The Peacock Flying Southeast
is the longest narrative poem in ancient my country. It was first seen in "New Odes of Yutai" compiled by Chen Xuling (507-583) in the Southern Dynasty. The small preface before the poem explains the time, place, characters and the process of the poem's creation. These statements are generally considered to be reliable. This poem has achieved high ideological and artistic achievements and has always been praised by people.
The king should be like a rock, and the concubine should be like pampas grass. The pampas grass is as tough as silk, and the stone will not shift
You are like a chime stone, and I am like pampas grass. The pampas grass is as tough as silk, and the chime stone will not shift
It is used to describe the love between two people. Forever and ever.
Jun: You. Concubine: I am a modest name for a woman in ancient times. You shall be like the rock, and I shall be like the pampas grass: the pampas grass is as strong as silk, but the rock will not move of its own accord.
Xu Ling (507-583), a Southern Dynasty writer with the courtesy name Xiaomu, was a native of Donghai Yan (now Tancheng, Shandong). He served successively as Shangshu Zuopushe, Danyang Yin, and Zhongshu Supervisor. His father Xu Qin He was a famous court literati and an important writer of palace poetry in the Southern Dynasties. Xu Ling is also famous for writing palace style poems and parallel prose. In Liang Dynasty, he was as famous as Yu Xin and was known as "Xu Yu" in the world. During the reign of Emperor Wen and Emperor Xuan, he drafted all the important documents of the court. His poems paid attention to the beauty of form and pursued exquisite craftsmanship. Later generations compiled "The Collection of Xu Xiaomu" and compiled "New Odes of Yutai" by himself.
Story summary:
During the Jian'an period of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Liu Lanzhi, a talented and beautiful man, and Jiao Zhongqing, a small official in Lujiang, fell in love sincerely. However, her mother-in-law Jiao's mother made things difficult for Liu Lanzhi for various reasons, so Lanzhi resolutely asked her to come back. Zhongqing's plea to her mother was ineffective, so the couple had to say goodbye, and both "swore not to betray each other".
When Lanzhi returned to her parents' home, admirers came one after another. First, the county magistrate proposed on her son's behalf, and then the prefect, Cu Cheng, acted as matchmaker. Lanzhi flatly refused because she had an appointment with Zhongqing. However, her brother made bad remarks, so Lanzhi had no choice but to agree to the marriage to the prefect's family. Zhongqing came over after hearing about the incident, and the couple made an agreement: "In heaven, they would like to be like winged birds, and on earth, they would like to be like twigs." On the happy day of Lanzhi's wedding, Liu and Jiao both died in the underworld, marking an eternal masterpiece.
The ending of the story is almost the same as other Chinese folk literature, full of romantic ideals: two people are buried together, and they turn into birds in the forest