Paradox Blog

In stories passed down from long ago, Chinese people believed there were two worlds. One that us humans lived in on earth and one above where the Gods and immortals lived in called heaven. There were also ten suns instead of one at one time. The ten suns took turn to shine on earth to provide light needed for living things to grow. But one day the ten suns decided to shine all at once on earth. The blazing heat started to dry up the land. The rivers dwindled and the oceans shrank. Grass died so animals had no food to feed on. Crops died so people had nothing to feed on either. There was a famine going on and the only thing people could do was to pray. They prayed to the gods in heaven to relieve them of such sufferings. The King of All Gods heard their plea and sent one of his best warriors, Ho Yi, to look into the problem.

Ho Yi and his wife, Tsarn Er left their heavenly dwelling and descended onto earth for their temporary assignment. At first Ho Yi tried to persuade the ten suns to go back the old ways and take turn in shining on earth. The ten suns were too arrogant to listen and worst, they started showing off by turning on the heat more and even shining through the night. Seeing creatures on earth wither away in the heat and that time was running out, Ho Yi resorted to his talent of archery and started shooting down the sun. He took aim and shot down one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine suns, leaving only one. The wounded suns dropped beyond the horizon and disappeared into nebulas. The one sun left agreed to shine on earth half of the day and go away at night to rest. The earth went back to normal. Rivers once again ran through lands in full and irrigated the crops. Trees and grass started to grow back. Farmers could harvest crops and animals roamed the earth in strides. People were again content and happy.

The King of All Gods, however, was not pleased, for the ten suns were his sons. Now that nine of them had died at Ho Yi's hands, he wanted Ho Yi to pay for it. Out of grief and anger, he condemned Ho Yi and his wife to become mere mortals and banished them from ever returning to heaven again.

On earth, Ho Yi was a hero and treated like a king. At first he enjoyed being revered but soon his mortality loomed over him like a dark cloud he could not escape. He became unhappy. So did his wife, Tsarn Er, who had been feeling very lonely and missed all the luxuries and what things used to be in heaven. One day, Ho Yi heard about an herbalist living deep in the mountains had concocted the potion to eternal youth. He immediately set out to search for the herbalist and get his hands on the eternal youth potion. He took long and hard journeys deep into the high mountains and brought back the coveted potion, the key to rejoin the immortals in heaven.

Instead of taking the potion, Ho Yi stored it away, fearing the consequences of re-entering heaven, much to the dismay of his wife who had felt consequences or not, her days on earth were done for. One day when Ho Yi was out hunting, Tsarn Er went through Ho Yi's things and found the tugged away treasure. The very moment she had the potion in her hands, footsteps of Ho Yi returning from his hunting trip were at the door. Without much time to think, she gobbled up the entire potion. She started to feel lighter and lighter, as if she had become a feather. Light as a feather, she started to float. Higher and higher, she floated toward heaven. Upon entering heaven, she was greeted with jeers and sneers by gods and immortals for stealing Ho Yi's hard-earned potion and for abandoning her husband on earth to seek her own immortality.

Tsarn Er was ashamed, so much so that she could not bear living among her disapproving peers. Being an immortal, she could not return to earth either. She averted heaven and leapt over to the moon where there was no one but cold rocks to keep her company. It is said to this day, she's still there, alone, playing a sorrowful tone on her pear-shaped five-string instrument.