Who is the author of the Chinese folktale Seven Brothers

Seven Brothers Author: Duan Lixin.

The Story

A long time ago, there lived an old father and his seven sons in a village. Interestingly, these seven brothers looked exactly alike, but none of them had names.

The old father and his sons had a hard life, for almost all the grain harvested was taken by the landlords.

The old father became very ill, and on his deathbed, he said to his sons, "When I die, you will all have magical powers, and I will give each of you a name; the oldest will be called Smooth Ears, the second will be called Not Afraid of Heights, the third will be called Lockpicker, the fourth will be called Not Afraid of Heat, the fifth will be called Cannot Cut Enough, the sixth will be called Hercules, and the seventh will be called Cannot Be Beaten Without Pain."

After that, the old father died. The seven brothers wanted to hold a funeral for their father, but the family didn't have a penny. The oldest, Sooner Ear, said, "All the grain we have earned from our hard labor has been robbed by the landlords, and we don't even have the money for our father's funeral; we want to take back what belongs to us." The other brothers nodded in agreement.

The seven brothers decided to steal a few sacks of grain from the landowner's barn. Fearless High, Hercules, and Lockpicker arrived outside the landowner's mansion, and Fearless High rolled over and rode up to the wall mound, which immediately turned into a short mound of dirt.

They crossed the mound and came to the barn, which had a big iron lock on the door. The locksmith picked up the lock and shook it, and it opened automatically.

Hercules ran into the barn, picked up a few bags of grain, and ran home with his brothers. The next day, the seven brothers sold the grain and used the money they got in exchange to hold a funeral for their father.

A few days later, the landowner noticed that there was less grain in the barn, so he sent men out to inquire. Learning that the seven brothers had stolen the grain, the landowner was furious: "How dare the seven brothers steal from me, I'm going to beat them up!" When Shunfeng Er heard the news, he made the beating painless and stayed at home.

The landlord broke into the home of the seven brothers, but found that Beat Not Pain was the only one. The landlord was furious and ordered his men to hit Painless hard, but no matter how hard they hit him, Painless didn't feel any pain at all.

The landowner, not relieved of his hatred, said, "Since I can't kill you, I'll burn you to death!" The landowner put Beat Not Pain in the cellar and prepared to burn him the next day. When Shunfeng Er heard the news, he sent Fearless Heat and Lockpicker to rescue Beat Bu Pain. The Lockpicker opened the cellar door without a word and rescued Beating Pain, leaving Fearless Heat behind.

The next day, the landowner piled up a tall stack of firewood, put Fearless Heat on top of it, and lit a fire. In a few moments, the flames were already high, and the wood was burned red-hot. But strangely enough, Fearless Heat didn't do anything at all, and shivered and said, "Add more firewood, I'm too cold!"

The landlord saw the burn can't not be afraid of heat, stormed: "I'll throw him off the cliff, see if he's afraid!" This news was heard again by Shunfeng Er, who had the locksmith rescue Fearless Heat and leave Fearless High behind.

On the third day, the landowner sent someone to throw Fearless High off the cliff, not realizing that Fearless High had landed safely on the ground. The landlord was so angry that he decided to cut off the head of Fearless High in public. When the brothers learned the news, they were not afraid at all, they saved Fearless High and left Chopping Not Finished.

On the fourth day, the landowner bragged in front of the crowd, "You watch well! This thief is lawless; I will cut off his head now." The head that could not be chopped off was cut off, but soon a new head grew, and the head that had been cut off grew a new body.

At this point, one Chopping Imperfect, became two, two became four, four became eight ...... In a short time, countless Chopping Imperfects rushed toward the landlord and his men, tied them all up, and put them in the cellar.

The seven brothers opened the door of the landlord's barn and distributed all the grain to the villagers. From then on, the seven brothers and the villagers lived a life of plenty.