The legend of the Stove Lord being beaten

 

The legend of the Stove Lord being beaten

 

Since then, there have been two legends about the Kitchen God. One theory is that the Kitchen God is the greedy king of the state official who was slapped on the kitchen wall with a big slap; another theory is that the Kitchen God is the emperor's "royal cook" and received the "emperor's title" after his death.

 

Zhang Zao Wang and Zhang Painter

 

Zhang Zao Wang, who was famous for cooking and repairing stoves, lived for seventy years and died late at night on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month.

When King Zhang Zao died, the Zhang family was in chaos. It turns out that King Zhang Zao is the head of the family, and everything in the family is done according to his orders. Now that he has passed away, all family matters are placed on the shoulders of his younger brother, Master Zhang.

Painter Zhang can only read poetry and draw paintings. Although he is in his sixties, he has never taken care of housework. What should I do?

Several daughters-in-law of the Zhang family were clamoring to separate the family. Painter Zhang was so disturbed that he had no choice but to look sad all day long.

One day, Painter Zhang finally came up with a good idea.

On the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, late at night on the first anniversary of the death of King Zhang Zao, Master Zhang suddenly woke up the whole family with a loud voice, saying that his eldest brother, King Zhang Zao, had appeared. He led his son, daughter-in-law, and the whole family to the kitchen, where they saw candlelight flickering on the dark stove wall, showing the faces of Stove King Zhang and his late wife. The family members were all shocked.

Painter Zhang said: "I dreamed that my eldest brother and eldest sister-in-law had become immortals, and the Jade Emperor named him the 'Nine Heavens East Chef, Mingzao Wangfu Lord'. You are always good at food and lazy in cooking, your sisters-in-law are at odds, you are disrespectful and unfilial, and you make the family gods uneasy. My eldest brother knows You are having a family separation, you are very angry, and prepare to go to heaven to report it to the Jade Emperor, so that the Jade Emperor will come down to punish you on New Year's Eve night."

After hearing these words, the children, nieces and nephews were horrified. They immediately knelt down and kowtowed repeatedly. They hurriedly took the sweets that Zhang Zao Wang loved to eat and offered them on the stove, begging Zhang Zao Wang for his forgiveness. From then on, none of the uncles, brothers and daughters-in-law who were often noisy in the Zhang family dared to act out anymore. The whole family lives together in peace, and young and old live peacefully.

After the neighbors learned about this incident, they spread the news to tens of thousands, and they all came to the Zhang family to find out the truth. In fact, the Stove King on the stove painting seen on the night of the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month was drawn in advance by painter Zhang. It turns out that Painter Zhang was inspired by the portrait of the Stove King on the wall of Zhang Dazhang's stove.

Painter Zhang pretended that his elder brother appeared as a ghost to frighten his children, niece and daughter-in-law. Unexpectedly, this method was really effective. So when the villagers came to find out what was going on with Painter Zhang, he had no choice but to fake it and give the painted Stove King portraits to his neighbors.

As a result, it spread throughout the countryside that every household's kitchen was pasted with a statue of the Kitchen King. As time went by, the custom of making offerings to the Stove Lord on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month to pray for the safety of the family was formed.

After the custom of offering sacrifices to stoves spread, starting from the Zhou Dynasty, even the imperial palace included it in sacrifice ceremonies, and the rules of offering sacrifices to stoves were established across the country and became a fixed ritual.

But Zhang Zaowang is not the real Stove King. So who is the real Kitchen King?

 

Zhang slaps the Kitchen King with a big slap

 

The Kitchen God, also known as the Kitchen King, who does he refer to? This has to start with the widely circulated legend of Dazao King. Chinese people have a folk custom of painting stove paintings. This stove painting is the original illustration of "Defying the Stove King". In form, the legend of Beating the Kitchen God is based on the image of the portrait of the Kitchen God that people put on the stove during the Chinese New Year.

According to the original legend, the Stove King was originally a kitchen servant in heaven and was sent to the mortal world by the Jade Emperor to monitor the dietary life of the people. The actions of this earthly kitchen worker are very secretive. He always sneaks into people's homes without anyone noticing, looking around, making irresponsible remarks, and even making blind reports. So the people were wary of him.

On the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month every year, the kitchen staff returned to heaven to report to the Jade Emperor about the situation in the human world. They did not return to the human world until the evening of the New Year's Eve. His problem was that he always liked to gossip about people, so before he left, people always stuck some sugar melons on his mouth to prevent him from talking bad about the world in front of the Jade Emperor and bringing bad luck to people.

