny of the rulers is an important part of "Aesop's Fables".

"The Tortoise and the Hare", "The Shepherd and the Wild Goat", etc., summarize people's life experience and teach people the principles of life and life. This collection of fables expresses the social relations at that time by describing the relationship between animals, mainly the unequal relationship between the oppressor and the oppressed. Aesop condemned the oppression of others in society at that time and called on the bullied people to unite and fight against the evildoers.

In addition, most of the chapters in "Aesop's Fables" express the life experience and wisdom of working people. For example, "The Thirsty Crow". A thirsty crow saw a large pitcher. There was not much water in the pitcher. The crow tried many ways, but he couldn't drink the water. Later, the crow came up with the idea of throwing pebbles into the jug. Finally, as the number of stones increased, the water in the pitcher slowly rose, and the crow finally drank the water. This story tells us: Don’t be reckless when encountering problems, use your brain more and think of a way, and there will be another way out. In addition, stories such as "The Tortoise and the Rabbit", "The Fox and the Goat", and "The Viper and the Water Snake" tell us some principles of how to behave in the world.

The stories in "Aesop's Fables", with very few exceptions, all end with a moral at the end of the chapter. Most of the morals fit perfectly with the plot of the story. "Aesop's Fables" reiterates a proposition repeatedly, that is, "contentment will lead to happiness, greed for too much will lead to worry", which is of great practical significance. Inspiring and enlightening. In addition, Aesop advocates treating people with integrity, promoting getting rich through hard work, emphasizing distinguishing between friends and foes, advocating teaching children well, etc. You can find corresponding examples in the book.

"Aesop's Fables" had a significant impact on the creation of European fables in later generations. It is not only a model work of Western fable literature, but also one of the most widely circulated classic works in the world.

 

2

 

When I was moved by "Aesop's Fables" when I was young, I got close to two fable masters in my life, one was Jean de la Fontaine, and the other was Yvan Andrée. Viktor Krylov.

Jean de la Fontaine (July 7, 1621 - April 13, 1695) was one of the representative writers of French classical literature and a fable poet. He was hailed as "the Homer of France" by Taine, the famous French literary critic in the 19th century. Hugo's "Notre Dame de Paris" and Maupassant's "Life" both mentioned him as a famous poet among French classical literature writers.

La Fontaine was born in Champagne on July 7, 1621, into a family of small officials. He grew up in the countryside and is familiar with nature and farmers' life.

La Fontaine went to Paris to study theology at the age of 19, and changed to law a year and a half later. After graduation, he was awarded the title of lawyer at the Paris Supreme Court. He learned the dark and corrupt inside story of the court and was very disgusted with this profession. Soon he returned to the countryside to live a leisurely life as a country squire. But he was not good at managing his family business, so he was forced to sell his land and go to Paris to join Fouquet, the then financial director. Fouquet gave him an annuity and asked him to write poems and plays.

When Fouquet was arrested in 1661, La Fontaine wrote a poem to petition King Louis XIV, which offended the court and had to flee to Limoges. From then on, he was very dissatisfied with the feudal court. At the end of 1663, he returned to Paris and often attended salons (literary clubs), which gave him more opportunities to contact and observe the upper class and the powerful. At the same time, he got acquainted with some poets and dramatists such as Molière and Racine. Home.

In 1668, La Fontaine published the first volume of "Fables", which caused great repercussions and established his literary reputation. By 1694, a total of 12 volumes had been published. In addition, five volumes of "Story Poems" were published. He often used folk language, satirized the ugliness and sins of the French upper class at that time through animal images, and ridiculed the darkness of the church and the decadence of scholasticism.

La Fontaine died on April 13, 1695. He had a great influence on later European fable writers. His works were compiled by later generations as "La Fontaine's Fables", which are also known as "Aesop's Fables" by the famous ancient Greek fable poet Aesop and "Krylov's Fables" by the famous Russian writer Krylov. Three major fables for the world. His major works include "Fable Poems", "Story Poems", "The Love of Psyche and Kubid", etc.

