The White Snake (Anhui Dialect)
by Kai Su from Anhui
English Translation:
Around the Tomb-Sweeping Day (Qing Ming), red flowers and green willows emerged beside the West Lake. Many tourists were on the Broken Bridge, which formed a beautiful spring-like portrait. Suddenly, two beautiful girls quietly arose from the bottom of the West Lake. What happened? How could these girls rise up out of water? The reason was that they were two snake spirits pretending to be human. However, they did not plan to harm anyone. They wanted to experience the full spectrum of human life, which they admired. One used chosen name “Suzhen Bai,” and the other “Little Green,” so they could have fun with the other people beside the lake.
However, the Weather God was not in good mood. All of a sudden, he made it rain cats and dogs! Suzhen Bai and Little Green got wet, and had no place to hide. They were worried. Suddenly, they felt an umbrella appear above their heads. They turned around, and saw a gentle and handsome young scholar holding an umbrella for them. Suzhen Bai and the young scholar made eye contact, and they both blushed. There was some sort of chemistry, sparked when they gazed at each other. Little Green noticed, and quickly interrupted by addressing the young scholar: “Thank you so much! What’s your name?” The young scholar said: “My name is Xian Xu who lives right beside the Broken Bridge.” Suzhen Bai and Little Green also introduced themselves. After that, these three became best friends, and always hung out together. The relationship between Suzhen Bai and Xian Xu became deeper and deeper. Soon after, they married, and opened a pharmacy called Baohetang. They had a good life!
Baohetang was able to cure many diseases, and they didn’t ask for money from the poor. So, the pharmacy’s business became better and better. More and more people came from different places to look for Suzhen Bai to cure their sickness. People began to call Suzhen Bai “Lady Bai”. However, the prosperity of Baohetang, and the happy life of Xian Xu and Lady Bai made someone mad. Who was this person? He was the monk in the Gold Mountain Temple, called Fahai. As more and more people sought medical treatment from Lady Bai, fewer and fewer came to the Gold Mountain Temple to burn incense and pray to the Buddhist gods. With a struggling temple, monk Fahai was not happy. One day, he came to Baohetang again, and saw that Lady Bai was curing patients. He was so jealous, and he took a closer at Lady Bai. Oh! He realized that Lady Bai was not a human, but had transformed from a white snake!
Fahai knew some small spells, but did not wish to use these for good purposes. After he figured out Lady Bai’s identity, he spent all day planning how he could separate the happy couple Xian Xu and Lady Bai, and bring down Baohetang pharmacy. With a plan in place, he secretly invited Xian Xu into his temple, said “Your wife is transformed from a snake spirit. Quickly divorce her! Otherwise, she will eat you!” Xian Xu listened, but got super angry. He thought, “My wife is kind. She loves me so much that her love is deeper than the ocean. How could she be a snake spirit? Even if she were a snake spirit, she wouldn’t harm me. Plus, she’s pregnant now, so how could I leave her?!” Fahai saw that Xian Xu didn’t believe him. Enraged, Fahai locked Xian Xu in the temple.
Back in Baohetang pharmacy, Lady Bai was anxiously waiting for Xian Xu came back. One day, two days, she waited and waited. Lady Bai was too anxious, and finally heard that Xian Xu was in the Gold Mountain Temple being held hostage by monk Fahai. Lady Bai took Little Green to the Gold Mountain Temple in a hurry, and begged Fahai to release her husband. Upon seeing Lady Bai, Fahai laughed and said “You are a bold snake spirit. I ask you quickly leave the human world. If you don’t take this chance now, I won’t be so polite next time!” Lady Bai could see that Fahai was refusing to release Xian Xu. With no other choice, Lady Bai threatened: “ You. You. If you don’t let my husband go, I’ll flood the Gold Mountain Temple.” With that, she pulled a gold hairpin from her hair, waved to awaken the wind, and made big waves descend on the Gold Mountain Temple. Fahai saw that the waves were going to crash against the Gold Mountain Temple, so, in a hurry, he took off his robe and used it to make a bridge that reached out the door. The water flooded, rising 30 centimeters above the ground. The makeshift bridge rose 30 centimeters as well. The flood went up to 3 meters. The makeshift bridge went 3 meters higher, as well. No matter how big the waves grew, no water could dismantle the bridge. In addition, because Lady Bai was pregnant, she did not have the strength to defeat Fahai. Fahai made a trap, catching Lady Bai into a gold bowl. He put the bowl below the Leifeng Pagoda, separating the two lovers.
Little Green escaped from the Gold Mountain Temple. She practiced her skills deep in the mountains for about ten years. She finally defeated Fahai. Little Green forced Fahai to live forever inside a crab’s belly, and rescued Lady Bai. After that, Lady Bai and Xian Xu gave birth to their child. The family lived happily ever after, never to be separated again.