Legend of the Answering Stone
With its origins unknown to this day, the Legend of the Answering Stone is a time-honoured tale passed through generations of Hakka storytellers residing amongst the seven community groups along Shiyan street, Baoaon district. A poignant tragedy of two lovers, this folklore symbolises how love can withstand our lifetimes, and become truly eternal.
Long ago in a small village under Yangtai Mountain, there lived a pair of diligent and loving newlyweds. In order to provide a life of peace and safety for his wife, the husband was forced to work for an avaricious patrician with a particular desire for immortality. He was made to scavenge the treacherous faraway lands day and night, searching for the elixir of everlasting life.
Each day before he left, the husband made a promise with his wife. Every afternoon after his departure, she was to call his name exactly three times at foot of Yangtai Mountain. Day after day did the beseeching bride yearn, but the only replies she ever got were distant, eerie echoes. Unable to endure her empty longing any longer, the wife decided to pursue her husband herself. She called for him for every step that she ventured, and allowed the replying echoes to guide her way, determined to find its source. Days went by as she chased, drawing closer to the sound each day.
To her great dismay, her journey led her to a great big rock. Overtaken with heartache and melancholy, the wife wept as she cursed the skies. As if answering to her pleas, the skies cracked open with a flare of blinding light, releasing a shower of thunder and lightning.
The wife turned into a stone after her death and was positioned near the Answering Stone. Inseparable like lovers, the pair of rocks stood. To honour the tragic couple, the townspeople renamed their settlement the ‘Village of the Answering Stone’.
The Legend of the Answering Stone tells the devotion and sacrifice one makes for love, weaving it with a twist of style from local customs rich with traditional delights and cultural attributes.
Often told in everyday language, the homelike feeling of this tale is accompanied by a melodic narrative, and completed with its vivid and genuine wording. As a result, this gains the folklore its widespread recognition; told to and by anyone, anywhere, regardless of location, age, or gender.
Throughout the ages, the artistry of traditional storytelling has refined everyday fables as such into pieces of exceptional literature by weaving together the fabrics of classics, folklores, and cultural significance.
This piece is a translated work, translated from Chinese to English as part of the Shenzhen Nonmaterial Heritage Project of Shenzhen Polytechnic University and Shenzhen Museum.