Krylov, the author of "Krylov's Fables", whose full name is Ivan Andreevich Krylov (1769-1844), is a Russian fable writer. He came from a poor Moscow infantry captain's family. In addition to studying in his childhood, Krylov also often went to the market, where he learned Italian, learned to play the violin, and learned painting. In 1782, he moved to Petersburg. At that time, von Wessing's satirical comedy "The Dandy" was being performed there. Krylov was very inspired after watching it and began to write scripts, but most of them were not staged. During this period (1789-1793), he devoted his main energy to publishing magazines. He successively edited and published publications such as the Elf Post, the Observer, and the St. Petersburg Mercury. He also published some satirical articles and "Crazy Family" and "Love". Pranksters", "The Writer in the Front Room" and satirical comedies such as "Modern Shop" and "Training Girls". However, it could not be carried out due to radical political tendencies. Later he traveled in Russia, during which time he worked as Golitsyn's home secretary.

After 1806, Krylov specialized in fables. He published 9 volumes of "Krylov's Fables" and gained great reputation. In 1811, he was elected as an academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

"Krylov's Fables" includes 203 fables and was first published on February 24, 1809.

Krylov reflects the broad picture of social life through fables, has strong people's character and reality, and contains the people's wisdom and experience. His language style is unique, all written in the form of poetry, with beautiful language and profound meaning. He often uses animal and plant images to reflect the vast life, which has a unique appeal. His fables are not long in length, some are only a few lines long, and some depict the character of the image in just a few lines.

The plots of Krylov's fables are often ups and downs. The basis of the plot is conflict. Fables have a special function that is different from other literary styles. It does not focus on describing life, but on expressing thoughts and giving images to concepts. In fables, illusory conflicts are always used to twist and turn and subtly reflect the contradictions and struggles of reality. Therefore, the art of allegorical plot has its own unique features. Krylov is fully aware of this and is ingenious in selecting images, conceiving and arranging plots. The use of the "sudden transition" technique in the plot is an outstanding example.

As far as the creation of fables itself is concerned, before Krylov or at the same time, fables were either just reading books for people's pleasure, works read in salons, or they were just obsessed with naturalistic details and made some vulgar descriptions, even Aesop , La Fontaine's fables are basically limited to general moral admonitions. Krylov's fables oppose the Tsarist autocracy, express democratic ideas, and turn fables into realistic satirical literature. Krylov's fables that closely combined with real life became a significant landmark of literature in this period, which undoubtedly made Russian realism an important step. His creations established the foundation for future Griboyedov, Pushkin, and Gogol. and laid a solid foundation for developing realism. Krylov's fables reflect real life, depict various characters, and express advanced ideas. Therefore, they were deeply loved by people at the time and became one of the most favorite works of readers in the first half of the 19th century. Every time he published a new His fables have also become eye-catching objects in literature and social life. His fables play an active role in forming the social consciousness of the Russian people.

Krylov's fables also have a wide reputation in the world. They were translated into more than ten languages during the writer's lifetime, and there are fifty or sixty in modern times. Some of them are included in teaching materials, so his influence is far-reaching.

Krylov's fables are both poetic and dramatic. His fables can generally be divided into the following categories:

1. Exposing the autocratic rule of the Tsar and satirizing the tyranny, parasitism and ignorance of the ruling class. Some describe the tyranny and unreasonableness of the powerful, exposing the logic of banditry in which the weak are always guilty in front of the strong, such as "The Wolf and the Lamb", "The Lion Divides the Prey" and "The Wolf and the Crane"; some reveal the rulers' ways of oppressing the people. Cunning tricks, such as "The Elephant Governor", "The Bear Guarding the Beehive", "The Fox Architect", "Convention of Beasts", etc.; some reveal the hypocritical nature of the law to protect the rulers under the Tsarist autocratic system, such as "Barracuda", "The Farmer and the Sheep" ""The Farmer and the River", etc.; some criticized the rulers' corruption, bribery, parasitism, ignorance, incompetence, nepotism and other scandals, such as "The Fox and the Marmot", "Long-tailed Monkey and the Spectacles", etc.; some even pointed the finger directly. Refers to the Tsar himself, as in "Motley Sheep" and so on.

