Nebeška nevesta Du Lanxiang

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Nebeška nevesta Du Lanxiang

In Han times there was a woman named Du Lanxiang, who said she came from Nankang. In the spring of the fourth year of Jianye, she visited Zhang Chuan several times. Chuan was seventeen. Seeing her carriage outside his gate, he received this message from her maid: “A daughter of the Mother has been sent to be your bride. Will you not respectfully accept?” Chuan, who changed his name to Shuo, called the young woman forward to look at her. She appeared to be sixteen or seventeen, yet spoke of events in the distant past. She had two maids: the elder was called Xuanzhi, the younger Songzhi. Her inlaid carriage was drawn by a blue ox, and food and drink were all provided. She composed a poem: “The Mother dwells upon a sacred peak, / At times she roams among the clouds on high. / A host of maidens attends her feathered train, / Never venturing beyond the palace walls. / My airy wheels have borne me here to you; / Why should I shrink from this dusty world? / Accept me, and good fortune comes with me; / Reject me, and misfortune you shall meet.” On the first day of the eighth month that year, she returned and composed another poem: “At ease I wander through the River of Heaven; / In a breath I leave the Nine Peaks behind. / I shall bear you onward, unhindered on the way— / Across the Weak Water, where could we not go?” She brought out three yam bulblets, each as large as a hen’s egg, and said, “Eat these, and you need fear neither wind nor waves; they will protect you from cold and heat.” Shuo ate two and wished to keep one, but she would not allow it and made him eat them all. She said, “I came to be your wife, and my affection has never grown distant. But our allotted years and destinies have not yet aligned, so we must part for a little while. When Tai Sui stands at Mao in the east, I shall return to seek you.” During one of Lanxiang’s descents, Shuo asked her about prayers and sacrifices. She replied, “Dispelling demons can indeed cure illness; improper sacrifices are of no use.” Lanxiang used medicines to dispel demons.