What are the seven fairies in myths and legends? What are their names from big to small? What constellation does it belong to? What touching stories do they have?

brief introduction

Seven fairies, seven daughters of the Jade Emperor in myths and legends. The names of the seven fairies in Journey to the West are: Red Fairy, plain clothes Fairy, Tsing Yi Fairy, Soap Fairy, Purple Fairy, Yellow Fairy and Green Fairy. It is said that their names are Tianshou, Tianyang, Tian Rong, Tianchang, Tianxian, Azure and Tianyu.

Related legends

The legendary story of Dong Yong and the Seven Fairys is that the seventh daughter of the Jade Emperor was moved by Yong Dong, the dutiful son who "sold her body to bury her father", longing for a happy life on earth, and went down to earth to join her privately. After the Jade Emperor sent heavenly soldiers to take her back to heaven. The touching story of Yong Dong's filial piety to his parents has been compiled into many dramas, the earliest of which is the legendary drama Brocade in Ming Dynasty, and the most famous one is Huangmei Opera The Fairy Couple. 1952, The Fairy Couple of Huangmei Opera was re-adapted by Hong Fei and others. In the play, vivid images such as honest and honest Yong Dong, kind and beautiful seven fairies, fairy sisters who helped each other, bitter and unkind outside Fu Yuan, and cruel jade emperor were created, which were deeply left in people's memories with beautiful dancing and beautiful Huangmei tune. Especially the outstanding performance of Yan Fengying, a famous Huangmei Opera performer, makes the folklore story of "Yong Dong meets an immortal" more fascinating, and the artistic image of "Seven Fairies" is well known to everyone.

Yong Dong and the Seven Fairies.

Legend has it that the seven fairies, the daughter of the Jade Emperor, yearned for human life because they felt lonely in heaven. One day, my six sisters and I went to Lingxiutai and met Yong Dong, a young farmer from the lower bound, who sold himself to bury his father. He was moved by his frankness and fell in love.

The elder sister saw through the little sister's mind and helped her to come down to earth despite the strict orders of the Heavenly Palace. When I left, I gave another incense to let my little sister burn incense for help in a critical moment. The seven fairies came to earth and married Yong Dong through the intermediary of the land god and the Huaiyin tree. In order to help her husband get salvation, the seven fairies went to work in a house outside Fu Yuan. W deliberately made things difficult for her and restricted her from knitting ten brocade silks overnight.

If successful, the term of permanent employment in Yong Dong will be changed from three years to 100 days, otherwise it will be changed from three years to six years. Seven fairies lit incense in the computer room for help, and six sisters came down to help, weaving ten silks overnight. Mr. Fu had to keep his promise.

After Yong Dong's work expired, the couple returned home happily. On the way, Yong Dong found that his wife was pregnant and hurried to beg for water to quench his thirst. At this time, a strong wind suddenly blew, and the generals in the sky appeared in the air. According to the imperial edict of the Jade Emperor, the seven fairies were ordered to return to the Heavenly Palace at 3 noon. If they don't obey orders, Yong Dong will be chopped to pieces. The Seven Fairys could not bear the innocent victim of her husband, so they had to explain their life experience to Yong Dong, and carved the oath of "wholeheartedly in the sky and wholeheartedly in the ground" on the Huaiyin tree, and returned to heaven with grief and indignation.

Do textual research

The legend of Yong Dong and the Seven Fairies is a household name. 1950, this legend became popular all over the world because of Huang Mei's movie "The Fairy Couple". On June 26th, 2002, China Post Office issued a set of stamps of "Folk Legend-Dong Yong and the Seven Fairys", which further expanded the influence of this legend in contemporary life. However, from ancient times to the present, people are not very clear about the origins of the legendary two protagonists, Yong Dong and the Seven Fairies. Is Yong Dong from a historical figure or just a legend? Since the Tang and Song Dynasties, Yong Dong remains have been claimed in Boxing, Xiaogan, Danyang, Dongtai, Tongzhou, Zhou Pu, Hejian and other places, which shows that people don't think Yong Dong is a historical figure that can be tested. As for the seven fairies, some people still confuse them with the Weaver Girl. Finally, the relationship between Yong Dong and Cowherd is difficult to sort out.

The legend of Yong Dong's encounter with immortals occurred in the middle of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Only three reliable materials were found to support this conclusion in the past. The first stone carving was found in Wuliangci, Jiaxiang County, Shandong Province. It was built in the first year of Jiandi and the first year of the Eastern Han Dynasty (A.D. 147). There is a portrait of Dong's adoptive father on the stone carving, but there is no trace of a fairy in the portrait. The second is Wei's Yuefu poem "Lingzhi Pian": "Poor, his father has no money. Leave to raise, the commission is sweet and fat. I don't know what to do with it. Heaven is inspired by virtue, and the goddess is the master. " The third article can be found in the Book of Searching for the Gods (volume 1) written by Gambao in the Eastern Jin Dynasty: "Han Yong Dong, a thousand people. Not so lonely, living with my father. Force the field, and the deer will follow the car. His father died, he was buried, but he sold himself as a slave for the funeral. " On the way to work, Yong Dong met a woman who wanted to marry him. Yong Dong couldn't escape, so they came to the host's house together. Women "can knit" and "knit a hundred horses in ten days". After helping Yong Dong pay off his debts, he said goodbye to him. When she left, she made an oath to Yong Dong: "I am a weaver in heaven, and I owe you a filial piety. God asked me to help you pay your debts."