2. Reflect the powerlessness and exploitation of the oppressed, express sympathy for the people, praise the excellent qualities of the people, and firmly believe in the power of the people. "The Eagle and the Bee" uses bees to praise people who are doing humble labor in obscurity, praising them for "working for the common good" without highlighting the noble spirit of individuals. Although workers are unknown and live at the bottom, they have infinite vitality and creativity. They support the entire society and rulers. "Leaves and Roots" profoundly reveals this dialectical relationship. The fable "Wolf in the Dogpen", which reflects the Patriotic War of 1812, not only reveals the face of the invaders, but also shows the firm determination and great strength of the Russian people to rise up and fight against the invaders.

3. Reveal the philosophy of life contained in daily life and be rich in moral instruction. Krylov uses humor and satire to criticize and ridicule the various shortcomings of people in daily life, summarize life experience, and then warn people how to improve themselves. Such as warning people to be self-aware ("The Toad and the Bull"), to be cautious about friendship ("Trees and Fire", "Dog Friendship"), to be humble and studious ("The Barracuda and the Cat"), and to be good at seeing others' Advantages ("The Eagle and the Chicken"), doing things in moderation ("Jamie Young's Fish Soup"), working together to get things done ("The Swan, the Barracuda and the Prawn"), and having a flexible and unyielding character ("The Oak Tree") and reed") etc.

These fables I read when I was a child still feel that they have strong popular character and reality, and contain all the life wisdom and practical experience passed down from generation to generation by the sages and their fathers. Krylov's fables are all written in poetic style, with beautiful language and profound meaning. They often use animals, plants and images to reflect a wide range of social life, depict the complex personalities of various characters in society, and express his own democratic thoughts. A special kind of appeal.

 

3

 

As the years grew older, I suddenly discovered: Why does the Chinese civilization, which claims to have a history of five thousand years, have no great fablers?

I also read "Ancient Chinese Fables" when I was a child. Some fables were quite popular in China during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Among the works of hundreds of scholars in the pre-Qin period, there are also many excellent fables that were popular at that time, such as: "The Dead Horse", "The Rooster", "The Song People Pull the Seedlings", "Self-Contradiction", "The Zheng People Buy Lu", "Sit back and wait for the rabbit", "Carve a boat to find a sword", "Add one foot to the other", etc. After the Han and Wei dynasties, some writers often used fables to satirize reality in their creations. In the Tang Dynasty, Liu Zongyuan used the form of fables to write prose. In "Three Commandments", he used the stories of three animals: elk, donkey, and rat to satirize those who are arrogant, blind, arrogant, and complacent, achieving a profound meaning. Effect.

What is shocking is that some ancient Chinese teachings and dogmas can kill children's IQ.

When you were a child, your primary school teacher told you the story of "Sleeping on Fire and Tasting Guts": During the Spring and Autumn Period, King Gou Jian of Yue was defeated by King Wu Fu Chai. Gou Jian was captured, humiliated, and then released. Gou Jian hung a pig gallbladder in his sleeping place and slept on a pile of firewood in the middle of the night. Every day when eating, Gou Jian would taste the gall to remind himself not to forget the humiliation of being captured. After twenty years of hard training, he finally destroyed the state of Wu.

However, your teacher didn't tell you: pig gallbladder will rot and stink. It only takes a dozen hours to hang the pig gallbladder before it starts to go bad. In other words, after just one day, what Gou Jian could taste was no longer bitterness, but a stench. Your elementary school teacher didn't even tell you such simple common sense. Why? Because our ancient teachings stifle children's imagination and creativity.

When you were a child, your primary school teacher would also tell you the story of "Cao Chong Weighing the Elephant": Someone gave Cao Cao an elephant, and Cao Cao asked: Can anyone weigh the elephant? There wasn't such a big scale at that time, so no one could do anything about it. However, Cao Cao's son Cao Chong said: "I have a way. Put the elephant on a boat, watch how much the boat sinks, and draw a line on the side of the boat along the water. Then bring the elephant ashore, and then put it on the boat. Load the stones, and wait until the boat sinks to the place where the line is drawn, then stop. Bring the stones up and weigh the total weight of the stones. That is the weight of the elephant." Isn't that smart? Pretty smart indeed. However, your teacher did not guide you to think further: Is there a better solution? some. The really smart plan is: after drawing the horizontal line on the side of the ship, take the elephant away, then ask a group of soldiers to stand on the ship, and when the ship sinks to the horizontal line, ask the soldiers to withdraw, and finally count the weight of all the soldiers, and then That's it. This plan avoids the following workload: moving a pile of big rocks into the boat; moving the pile of big rocks back to the shore; and weighing the pile of big rocks one by one.

