The Queen of Heaven,
A Chinese fairy tale.
The Queen of Heaven,
Who is also known as the Holy Mother,
Was in mortal life a maiden of Fuxian,
Named Lin.
She was pure,
Reverential and pious in her ways,
And died at the age of seventeen.
The seamen worship her when they are unexpectedly attacked by wind and waves.
They call on her and she is always ready to hear their pleas.
There are many seamen in Fuxian,
And every year people are lost at sea,
And because of this,
Most likely,
The Queen of Heaven took pity on the distress of her people during her lifetime on earth.
And since her thoughts are uninterruptedly turned toward aiding the drowning in their distress,
She now appears frequently on the seas.
In every ship that sails,
A picture of the Queen of Heaven hangs in the cabin,
And three paper talismans are also kept on ship.
On the first,
She is painted with crown and a spectre,
On the second,
As a maiden in ordinary dress,
And on the third,
She is pictured with glowing hair,
Barefoot,
Standing with a sword in her hand.
When the ship is in danger,
The first talisman is burned,
And help comes,
And if no help comes,
Then there is nothing more to be done.
When seamen lose their course among wind and waves and darkening clouds,
They pray to the Queen of Heaven.
Then a red lantern appears on the face of the waters,
And if they follow the lantern,
They will win safe out of all danger.
The Queen of Heaven may often be seen standing in the skies,
Dividing the wind with her sword.
When she does this,
The wind departs for the north and south,
And the waves grow smooth.
A wooden wand is always kept before her holy picture in the cabin.
It often happens that the fish-dragons play in the seas.
There are two giant fish who spout up water against one another till the sun in the sky is obscured,
And the seas are shrouded in profound darkness,
And often in the distance one may see a bright opening in the darkness.
If the ship holds a course for this opening it will win through,
And is suddenly floating in calm waters again.
Looking back,
One may see the two fish,
And the ship will have passed directly beneath their jaws.
But a storm is always near when the fish-dragons swim.
For it is well to burn paper or wool,
So that the dragons do not throw the ship down into the depths.
Or the master of the wand may burn incense before the wand in the cabin.
Then he must take the wand and swing it over the water three times in a circle.
If he does so,
The dragons will throw in their tails and disappear.
When the ashes in the censer fly up into the air without any cause,
And are scattered about,
It is a sign that great danger is threatening.
Nearly two hundred years ago an army was fitted out to subdue the island of Formosa.
The captain's banner had been dedicated with the blood of a white horse.
Suddenly the Queen of Heaven appeared at the tip of the banner's staff.
In another moment she had disappeared,
But the invasion was successful.
On another occasion,
In the days of Gyeongnung,
The minister Cho Ling was ordered to install a new king in the Ryukyu Islands.
When the fleet was sailing by south of Korea,
A storm arose,
And his ship was driven towards the Black Whirlpool.
The water had the color of ink,
Sun and moon lost their radiance,
And the word was passed about that the ship had been caught in the Black Whirlpool,
From which no living man had ever returned.
The seamen and travelers awaited their end with lamentations.
Suddenly an untold number of lights,
Like red lanterns,
Appeared on the surface of the water.
Then the seamen were overjoyed and prayed in the cabins.
Our lives are saved,
They cried.
The Holy Mother has come to our aid,
And truly a beautiful maiden with golden earrings appeared.
She waved her hand in the air,
And the winds became still,
And the waves grew even.
And it seemed as though the ship were being drawn along by a mighty hand blushing through the waves,
And suddenly it was beyond the limits of the Black Whirlpool.
Cho Ling,
On his return,
Thought of this happening,
And begged that temples be erected in honor of the Queen of Heaven,
And that she be included in the list of the gods.
Since then,
Temples of the Queen of Heaven are to be found in all seaports,
And her birthday is celebrated on the eighth day of the fourth month with spectacles and sacrifice.
The end.
