How The Five Ancients Became Men (Short Bedtime Story)

“How the Five Ancients Became Men.” This fairy tale, the first of the legends of the gods, is given in the version current among the people. In it, the five elemental spirits of earth, fire, water, wood, and metal are brought into connection with a creation myth. “Prince of the Jasper Castle” or “The White Jade Ruler,” Yu Huang Di, is the popular Chinese synonym for “the good lord.”

Transcript

How the five ancients became men before the earth was separated from the heavens all there was a great ball of watery vapor called chaos and at that time the spirits of the five elemental powers took shape and became the five ancients first was called the yellow ancient and he was the ruler of the earth the second was called red Lord and he was the ruler of fire the third was called the dark Lord and he was the ruler of of the water the fourth was known as the wood prince and he was the ruler of the wood the fifth was called the mother of metals and ruled over them these five ancients set all their primal spirits into motion so that water and earth sank down the heavens floated upward and the earth grew firm in the depths then they allowed the waters to gather in rivers and seas and hills and plains made their appearance so the heavens opened and the earth was divided and there were sun moon and all the stars wind clouds rain and dew the yellow ancient set earth's purest power spinning in a circle and added the effect of fire and added the effect of fire and water there too then there came forth grasses and trees birds and beasts and the tribes of the serpents and insects fish and turtles the wood prince and the mother of metals combined light and darkness and thus created the human race as men and women and thus the word gradually came to be at that time there was one who was known as the true prince of the Jasper castle yet acquired the art of sorcery through the cultivation of magic the five ancients begged him to rule as the supreme God he dwelt above the tree and 30 heavens and the Jasper castle white shade and golden gates was his before him stood the stewards of the eight and twenty houses of the moon and the gods of the thunders and the great bear and in addition a class of painful gods whose influence was evil and deadly they all aided the true prince of the Jasper castle to rule over the thousand tribes under the heavens and to deal out life and death fortune and misfortune the lord of the Jasper castle is now known as the great God the white shade ruler five ancients we true after they had done their work and thereafter lived in quiet purity the red Lord dwells in the south as the God of fire the dark Lord dwells in the north as the mighty master of the somber polar skies he lived in a castle of liquid crystal in later ages he sent Confucius down upon earth as a saint hence this saint is known as the son of crystal they would Prince 12th in the East he is honored as the Green Lord and watches over the coming into being of all creatures in him lives the power of spring and he is the God of love the mother of metals dwells in the West by the Sea of Jasper and is also known as the Queen Mother of the West she leads the rounds of the fairies and watches over the change and growth the yellow ancient wells in the middle he's always going about in the world in order to save and to help those in any distress the first time he came to earth he was the yellow Lord who taught mankind all sort of arts in his later years he fathomed the meaning of the world ethereal mount and flew up to the radiant Sun under the rule of the Cho dynasty he was born again as Lee or and when he was born his hair and beard were white for which reason he was called Lao Tse the old child he wrote the book of meaning and life and spread his teachings through the world he is honored as the head of Taoism at the beginning of the reign of the Han dynasty he again appeared as the old man of the river Ho Changung he spread the teachings of Tao abroad mightily so that from that time on Taoism flourished greatly these doctrines are known to this day as the teachings of the yellow ancient there is also saying first Lao Tse was then the heavens where and that must mean that Lao Tse was that very same yellow ancient of primal days