  People should be used to replace stones. People can move, but stones cannot. Stones need people to move, but people don't. However, when you were in primary school, you didn't think about it, and neither did your friends. Your elementary school teacher didn’t guide you to think. This is the education you have received since childhood. This kind of education will cultivate a group of mediocre people who cannot think and blindly follow the crowd. Such a mediocre person, if you see others queuing up to buy Cordyceps sinensis, you will go too. You don’t know how to think, and you think that what the ancients said must be right. Such a mediocre person, if you see others boiling Chinese herbal medicine and drinking aristolochic acid, you will drink it too. You don’t know how to think, and you think that if 1.3 billion people drink it, you must be right. How much imagination and creativity have been completely wiped out since you were a child, leaving no trace behind.

However, these sporadic Chinese fables are only compiled by later generations and are not a collection compiled by a certain fabler. Aesop, La Fontaine, and Krylov did not appear in China. Chinese culture only respected Han fu, Tang poetry, Song lyrics, Yuan opera, and Ming and Qing novels. Among Chinese philosophers, Laozi, Confucius, and Guiguzi were not allegorists who dared to expose autocratic rule. China's Shang Yang and Sun Tzu taught only the art of fighting for power and the art of obscuring the people, nor were they allegories that sympathized with the oppressed and exploited. Home.

The Chinese nation is a multi-ethnic country, but this multi-ethnicity later turned into "the coexistence of five ethnic groups", became "one family of Manchu and Han", and finally turned into "Han chauvinism". All ethnic groups except the Han were classified as "minorities". Even for these "minorities", their languages, writings, and customs are being destroyed, and their customs and costumes are now just costumes for performances.

In fact, Chinese folk fables are extremely rich. In addition to the Han people, there are also fables from various ethnic minorities. The fables created by people of all ethnic groups mostly use animals as protagonists, using their activities and relationships to impart a lesson or metaphor to achieve the purpose of allegory. It reflects the healthy and simple thoughts of the working people and shines with the infinite wisdom and noble moral light of the people.

People who have no written language and are not very popular generally have four kinds of intellectual endeavors coming from their mouths. These four are stories, songs, aphorisms (proverbs), and riddles. These are mankind's earliest efforts at reasoning, memory, imagination, etc., so they cannot be ignored. Stories are passed down from past generations. To classify stories, they can be roughly divided into three types: myths, legends, and wild stories. Myths are explained stories, legends are narrative stories, and Marchen includes nursery-tales.

Grassroots groups and academics have different perceptions. Ethnic groups living in the lower classes regard myths and legends as sacred and the historical source of their lives, and sometimes storytellers are prohibited from telling them at will. Therefore, among them, all the stories that are told seriously are sacred stories. Sometimes the elders even tell them to adults during the crowning ceremony, and outsiders or ordinary people are not allowed to hear them. As for the stories they tell women and children in the village after hunting or farming, they are only for entertainment and do not need to be regarded as sacred.

Scholars will regard sacred stories recognized by grassroots groups as vulgar stories. Vulgar stories, that is, wild words, can be produced in all periods of culture. Although it is told for entertainment, the straightforward content has great historical value. Because the content and style of those stories are not only influenced by the environment, but also have a strong national flavor. Among various ethnic groups, some are specialized in telling explanatory stories, some are specialized in telling instructive or moral stories, and some are specialized in telling magical stories. Once they come into contact with each other, it is easy for them to tell each other stories and adopt each other, using the environment and environment of each ethnic group. circumstances to modify those foreign stories and make them your own. Contact between ethnic groups does not require the adoption of each other's customs, but each other's traditions are easily assimilated.

