The Fairy Serpent

A Teochew Fairytale Retold by Huang Lei

A Teochew Fairytale Retold by Teochew Fables As Documented Huang Lei Originally by

Adele M. Fielde in the

Chinese Nights’ Entertainment Retold and Illustrated by

Huang Lei

To those who say, “I don’t know any Chinese dialect folktales”, this book is for you.

It never occurred to me to question why we have only heard of a handful of folktales like Chang’e and the Moon, or the tale of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, while the rest are lost in time. Each culture has its own share of rich history and fairytales, and today, I hope to share one from the Teochew culture itself. It’s highly possible you have never heard of this before, so I hope you enjoy this retelling all the more.

History of Teochews Teochew prefecture (Chaozhou) is located at the southern part of China, and is where most Singaporean Teochews can trace their ancestral lineage to. Teochews are people of the sea; the land borders the coastline, and the Chinese characters ‘潮州’ can be translated to ‘tidal prefecture’. Eventually, our Teochew forebears took to their ships and sailed to new lands, including Singapore.

The folktale you are about to read was documented in the 1890s by an American missionary, Adele M. Fielde, during her trip to Swatow, Teochew prefecture. In total she recorded forty tales, shared to her by the storytellers she met during her travels. Her book, Chinese Nights’ Entertainment, is one of the most extensive anthologies of Teochew folklore to have survived the passage of time.

Today, these retold Teochew folktales serve as a window to which you can peer through and learn more about the culture anew.

Teochew prefecture

Once upon a time, there lived a man and his three daughters, of whom he was devotedly fond.

His daughters were skilful embroiderers, and on his way home from work everyday, the man would gather some flowers for them to use as patterns.

One day, there were no flowers to be found, so he ventured into the woods to look for wild blossoms. Unwittingly, the man had stumbled into the domain of a fairy serpent.

Furious at the man’s intrusion, he coiled him tightly against a tree.

He seethed,

u intrude m are yo y l an d d an w o dp “H i ck

my fl owe r s ! ”

The man trembled uncontrollably, and sobbed out,

“O great serpent, I... I am only trying to collect a few flowers for my daughters... They will be so disappointed if I go home emptyhanded without my usual gift!”

This interested the serpent greatly.

“Daughters, you say?”

He went on to enquire more about them, and refused to release the man unless he promised one of them in marriage to him. Unable to persuade him to let him go on easier terms, the man gave in to the serpent’s request.

When the man got home, his anxiety over the reach of the serpent’s powers to hold him to his promise left him in sorrowful meditation.

Despite his daughters’ lovingly made dinner, he had no appetite to eat.

This worried them, and after much discussion, they deduced that one of them must have displeased him. They agreed to try to find out who it might be, by going separately to urge him to eat.

First, the eldest went in and urged him to eat, even if it was just a bite. He replied that he would eat if she would, for his sake, marry the serpent to whom he promised a wife. She bluntly refused, and that left him in deeper despair.

When the second daughter went in, the man asked the same question, and likewise, received the same reply.

Lastly, when the third and youngest daughter went in, she enquired,

“Dear Baba, what’s bothering you so much that it’s making you lose your appetite?”

The man told her his story. She at once declared that, if he would care for his health properly, she would become the serpent’s bride.

Her words consoled him greatly, and the man found his appetite back. For a time, it seemed that everything was well again.

But one morning, as the girls were doing their embroidery, a wasp flew in and sang a peculiar song.

Whenever the wasp alighted, the girls prodded it with their needles and followed it up so closely it had to flee for its life. The next morning two wasps came, singing the same refrain; day by day, their numbers increased until the girls could no longer chase them away, nor endure their stings.

Finally, in order to relieve the family of the stinging plague, the third daughter decided to go to her uncanny bridegroom.

The wasps accompanied her on the road, and guided her into the middle of the woods where the fairy serpent awaited.

There, he built a palace with spacious rooms with carved furniture inlaid with precious stones, chests full of silks, caskets of jade, and splendid jewellery. The serpent welcomed her with his beautiful eyes and musical voice. But the girl shuddered at the thought of seeing him slithering about in his warty, scaly skin.

The serpent had prepared the wedding as per Teochew customs, and the third daughter was touched by his thoughtful planning.

She promised that she too would perform her domestic duties.

For many days the third daughter took care of the housework, and made things pleasant for her serpentine bridegroom. In turn, he doted upon her, and pined for her whenever she was out of his sight. His gentle affections warmed her, and she grew to enjoy his companionship.

Without arms, the serpent could not help her with household chores.

One day, when the third daughter discovered that the well had dried up, she went alone to a distant spring to carry water back. She was gone for a long while, and the snake languished over her absence.

By the time she returned home, she found him dying of thirst. In her urgency to save his life, she grasped and plunged him into the water.

From the water rose a strong and handsome man. He had been subjected to a wicked enchantment, but her dutiful quest and gracious concern set him free.

From then on, the kind girl and her now-human husband often visited her old home, and brought gifts to those who were less fortunate than she.

Word Bank

Happy

Hua-hee

Flowers

Sad

Hooay

Geg-sim

Father

Peh

Sisters

Daughter

Tsau-kia

Che-mue Ah-che (Older) Ah-mue er)

(Young-

Embroidery

Chiah-hue

Forest

Marriage

Gag-hoong Sin-nang-tia (Groom) Sin-nang

Ciu-lim (Bride)

Water

Tsui

Palace

Geng

Home

Keh

Via folktales, we trace our dialect history and honour our Teochew identity.

If you are interested to learn more Teochew folktales, visit www.linktr.ee/fableforestsg

Text and Illustration Copyright 2022 by Huang Lei Fable Forest: Visual Storytelling to Conserve Teochew Culture for Children For ages 9 and up.

All rights reserved.

Summary: In a little Teochew family, their love for one another serves to transform the life of a young man who had been cursed to live as a hideous fairy serpent.

How much do you love your family? For a little Teochew household, love is enough to travel deep into the forest, and into the palace of an enchanted fairy serpent.

Adapted from Chinese Nights’ Entertainment by Adele M. Fielde, this fable is an important part of Teochew’s vanishing folk culture.