Legend of Lanke Mountain in Shaanxi

Shaanxi
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Luochuan, located in the southern part of northern Shaanxi, has a wide plateau with gullies and ravines. It was originally part of Yongzhou. It was the land of Xihe State during the Xia and Shang dynasties. In the 15th year of King Ping of Zhou (756 BC), Duke Wen of Qin established Fuzhi. In the 8th year of Jianchu of the Later Qin Dynasty, Yao Chang established Luochuan County in the northern part of the county, which has lasted for more than 1,600 years. Luochuan "is adjacent to Guanfu and inherits the customs of Zhou and Qin, and is adjacent to Luowei and integrates the customs of Shudi". The ancient loess plateau has nurtured a splendid civilization. The long history has left many marks on this plateau, and the special geographical location has made the culture and customs of this land diverse. This loess with the thickest loess layer in the world not only has a large number of ancient folk customs, but also has many beautiful and moving stories and legends. The intangible cultural heritage of Shaanxi Lanke Mountain Legend is a representative one among them. 40 kilometers southeast of Luochuan County, there is a dirt mountain rising from the ground. This is an ordinary dirt mountain, but this seemingly ordinary dirt mountain is closely connected with a long-standing legend. This mountain is "Lan Ke Mountain", and the legend that happened here is called the Lan Ke Mountain Legend. Legend has it that a long time ago, there was a village at the foot of Lan Ke Mountain. In the village lived a hardworking and kind man. Because he made a living by chopping wood, people called him Wang Qiao. One spring day of that year, Wang Qiao picked up a shoulder pole and an axe and went up the mountain to chop wood. When he walked up the mountain, he saw two old men with white hair and long beards, who went hand in hand into the Peach Blossom Cave of Lan Ke Mountain. Wang Qiao felt very strange. The village had never seen these two old men. What were they doing? Out of curiosity, he followed them into the cave. There was gurgling water in the cave, and the peach blossoms on both sides were bright red. Some trees were already full of fruits. The two old men sat down on both sides of a bluestone, set up a chessboard, and played chess. Seeing this, Wang Qiao put down his shoulder pole, put down his axe, and squatted aside to watch the game. After a long time, the two old men sometimes picked a peach to eat, and sometimes gave one to Wang Qiao. After an unknown amount of time, the two old men finished playing chess and walked deeper into the cave. Wang Qiao then remembered that he had come to chop wood, and hurried to pick up a shoulder pole, but it was already rotten. He then went to pick up an axe, but the handle was already rotten and the axe head was already rusty, so he could not chop wood. Wang Qiao had to go back home along the same path. As soon as he left the cave, he felt that the mountain shape, trees, and roads had changed, and he could only vaguely recognize the way home. Finally, he arrived at the village and saw that the villagers were all strangers. He was surprised and asked about Wang Qiao's home. People told him that Wang Qiao went up the mountain to chop wood and never came back; it had been eight hundred years since then. At this time, Wang Qiao realized that he had met a fairy and that he had become a fairy. He knew that it was useless to continue searching, so he had to return to the mountain and enter the Peach Blossom Cave again. After that, he disappeared. The earliest written record of the legend of Lanke Mountain is in the Zhilin written by Yu Xi in the middle of the Jin Dynasty (345-356 AD). Later, it was recorded in many historical books, such as the Shuijing Zhu written by Li Daoyuan during the reign of Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty (471-476 AD) and the Shuyi Ji written by Ren Fang during the reign of Emperor Wu of Liang in the Southern Dynasty (504-549 AD). This legend has a history of nearly 2,000 years. The legend of Lanke Mountain is also circulated in Zhejiang and Henan provinces in my country, and it is basically the same as the legend of Lanke Mountain in Luochuan. Therefore, whether the legend recorded in Shuyi Ji and Shuijing Zhu happened on the mountain in front of us cannot be determined because there is no historical data to verify it. The legend of Lanke Mountain in Shaanxi is a folk legend circulated in Luochuan County, Yan'an City, Shaanxi Province. The language is simple and concise, the content is rich, and the story is beautiful and moving. It embodies the struggle of the working people against nature and life and their desire to survive.

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