9
SHOOTING DOWN SUNS AND MOONS
Gge nbie hle nbie
Zhyge Alu
prepared to go shoot down the suns,
prepared to go shoot down the moons.
Shouldering his magic bows,
carrying his magic arrows,
he stood first on the ndabbo ferns to shoot the arrows.1
But he was unable to shoot down the suns;
he was unable to shoot down the moons.
So, from that time on ndabbo ferns curled down.
Some days later,
he stood atop the vomosywo tree to shoot.2
But he was unable to shoot down the suns;
he was unable to shoot down the moons.
So, thereafter the top of the vomosywo tree
bent down to its roots to grow suckers.
Arriving at Turlur Gulch,
he stood atop a horse mulberry tree to shoot.
But he was unable to shoot down the suns;
he was unable to shoot down the moons.
From that time on the horse mulberry did not grow tall.3
Arriving at the foot of Turlur Mountain,
he stood atop a bamboo stalk to shoot.
But he was unable to shoot down the suns;
he was unable to shoot down the moons.
From that time on, the bamboos were jointed.
Arriving at the middle of Turlur Mountain,
he stood atop a pine tree to shoot.
But he was unable to shoot down the suns;
he was unable to shoot down the moons.
From that time on, pine stumps didn’t grow shoots.
Arriving at the top of Turlur Mountain,
he stood atop a fir tree to shoot,
and he hit the suns with his arrows,
and he hit the moons with his arrows.
From then on, fir trees grew very straight and beautiful.
The fir trees on the mountaintop,
in the third month of autumn,
are split into shingles to cover log houses,
allowing humans to establish homes;
benefiting humans in many ways.
In the third month of spring,
the trees growing on the mountain ridges
benefit the cows and sheep.
After the shooting, there was only one sun left—
a single sun, Nyojji.
After the shooting, there was only one moon left—
a single half-moon.
The six suns and seven moons
were shot down by Zhyge Alu.
After they were shot down he pressed them
underground beneath boulders.
In the human world,
snakes were thicker than dikes in rice fields,
frogs were like piles of rocks,
horseflies were the size of doves,4
ants were the size of pigeons,
grasshoppers were the size of heifers.
Zhyge Alu
went one day to smash the snakes down to size,
and smashed them as thick as fingers,
and pressed them under the field dikes;
went one day to smash the frogs down to size,
and smashed them to the size of a hand,
and pressed them above the dikes.
He then smashed the horseflies down to size,
giving them double-paired wings,
and pressed them on the grasslands.
He then smashed the grasshoppers down to size,
giving them curved legs,
and pressed them into the grass meadows.5
1. Ndabbo (Pteridium aquilinum) is one of several ferns known as juecao in Chinese.
2. The branches on the vomosywo shrub (Tetrastigma formosanum; Ch: yanpateng) arch outward into the ground, and new suckers grow up from the tips.
3. The horse mulberry (N: jy sy; Ch: masang; Coriaria sinica). It appears in the myths of some other peoples of southwest China. For instance, in the creation epics of the Miao people from southeast Guizhou, the hero Hsang Sa (“Hsangb Sax” with tone indicators used in Miao Romanization in southeast Guizhou) also stands in the top of a horse mulberry to shoot down the extra suns—and the tree was later punished for its complicity, resulting in its short stature (Bender 2006, 66–70). In the Yi version, Zhyge Alu finally succeeds in his task by standing in the top of a fir tree, which actually benefits from the association and is praised for its future use to humankind. Again, Turlur Mountain—whose whereabouts is presently unknown—is the major mountain in the mythic world of the narrative.
4. Horseflies are called yomu.
5. This episode of Zhyge Alu “downsizing” the insects is often counted as among his greatest contributions. Evidence of giant creatures abound in southwest China, and both Sichuan and Yunnan are well-known for their dinosaur excavations. It is interesting to speculate about the relation—if any—between dinosaur fossils and the imagery of insects and dragons in Yi folk imagination. Some local people are known to have found dinosaur bones and teeth, which they keep as curiosities.
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