The Crown of Peony and Wei Zi

Yao Huang and Wei Zi are the best and strangest peonies in Luoyang. Peony is the king of flowers, and Yao Huang and Wei Zi are the crowns of peony. How did these two peony flowers appear? There is such a legend among Luoyang people.

In the Song Dynasty, there was a poor boy named Huang at the foot of Mangshan Mountain. My father died early, leaving him and my mother at home. The boy is honest, hardworking and capable, and lives by collecting firewood. Chickens crow every day. He hung the dry food bag prepared by his mother on the pole and said, "Mom! I'm leaving! " He went up the hill in the morning dew.

There is a stone man on the hillside. How did this stone man come from? No one can tell, anyway, it has been standing here since Huang can remember. Not far from Shitou people, there is a clear mountain spring, and a peony with purple flowers grows next to it. No one can remember how many years this peony has been. Anyway, it has been growing here since the day Huang went up the mountain to cut wood. Huang is always the first to come here every morning. He took the dry food bag off the pole, hung it around the stone man's neck and said, "Brother Stone Man, eat steamed bread!" " "Then he went to the spring, held several springs for the peony root and said," Sister Peony, drink water! " "This just up the hill to cut wood.

When Huang was eighteen or nineteen, he became a handsome young man. His big eyes are as bright as stars, his thick eyebrows are as black as ink, and his face is tanned by the sun and glowing with red light. He looks very strong.

On this day, after cutting firewood, he returned to the stone man, took off his dry food bag and said, "Brother Stone Man, I can eat without you!" " "Eat steamed bread, go to the spring, give peony a few handfuls of water, then wash your sweaty face and stir up firewood to go home.

Today, I cut a lot of firewood. Huang likes to pick two hills. The shoulder pole is as heavy as a bow. He can't go far, so he has to support the burden with a stick and rest his shoulders. At this moment, a young girl came up from behind and said, "Let me help you pick it!" "

Huang doesn't know this girl, but she is wearing a straight purple flower dress with thick eyebrows and black hair, and her skin is delicate and very handsome. Huang said shyly, "No, no, I can pick it."

The girl smiled, and two beautiful dimples appeared on her lips. She said cunningly, "Be brave! Why do you want to rest for a while? " With that, regardless of whether Huang agreed or not, he went up and grabbed firewood with a pole. After picking it, he went down the hill, but Huang couldn't catch it behind.

The girl picked the firewood to Huang's house in one breath, while Huang Niang was cooking in the kitchen. Her eyes narrowed with laughter when she saw her son bring back such a beautiful girl! She let the girl in, offered her seat and poured water. The girl didn't rest or drink water, just like at home. She rolled up her sleeves and went out of the kitchen to help the old man make a fire and roll noodles. Everything she does makes Huang Niang happy like drinking jujube honey, which is sweet to her heart.

After eating * * *, Huang took it to the street to sell firewood. Huang Niang took the girl's hand and kept asking. The girl told her that her name was Zigu and her home was on the Mangshan Mountain. Her parents left and left her alone. Seeing that she is honest and diligent, kind-hearted and there is no one else at home, Huang Niang wants to marry her as a daughter-in-law. She told her the truth, and the girl smiled and called her sweetly, "Mom!" " The old man is very happy. Since then, Zigu has been living in Huang's house. The girl is skillful with her hands and does a good job of needlework. The peony she embroidered is exactly the same as the real one. When Huang sells firewood, he takes peony quilt cover to the market and is always robbed. Soon, the family gradually became rich. Huang Niang urged her son and daughter-in-law to get married as soon as possible. Sister-in-law always says, "Don't worry, Mom, it's not enough for me to come to our house 100 days!" In a hundred days, we will get married. "

Why wait a hundred days to get married? It turns out that Zi has a bead in her mouth all day. Since the day she got engaged to Huang, she not only held it, but also asked Huang to take turns holding it with her. She also repeatedly told him: "If you just hold it but don't swallow it, you can't become a husband and wife." Huang asked her what these beads were for. She said that after chopping wood on the mountain, she didn't feel hungry or tired, and she could carry multiple burdens. Huang wanted to try, but he didn't succeed. Once he cut wood so much that he picked it up and tried it. As usual, he decided that it was a treasure and he had to cut it every day. At the same time, he silently remembered the number of days and waited.