People often say: "Eaters are soft-mouthed." After the kitchen servants came down to earth, they ate from the master's house and then from the west's house. After eating too much, they naturally said less bad things when they returned to heaven to pay homage to the Jade Emperor. From now on, there is much less right and wrong.

Unexpectedly, the kitchen worker drank too much when he went to a family to have dinner. When he returned, he accidentally fell into the river and drowned.

At this time, the world reported that a state official in Hebei was burned to death by a fire caused by a stove fire.

At that time, the emperor of the world decided to send a minister to the Great Plains of Hebei and appointed him as a state official there. Throughout the dynasties, there have never been any good officials, so those officials in the capital were used to enjoying themselves in the capital, and no one wanted to be a local official. The emperor was anxious and asked the Jade Emperor.

The Jade Emperor thought of his kitchen attendant. He knew how to manage cooking and could strengthen the control of people's kitchen fires. He also loved to make small reports. This was exactly what the Jade Emperor wanted. He could understand and control public opinion through him. But the kitchen worker turned out to be a drowned ghost.

The Jade Emperor summoned the drowned ghost to the palace. He said to the drowned ghost: "I will reincarnate you from a ghost into a human being and send you to that state to be a state official. This state has fertile land and rich products. You can compete there." You will also enjoy happiness in the capital. After you take office, I will allow you to eat and drink in every household, and then designate the food you think is the most delicious and delicious as tribute food, and send it to heaven regularly every year, so that the gods can also experience it Let’s take a look at the folk food culture.”

The drowned ghost suddenly became a god of food. He listened to the emperor's words with joy and took office happily.

After taking office, he posted notices everywhere. The notice said to the people of Li: Starting from three days after he takes office, every family will treat him to a fine banquet for a day. Anyone who refuses to invite them will violate the king's law, and the Jade Emperor will immediately bring disaster and disaster.

How can such a thing happen in the world? But this happened.

The newly appointed state official has made a calculation: There are tens of thousands of families in this state, and they will have to eat deliciously for tens of thousands of days; after eating once, they will make a notice, and then continue to eat... As soon as three days are over, he will go to eat again It belongs to the common people. His delicious food became famous, and the people called him the Gluttonous King.

At first, the Greedy King always went to people's homes to eat alone; later, figuring it was inappropriate, the Greedy King took his wife, subordinates, and his chickens and dogs to eat.

The gluttonous king of the state official ate for a whole year and became fat and white. But the common people are suffering from the food, especially the poor families. They still don't have enough to eat. How can they afford the state official's gluttonous banquet for a day?

Some common people sold their children and gave them to the state official, the Gluttonous King, to hold banquets;

Some common people sold their little property and held banquets for the state official, the King of Gluttons;

Some common people could not afford a banquet, so they were reported to the Jade Emperor by the state official Greedy King. As a result, disasters continued.

The common people gritted their teeth and said with tears: "The state official is not our 'parent official', he is a glutton who eats human flesh, drinks human blood, and chews human bones!"

These words were passed around, reaching a remote village and reaching the ears of "big slap".

Zhang's daughter-in-law weaves and spins, while her husband works on the land and collects firewood. The husband was born with broad arms and a thick waist, and was very strong. His hands were big and wide - therefore, people called him "Zhang Da Shang". He pulls up trees like onions with one hand, and he can knock a high wall flat with one wave of his hand.

After Zhang Dashang inquired about the state official's affairs, he killed a pig, put it in a pot, added seasonings, and asked his wife to stew the meat. Then he went to find the gluttonous king of the state official.

When Zhang Dapa Zhang saw the state official Greedy King, he said: "Master state official, do you think I look like a capable person?"

"Yeah - this is the first time I've seen such an amazing giant like you! Your abilities must be great!"

"That's right. I can catch phoenixes in the sky and dragons in the sea. I heard that the governor likes to eat good food, so I specially caught dragons and phoenixes and stewed a big pot of 'dragon and phoenix meat'. Although it was not my turn to serve at home yet, Please ask the state official to appreciate it in advance!"

When the state official Greedy King heard this, he couldn't help but go! He immediately took his wife, subordinates, chickens and dogs to follow Zhang Daspa.

As soon as they entered the open door, the state officials, the Gluttonous King, and the others sniffed and shouted: "It smells so good! It smells so good!"

Chickens are so greedy that they flap their wings, dogs are so greedy that they droop their tongues, and state officials are so greedy that their saliva drips to the ground. They came into the house and saw that the wife was still lighting the fire in the kitchen door, and the dragon and phoenix meat was not yet cooked.

