Myths and Legends

神话和传奇

Question: What is an urban legend?

• Answer: An urban legend is a secondhand story that is told as true, plausible enough to be believed, and likely to be framed as a cautionary tale, about some horrific, embarrassing, ironic, or exasperating series of events that supposedly happened to a real person.

cautionary tale

• Definition: A narrative (e.g., a fable, proverb, or urban legend) with a moral message warning of the consequences of certain actions or character flaws.

• Also Known As: moral tale

• Examples: "King Midas" is a cautionary tale demonstrating the pitfalls of unbridled greed.

• King Midas was a very kind man who ruled his kingdom fairly, but he was not one to think very deeply about what he said. One day, while walking in his garden, he saw an elderly satyr asleep in the flowers. Taking pity on the old fellow, King Midas let him go without punishment. When the god Dionysus heard about it, he rewarded King Midas by granting him one wish. The king thought for only a second and then said I wish for everything I touch to turn to gold." And so it was.

• Urban legends are comparable to a modern-day type of folklore. Though told in a format similar to that of a joke, urban legend stories are usually comprised of a slightly darker, more cautionary tone. Most urban legends reference a friend of a friend, and are assumed factual by the people who spread the stories.

• An urban legend is not necessarily untrue, but is often distorted or exaggerated. Some urban legends have been circulating for a very long time, and are constantly resurfacing and spreading much farther and faster with the advent of email. One popular urban legend regarding the explosive nature of Pop Rocks mixed with Cola for example, has been circulating for 30 years!

Question: What is mythology?

• Answer: Mythology is a field of study that is not easily defined, being as much a composite of many other subjects of human inquisitiveness and investigation as it is a unique arena all its own.

Question: What is a myth?

• Answer: A myth is a story containing within and having about it certain identifiable characteristics.

• It is a religious story — no matter from which culture — and will therefore involve the existence and activities of a supernatural being, such as a god, a demigod, a goddess, or several such entities.

Question: What is superstition?

• 迷信• Answer: Originally the word superstition meant s

omething like "standing still in apprehension or awe," but since has been rather watered down in its application and use. According to the writer Raymond Lamont Brown: "Superstition is a belief, or system of beliefs, by which almost religious veneration is attached to things mostly secular; a parody of religious faith in which there is belief in an occult or magic connection."

Question: What is a hoax?

• 骗局• Answer: A hoax is an act, document or arti

fact intended to deceive or defraud the public. Examples range from relatively benign instances of trickery, such as April Fools pranks, to scientific fraud on a grand scale, such as the Piltdown Man hoax of the early 20th century.

Question: What is a rumor?

• 谣言• Answer: Rumor: an assertion or set of ass

ertions widely repeated as true though its veracity is unconfirmed.

Hercules, World's Biggest Dog

• Hercules was recently awarded the honorable distinction of Worlds Biggest Dog by Guinness World Records. Hercules is an English Mastiff and has a 38 inch neck and weighs 282 pounds.

• With "paws the size of softballs" (reports the Boston Herald), the three-year-old monster is far larger and heavier than his breed's standard 200lb. limit. Hercules owner Mr. Flynn says that Hercules weight is natural and not induced by a bizarre diet: "I fed him normal food and he just grew".... and grew... and grew... and grew.

This unsettling image appears to document a strange half-human, half-animal creature suckling her hybrid offspring.

The Lion Cat

• This is true! The picture is just blown up. The cat got a “Lion Cut”. The owner asked for a “Line Cut”. Because of the accent from the owner the groomer misunderstood. The cost was $80 ( ￥ 600.48)for this cut.

• The image above is a detail from a eighteen-century embroidered emperor's robe. It portrays a dragon surmounted by the moon where a white hare is believed to live according to the Chinese mythology. Credit: Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

Pangu and the Creation of the World

• "Pangu Kaitian Pidi"(Pangu Creating the World)from Tui Bei Quan Tu, 1820

Heng-o and the Twelve Chinese Moons

• In ancient times, Chinese people believed that there were twelve Moons as there were twelve months in one year. Likewise, Chinese people believed there were ten Suns as there were ten days in the Chinese week. The mother of the twelve Moons was the same of that of the ten suns.

• At the beginning of each month, the mother, Heng-O, washed her children in a lake at the extreme western side of the world. Then each Moon, one after the other would travel in a chariot for a month journey to reach the opposite east side of the world.

Nian 年兽

• The Spring Festival is the grandest festival for the Chinese. The Spring Festival is also called "Nian", but who knows the term, Nian, was once the name of a furious monster that lived on human beings in the ancient time. How the Festival has some relationship with the monster lies in a story about the origin and development of the Spring Festival.

• The legend says, long ago, there was a monster called Nian. It was born to be very ugly and ferocious, which looked like either dragons or unicorns. On the first and the 15th of each lunar month, the monster would come down from the mountains to hunt people. So people were very much afraid of it and locked their doors early before sunset on the days of its coming.