Story 1: Luban Makes Wooden Kites

Luban Makes Wooden Kites　

Author: Anonymous

Lu Ban is from Dunhuang. When he was a child, his hands were very dexterous and he could make all kinds of beautiful kites. When he grew up, he learned carpentry skills from his father, built bridges, buildings, temples and pagodas. He was very good at it and was very famous in the Hexi area.

In this year, not long after he got married, he was invited by an eminent monk from Liangzhou (now Wuwei) to build a pagoda, which was completed two years later. Although he is in Liangzhou, he is worried about his parents at home and misses his newlywed wife even more. How can we go home without accidentally building a tower? Inspired by the birds flying in the sky, he built an exquisite wooden kite, installed a mechanism, and tried to ride it.

As expected, it flew smoothly. So, after finishing work every day and having dinner, he would ride on a wooden kite, hit the mechanism three times, and fly back to his home in Dunhuang not long after. His wife was naturally very happy to see him back, but for fear of disturbing his parents, he remained silent. Early the next morning, he took the wooden kite and flew back to Liangzhou. In this way, not long after, the wife became pregnant.

Luban’s parents went to bed early and got up late, and had no idea their son was coming home. When I saw that my daughter-in-law was pregnant, I thought she was acting inappropriately. When the mother-in-law inquired about it, the daughter-in-law explained clearly that her husband went home every night on a wooden kite. Unexpectedly, the two elders did not believe it and wanted to see it for themselves that night.

When it was time to hold the lantern, Lu Ban returned home riding a wooden kite. The two elders’ doubts disappeared. The old father said happily: “Son, don’t go to the Liangzhou construction site tomorrow. Let me rest at home for a day and let me ride on the wooden kite to broaden my horizons.” Early the next morning, the old father rode on the wooden kite and his son He explained how to use the mechanism: “If you are flying close, hit the wooden wedge of the mechanism a few times less; if you are flying far away, hit it a few more times. Go early and come back early, so as not to miss my work tomorrow.”

The old father said Keeping the confession in mind, I rode the wooden kite into the sky, thinking of flying to a distant place. He hit the wooden wedge more than ten times and heard the sound of wind in his ears. He was so frightened that he closed his eyes tightly, hugged the wooden kite tightly and let it fly. When the wooden kite landed, I opened my eyes and saw a guy flying to Wu Di (today’s Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas).

When the people of Wu saw a monster falling from the sky, riding on an old man with a white beard, they thought it was a monster and surrounded him. Without explanation, they beat the old man to death with sticks and chopped up the wooden kite with knives.

Lu Ban waited at home for many days but did not see his father return. He was afraid that something would happen, so he made a wooden kite and flew around to look for it. After finding Wu Di, he inquired and found out that his father was dead. He was so angry that he returned to Suzhou (today’s Jiuquan) and carved a wooden immortal pointing to the southeast. The Wood Immortal has great supernatural powers and points to the land of Wu.

There was a severe drought and no rain, and there was no harvest that year. ”

Three years later, the people of Wu learned from merchants from the West that the long drought without rain was originally a magic spell used by Lu Ban to avenge his father. They came to Suzhou with generous gifts to apologize to Lu Ban and told him about the manslaughter of his father. What happened? After Lu Ban knew the truth, he felt deeply guilty for his revenge and immediately cut off the arm of the Wood Immortal.

Immediately, nectar rained down on Wu, lifting the drought. Afterwards, Lu Ban thought about it and thought that building a wooden kite would He killed his father and made the Wooden Immortal, causing severe drought and suffering for the people. He did two stupid things. He threw these two things into the fire and burned them. The Wooden Kite and the Wooden Immortal were lost.

Excerpted from “Taiping Guangji”

Source: China Folktales