The gluttonous king of the state official was angry. He was about to ask Zhang Dashang why he was invited here before the dragon and phoenix meat was cooked. Zhang Dashang asked his wife to step aside. He closed the door, rolled up his sleeves, raised his palms, and pointed at the state official. One group said: "You have made the common people suffer so much! You can't run away this time! Let you taste my slap today!"

Zhang Da slapped him fiercely and was about to slap him. His wife quickly stopped him and said, "Don't break them! Just slap them on the kitchen wall - they loved to eat the food of the common people when they were alive, and they will be left alone after death." Always stand by the stove and stare at the people eating good food!"

"good!"

He raised his palm with a big hand, and with only a little force, "Bah" - he hit the state official Greedy King, his wife, subordinates, chickens and dogs on the kitchen wall all at once!

However, Zhang Da slapped her too hard and damaged her stove. So he asked his friend Zhang Zaowang, a plasterer, to help him repair the stove in a nearby village.

This Stove King is two brothers. The elder brother is Zhang De, a mason; the younger brother is Zhang Cai, a painter.

Zhang De's best job is cooking stoves and cooking pots, so people from East Street and West Street all praise him as a master of cooking stoves. Zhang Depanzao is famous far and wide, and people for hundreds of miles around refer to him as "Zhangzao King".

King Zhang Zao has a strange temper and is nosy. No matter whose house he goes to cook the stove or cook the stove, if he encounters a disagreement between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, he will try to persuade them. If he encounters a daughter-in-law who is not filial to her parents-in-law, he will say: "Filial filial piety comes first. If you honor your parents-in-law, your children will also honor you in the future. This is called repaying retribution." He said so bluntly that the daughter-in-law nodded frequently, smiled brightly, and said to her mother-in-law Like his own mother; if he encounters a vicious mother-in-law who abuses his daughter-in-law, he will advise, "When you are an elder, you should act like an elder and be considerate of the hardships of the younger generation. Otherwise, don't try to compete with the younger generation to argue that you are superior to me. If you have anything to say, talk to me. ", don't hurt the harmony. As the saying goes, 'everything will be happy if the family is harmonious.'" With these words, the mother-in-law was convinced, and from then on she treated her daughter-in-law like her own daughter. Therefore, if any neighbor's mother-in-law or daughter-in-law is at odds, or if they have any problems, they are willing to come to Zhang Zaowang to discuss and solve the problem.

Zhang Cai, the younger brother of King Zhang Zao, is a famous painter. His paintings, whether they are gods, figures, flowers, plants, or animals, are lifelike. As time went by, Zhang Cai's paintings became famous far and wide, and people respectfully called him "Painter Zhang".

Zhang Stove King heard that Zhang Dapa Zhang's stove was broken, so he brought his younger brother Zhang Painter with him to help repair the stove. He saw the portrait of a corrupt official on the wall of Zhang Dapa Zhang's kitchen.

Zhang Zao Wang was very surprised: "You actually beat this Greedy King onto the kitchen wall. What if the Jade Emperor recognizes him?"

Only then did Zhang Dashang remember: "Yes, we can't let the Jade Emperor know about beating the Stove King!"

Zhang Zao Wang’s younger brother Zhang Hua Shi smiled and said, “This is easy to handle.”

Painter Zhang picked up the brush and paint and quickly changed the painting of the Greedy King and his family on the kitchen wall into the Stove King. Painter Zhang laughed: "Now, even the Jade Emperor can't recognize him!"

After the common people knew about this, they came to see the stove paintings one after another, and everyone clapped their hands and applauded! Someone suggested that since the state official, the Gluttonous King, loved to go to every house to eat and drink, why not ask painter Zhang to draw them and paste them on the wall of every kitchen, so that they can stare at every household making good food and eating good food? ! Everyone agreed after hearing this, so we just did it. What is unexpected is that stove paintings have since become a Chinese folk tradition and have been passed down from generation to generation. the difference is. In some places, stove paintings are called "zao flowers".

However, this matter spread to ten people and hundreds of people, and the Jade Emperor still knew about it. He was very angry, but he didn't dare to ask Zhang Dashang to accuse him, for fear that he would be slapped against the kitchen wall by Zhang Dashang. What should he do?

Taibai Jinxing gave the Jade Emperor an idea. He wrote a fake notice and asked Wang Lingguan, who was beside the Jade Emperor, to post it to the human world. The notice said: The couple of state officials were the emperor's "royal cooks" during their lifetime. They served the emperor with merit. After their death, they were named the Kitchen God and the Kitchen God. Every household must paint them as Stove God portraits and stick them on the kitchen stove. On the wall, it will leave its fragrance for eternity.

The common people laughed, and so did the Jade Emperor.