Playwright Posted April 11, 2007 Report Share Posted April 11, 2007 I have been researching classic love stories from the Far East and have come up with three from China and one from Vietnam. Please see below. Can anybody add some good traditional Thai love stories? Four Classic Love Stories from the Far East 1. The Butterfly Lovers is known as ?the Chinese Romeo and Juliet?. According to Confucius, girls of good family should stay at home; but at 17 Yingtai longs to go to university. So she disguises herself as a boy. At University she falls in love with Shanbo, a poor scholar, who regards her as his blood brother. A year later her father summons her home to a forced marriage with a wealthy war lord. Too late Shanbo realises Yingtai is a girl, with whom in he is in love. He and Yingtai make a pact to die together and they become butterflies in heaven. Several films have been made of The Butterfly Lovers and a violin concerto composed (played by Vanessa Mae). 2. The Festival of Lovers. Niulang a poor oxherd spies on Zhinu the granddaughter of the King of Heaven swimming naked in a sacred pond. Niulang?s old ox, who in a previous incarnation had been Taurus in the night sky, advises Niulang to steal Zhinu?s clothes. When he hands them back, they look into each other's eyes and the heavenly girl proposes to him. They have two children and she becomes famous throughout China for weaving beautiful silk garments. Before he dies the old ox tells them to preserve his hide, which will enable them to fly to heaven. The Queen of Heaven kidnaps Zhinu. Niulang and his children pursue them. The Queen creates a raging torrent that they cannot cross. However the King of Heaven is moved by the children?s crying and allows Niulang and Zhinu to meet once a year on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, the Chinese Valentine?s Day. They became stars in the sky and the torrent that lies between them is the Milky Way; and when it rains it is said that Zhinu is crying for her children. 3. The Female Buddha. Thi Kinh is falsely accused of attempting to murder her husband and made homeless by her family. She shaves her hair to look like a monk and enters a monastery. However a village girl falls in love with her. One night the girl hears a man passing her house. Thinking it is Thi Kinh; she invites him in and they make love. When she becomes pregnant, the girl?s father beats her until she confesses that the child?s father is a monk. Thi Kinh is thrown out of the monastery and made homeless again. When the girl gives birth, the family gives the baby to Thi Kihn to raise. She begs for food, but the villagers threw rotten fruit and rocks at her, while she remains silent and forgiving. In the end she is beaten to death. When the villagers remove her clothes to wash her body and bury her, they discover she is a woman. They revere her for the pain she has endured on behalf of another. Thi Kihn?s spirit becomes Kwan Yin, the female Buddha of compassion. In China and Vietnam, there are many statues of the female Buddha. 4. A Lotus in a Muddy Pool. Kieu is the ideal of Vietnamese womanhood, beautiful, clever and virtuous, but when brigands cast her elderly parents into prison, the only way that Kieu can ransom them is by becoming a prostitute. She undergoes many adventures, at one time married to the most powerful war lord in China. But she always remains pure at heart and in the end re-unites with her first love, the scholar poet Kim. ?The Tales of Kieu? is Vietnam?s greatest work of literature, an epic poem, and many peasants can recite by heart its 3450 lines. There is a beautiful verse translation, which was a twenty year labour of love by Michael Counsell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stegee Posted April 12, 2007 Report Share Posted April 12, 2007 the bargirl and the buffalo!! traditional tale involving thai farmer's daughter who is forced to give up her dream of being a dancer in the big city when her mother calls to tell her that the buffalo is sick and she is needed to pull the plough or there wil be no crop this year. a handsome man from farangland a legendary country where money grows on trees takes pity on her and gives her money so that her family a new tractor and she can continue to follow her dream. she also enrols in late night dance school in the big city!! soon however the girl receives a second call from her mother- the girl's father has crashed the tractor and killed the neighbouring farmer's buffalo in the process. once again the girl is forced to ask her farang lover for the money so she can continue to follow her dream. a new tractor and new buffalo are purchased and the girl learns a few new moves at her late night dance classes!! soon however................................. you know how it goes!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khun_Sam Posted April 12, 2007 Report Share Posted April 12, 2007 tatt2dude said: Debby does Dallas.....Classic. Oh the blasphemy! It's Debbie dude, Debbie, not Debby. :shock: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GuessWho Posted April 12, 2007 Report Share Posted April 12, 2007 stegee - classic! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stegee Posted April 12, 2007 Report Share Posted April 12, 2007 Nu said: stegee - classic! :oops: i didn't write it- i just tell it well!! :wink: ManU!! 7-1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stegee Posted April 12, 2007 Report Share Posted April 12, 2007 tatt2dude said: Khun_Sam said: tatt2dude said: Debby does Dallas.....Classic. Oh the blasphemy! It's Debbie dude, Debbie, not Debby. :shock: not the version we made, thats me and Debby from Dagenham. True Love ahhhh, it never lasts, I told her to go down on Tina she went down on a Cortina, which reversed over her head, I never been out with a deaf girl since. is that the Debby from Debby Did Dagenham?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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