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The Eight Immortals: Humans Who Have Transcended Mortality- Part Two
| Article
# : |
11853 |
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Section : |
CULTURE
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| Issue
Date : |
1 / 1994 |
2,418 Words |
| Author
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Pack Carnes
Pack Carnes is associate professor of Japanese studies and
folklore in the Department of Modern Languages at Lake Forest
College in Illinois. He is editor of Western Folklore. |
Chang Kuo Lao was orphaned at an early age. He lived as a hermit in the mountains in Shanxi and supported himself by collecting and selling wood. But he could not afford boots, and his feet were cut on the rocky ground again and again. So the clever child fashioned sandals from the discarded straw that he found in harvested fields. Every night, for weeks, he labored to perfect his technique. Eventually, he could weave sturdy sandals that lasted for months and cost nothing. He made the sandals for anyone who asked and developed the secret of making full-sized shoes, even boots, from straw.
Many years later, a traveling merchant offered the elderly Chang a salary to share his secrets and make sandals and shoes for sale. Chang Kuo Lao refused. The merchant offered higher and higher commissions, but each time Chang refused. Finally the merchant beat and mortally wounded the old man.
As his physical body slowly expired, Chang Kuo Lao called to one of the young men of the village. Chang offered to teach the young man how to make the straw sandals and shoes, so that his secret would be the property and right of the poor people for all time. The young man willingly agreed and began to follow the instructions Chang Kuo Lao delivered from his deathbed.
The young man learned well and fast but unfortunately not fast enough. He could make the sandals, but he never learned how to make the shoes. That is why the poor people of Shanxi Province wear straw sandals but cannot make straw shoes.
Chang Kuo Lao becomes an Immortal
One function of any culture's heroes and gods is to act as the focal point for the attribution of various everyday cultural materials. These explanatory legends are common, and the Eight Immortals of popular Taoism are associated with a number of them, as illustrated by the story of Chang Kuo Lao's creation of straw footwear.
Born in the seventh century, Chang Kuo Lao is considered to be the bringer of offspring, especially boys. Consequently, his picture is often hung above a bridal bed. Chang is generally pictured riding backward on a white donkey and often carries a bamboo musical instrument, the yu ku. He has the power of invisibility, and his magic donkey can travel thousands of miles in a single day. Chang has the ability to fold up the donkey as though it were made of paper and pack it away in his baggage. The story of how Chang
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