In fact, Yong Dong is a real person. The author found that there were at least four people named Yong Dong in historical materials. The first "Dong Yongji" was recorded in Hanshu (17) Jingwuchang "Xuanyuan Success Official Table". There was a man named Dong Zhong, who reported other people's conspiracies, and was named the Duke of Gaochang Zhuang by Emperor Gaozu Xuan Di. Later, his son Dong Hong and his grandson became Hou. At the end of Western Han Dynasty, Wu Dong was abolished by Wang Mang. Fortunately, 27 years later, in order to buy people's hearts, Emperor Guangwu of the Eastern Han Dynasty restored the late Western Han Dynasty which was abolished by Wang Mang. In the second year of Jianwu (AD 26), Yong Dong, the fourth generation (great-grandson) of Gao Changhou, was discovered by the imperial court and reinstated. It is clearly recorded in Hanshu that Yong Dong lived in "Gancheng" (now Qingzhou, Shandong Province, where Gaochang Kingdom is located), which is exactly the same as that recorded in Search of Ji Shen: "Han Yong Dong was born in Gancheng." Because the form recorded in this material is very brief: "Hou Feng" has never been known. The second Yong Dong lived in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. The earliest record of Yong Dong's surname is found in the character (1): "The monument of Mengyuyao Temple is Yin. Monument cloud: publishing monuments and espionage. All the monuments bear the official names of Zhong's father, grandparents and descendants of his brothers, except one with a different surname. "If this inscription is recorded correctly, it can be confirmed that around 167, there was a squire Yong Dong in Caoxian County, Shandong Province, who was about fifty years old. The third Yong Dong was in the Tang Dynasty. According to the Book of Filial Piety in the New Tang Dynasty, Hejian had a dutiful son, Yong Dong, who was awarded by the imperial court. The fourth Yong Dong was in the Song Dynasty. Dong Huai, the founder of Dong Huai's story in Song Dynasty, was a famous figure in Southern Song Dynasty. His father's name is Yong Dong.

Among the above four Dong Yong, only Yong Dong between Han Dynasty is most likely to be the historical prototype of the legendary protagonist. Soon after Wu Dong was abolished, it was in troubled times, and Shandong still suffered from it. Needless to say, Wu Dong and his son had a hard time, which is the so-called "Dong Yongqing, his father has no money". The so-called "poverty" can only show that Yong Dong was not poor at first, but later became poor because of changes; If the original is poor, does the father have an "inheritance"? In poverty, Yong Dong's ability to "take time off to provide for his family, and make a generous commission" is the embodiment of his filial piety.

There are at least five important similarities between Yong Dong of Gaochanghou and the legendary Yong Dong: (1) The same name. (2) From the time point of view, the former is not in contradiction with the mural of Infinite Temple, and with the records of Cao Zhi and Gan Bao. (3) From the point of view of location, the inscription of the former is exactly the same as that of The Portrait of Infinite Kindness and Gan Bao Seeking God, both of which are "Thousand Rides". (4) Both of them are related to filial piety. Although Hou Dong's filial piety in Gaochang is only the author's speculation, it is a historical fact that "filial piety" is a family heirloom of Gaochang Hou, so this speculation has a reasonable side. (5) Their living conditions are similar. Yong Dong, the Hou of Gao Changhou, lived in poverty for 27 years after his father was abolished and before he was sealed. Legend has it that Yong Dong's family didn't seem to be poor at first, but later he went bankrupt. Therefore, it can be considered that the legend of Yong Dong's encounter with immortals is most likely based on the historical fact of filial piety of Yong Dong, a historical figure in the Han Dynasty, and mixed with the concept of immortals in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Because later generations didn't know its historical origin, it was gradually distorted in the process of communication, so that in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Ganbao only heard the story of Yong Dong's "living alone with his father" and knew nothing about his family background.

As for the seven fairies, Cao Zhi called her "Goddess" in his poems and "The Weaver of Heaven" in Seeking God. In the Eastern Jin Dynasty, when Ji Shen was written, the legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl had matured and spread widely. Yong Dong's fairy tale materials from Jin Dynasty to Tang Dynasty are almost blank, which may just show that the great influence of the legend of Niu Nv restrained the spread of Dong Yong's legend. One of the important reasons is that since the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl have forged an indissoluble bond, how can Yong Dong marry her again?