Chinese dynasties have always admired highly talented scholars. These scholars who dominate the literary world are actually slaves of "loyalty to the emperor and service to the country". They flatter the wise saints, advocate prosperity and well-being, and ignore the suffering of the people's livelihood. It's a fight against heaven and earth, it vents cynicism, and it's a loss of talent that is not appreciated. Literary people with a little bit of conscience will be suppressed and persecuted by the imperial court. From burning books and humiliating Confucian scholars to literary prisons, from smelly Laojiu to Yiyantang, a history of Chinese culture is actually a history of Chinese silence.

 

4

 

Although I am a writer and folklore artist, I am very incompetent. I cannot use my wisdom to awaken those people who are still sleeping in the world. In my confused life, I adopted a stray gossip kitten, and also adopted a Bichon Frize puppy who was abandoned by his mother when he was just born. From then on, this pair of cats and dogs became my companions. I communicated with them in bird language, and I suddenly discovered another world.

I determined to create my fable again.

Fables often use the characters of beasts to abstractly illustrate human moral relationships, and they often contain comical elements that amuse the listeners. For the sake of convenience, scholars divide "Yacheng" into four types: Beast-Tales, Drolls, Cumulative Tales and Apologues.

The master in the language of birds is an animal that can speak human language. This kind of story is often seen in early cultural nations. Among the animals of various ethnic groups, the chosen owners and animals are different, and they are generally animals that have more contact with the local living environment at that time. First time people don't notice the difference between animal types, so in the story, the fox can talk to the crow, and the yak can invite the antelope as a guest. Fable writers can narrate what they want to say through bird language.

Humor is mainly humorous. Fables often take fools as their masters and describe their ridiculous behavior. Fools are mostly stupid donkeys or stupid pigs.

The content of the fables is the same as other stories, the only difference is the style. A fable can also narrate one part of the story and then narrate another part of the story, and it can be continued over and over again.

All parables are moral stories that use metaphors to illustrate a principle, so they are very similar to maxims. A metaphor is a little different from a fable. The former pays more attention to moral lessons, while the latter pays more attention to the invention of truth. The characteristics of fables should be to stand among the people, awaken the people, distinguish between ourselves and the enemy, identify good and evil, distinguish between beauty and ugliness, understand good from bad, and find oneself.

When I was communicating with a Christian, he told me the story of the Garden of Eden.

The Garden of Eden (Hebrew: גן עדן), according to the "Bible Genesis" record, Jehovah God created the ancestors of mankind in his own image. The man was called Adam and the woman was called Eve, and placed the first male and female to live there. In the Garden of Eden. The Garden of Eden in the original text of the Bible means a happy garden, or paradise. When Westerners talk about paradise today, they think of the Garden of Eden.

God's original purpose was for Adam and Eve to manage the Garden of Eden. But later, Eve was tempted by Satan (the serpent) and ate the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, and also let Adam eat it. When God knew about it, he expelled them from the Garden of Eden in anger and installed cherubim (angels) on the east side of the Garden of Eden. ) and the flaming sword that turned, guarding the way to the tree of life.

Where is the Garden of Eden? The Bible records that the Garden of Eden was in the east, and four rivers flowed from Eden to nourish the garden. These four rivers are the Pison, Gihon, Tigris, and Euphrates. But only the last two exist.

I once participated in an inspection tour of the source of the Three Rivers organized by the Chinese Folk Writers and Artists Association, and was deeply impressed by the snow-covered Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. When I visited Sanjiangyuan for inspection, I discovered that the rivers in the Sanjiangyuan area are divided into two categories: external rivers and internal rivers. There are more than 180 large and small rivers with a river area of 0.16 square kilometers. The outer rivers are mainly three major river systems: Tongtian River, Yellow River, and Lancang River (the upper reaches are called Zhaqu). The tributaries are composed of Yalong River, Dangqu, Kariqu, Ziqu, Jiequ and other large and small rivers.

What is most rewarding to me is that many Chinese folktales came from India, including Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

Studying the snowy culture has become a prescription for me to prevent Alzheimer's disease, and writing fables can make me feel like a child again. I have made up my mind. From now on, I will use the wise Agu Demba as the protagonist to combine poetry and Using the method of fable creation combined with prose, he began to create the Chinese-English version of "Fables of the Snowy Land".

Write it down in order.

 

Monday, September 4, 2023

Shanghai Hengyi Zhai