Now, Huang has been married for 99 days, and in one day, the wedding day will come. Huang is so happy!

Early the next morning, Huang went up the mountain to cut wood as usual. He walked up to the stone man and said to him, "Brother Stone Man, I'm going to marry my son-in-law tomorrow. Are you happy for me? "

After that, he smiled at the stone man and went to the spring to tell the peony about it, but he thought that the purple peony tree had disappeared since the day he met Zi Gu. At that time, he thought it was stolen and suffered for many days. Now he remembered Sister Peony again, so he asked the stone man, "Brother Stone Man, tell me, who stole the peony?" Where is it now? "

Unexpectedly, the stone man actually spoke: "At your home."

"Ah?" Huang was shocked and stepped back and said, "You, how can you talk?"

Shi humanity: "Don't be afraid, Huang. Listen to me and tell you the truth. The purple aunt you want to marry is purple peony. She is a harmful flower demon. The beads she asked you to hold will suck up all your blood. Today is the last day and tomorrow you will die. "

Huang didn't believe what the stone man said. He thought Zi Gu wouldn't kill him. However, when he thought of the missing peony tree, he was a little scared again. He said, "Brother Stone Man, do you think this is true?"

Shi Renren: "Really, if you want to live, go home and swallow her beads."

Huang is a sincere person. He listened to the stone man and went home. Zi Gu told him to take the beads again and swallow them.

Zi Gu saw him swallow beads, and his face suddenly changed, and he almost fainted. Huang's mother hurried over to hold her son-in-law and asked her son what was going on. Huang is a filial child. When he was this big, he never lied to his mother. He honestly said what the stone man said just now.

Hearing this, Zi Gu realized that the stone man was a ghost. She cried into tears and sobbed, "You were taken in by the stone man!" "

Then she told the truth again. It turns out that the stone man is a stone spirit. He saw that his son-in-law was beautiful and wanted to take over as his wife. Zi Gu refused, but the stone man still wouldn't give up. But because the child has a treasure, it is out of reach. As long as Zigu and Huang get married for one hundred days, the stone man will have no choice in the future. Yellow now.

After listening to Zi Gu's words, Huang was filled with grief and indignation and regretted it. He said, "Is there nothing the stone man can do about it?"

Zi Gu said, "Take an axe and chop off the head of the stone man. There is a wordless gobbledygook in it. Take it out and throw it into the air, and the gods will punish it. "

Hearing this, Huang picked up the axe and left. He came to the stone man, exhausted all his strength, and hit him on the head with a split. The head of the stone man opened with a "wow", and there was indeed a "wordless gobbledygook" inside. Huang threw the book into the air. In a flash, lightning flashed and thundered, smashing the stone man into pieces and becoming a pile of rubble.

At this time, Huang only felt that the swallow bead was burning his heart, as if a fire had come out of his throat. He took a few sips of spring water, but he couldn't hold back and had to jump into it. Unexpectedly, he made a spin on the water and disappeared.

Zigu came from the foot of the mountain in a panic. When she saw Huang jump into the spring, she jumped with him.

A few days later, two peony plants were born next to the spring, one with yellow flowers and the other with purple flowers. When people heard about it, they all came to watch it and said it was Huang Hezi Gu.

I don't know how many years later, these two peony plants were transplanted into the gardens of Yao and Wei respectively. From then on, Yao Jiahuang Peony was named "Yao Huang" and Wei Jiazi Peony was named "Wei Zi".

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