The Dunhuang suicide note Yong Dong Bianwen is an important document. An important change in Bianwen is that the Weaver Maid has evolved from one to three! When Yong Dong's son Dong Chong was seven years old, he felt humiliated and wanted to find his mother. Sun Bin, a Taoist, told him, "Aunt came to take a bath by the pool and hid under the tree. Three women ran to the water's edge together. Take off your clothes and get into the water. There are purple clothes in the center. This man is Dong Zhongshu. At this time, I will see Kojiro. " On the one hand, the opportunity for the Weaver Maid to become three is to draw a clear line with the legend of Cow Maid, on the other hand, it is based on the stars in the sky. Vega has three stars, which are located on the bank of the Milky Way, and the three stars are arranged in a triangle. Although there are three weaver girls, they cannot be completely separated from Cowherd's wife, and it is impossible to confirm which weaver girl is Dong Yongzhi's wife. It was not until the Song Dynasty that this problem was completely solved.

Qing Ping Shan Tang Hua Ben is a collection of novels compiled in Ming Dynasty to record the past events of Song and Yuan Dynasties, which has long been lost in China. It was sent back to China by Japanese in the early 20th century, and the book preserved the complete story of Yong Dong's meeting with the immortals. In order to find his mother, Yong Dong's son Dong Zhongshu was instructed by Taoist Yan Junping: "It's rare to be so filial. I tell you, on July 7, your mother and fairies will go down to Taibai Mountain to collect herbs, and the seventh one will wear yellow. " The fairies Yong Dong met became the "Seven Fairies" for the first time. Since then, in various local operas since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, all the fairies Yong Dong met were called the Seven Fairies. The Weaver Maid suddenly became seven, so what incarnations of the stars are they in the sky?

The author found that in the ancient astrology in China, there were thirteen groups of "Yi * * *" named after "Seven Stars" in the sky: the Big Dipper, the Seven Stars of Gaihua in Ziweiyuan, the Seven Stars of Forbidden Army in Taiweiyuan, the Seven Stars of Tianshiyuan, the Seven Stars of Su Weizhe in Dongkang, the Seven Stars of Beinvju, the Seven Stars of Waiping in West Su Kui and the Seven Stars of Xitian Geng. These stars all have their specific functions, among which the role of the seven-star basket-supporting girl in the north is: "The seven-star basket-supporting girl in the east is called the basket-supporting device, which is the instrument of mulberry growth and advocates silkworms." ("Records of the Book of Jin, Sui Shu" XIV) "Supporting the seven stars is the instrument of flourishing mulberry. The Lord advised the silkworm to marry his wife after the sacrifice. Ming and Ji; Dark and fierce; Migration leads to unemployment of female workers. Comet criminals will rebel. Meteors are expensive. " ("Song Shi Shi Lu San")

Seven Stars in the Basket first appeared in the Book of Jin, but both the Book of Jin and Sui Shu were compiled in the Tang Dynasty, so they were named after the stars of the Six Dynasties. During the Tang and Song Dynasties, the main function of the seven-star basket was very clear, and it was the main star god of human silkworm and textile. Because the seven stars are surrounded by mulberry baskets, it is named "supporting the basket", that is, "supporting the mulberry" and "Song Shi Zhi San" also said: "Weaver often helps the basket, which is auspicious; If not, it will be expensive. " The History of Song Dynasty compiled by Yuan people is clearly recorded. It can be seen that the function of raising seven-star silkworm in baskets at the end of Song Dynasty and the beginning of Yuan Dynasty must have been circulated among the people. The first seven fairy tales, Biography of Yong Dong Encountering Fairy, were written in the Song and Yuan Dynasties. It can be seen that the textile function of the seven stars in the basket and the reflection of good and bad luck are the source code of the stars formed by the seven stars. This kind of folk identity is very consistent with the time and significance of the first appearance of the seven fairies in Yong Dong's Fairy Tales in the Song and Yuan Dynasties. Therefore, after the Tang and Song Dynasties, there was no confusion among the people about the concepts of the Weaver Girl and the Seven Fairies, but the legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl was naturally separated from the legend of Yong Dong.

But the so-called "Gul Star" in the folk concept today actually refers to the Pleiades (Pleiades), but in the Tang and Song Dynasties, this concept has not yet formed. "The Justice of Historical Records" written by Zhang Shoujie in Tang Dynasty said: "The seven stars of the Pleiades are the first of the foolish, and Hu Xing is also a prison matter. Ming, the world prison litigation level; The secret is excessive punishment. Six stars are bright, and when the flood comes, its soldiers are big; Shake the jumper and Hu Bing will get up; If you can't see a star, you will worry about the soldiers. "Maybe, later, because people couldn't find the star status of the Seven Fairies, they posted them on the Pleiades, which seemed to be crowded together.