25.1.23

Chang-e, goddess of the moon and the Jade Rabbit, her companion

 

Long, long ago, when the sunbirds scorched the world with their shallow flights, the Celestial Emperor enlisted the great archer Hòu Yì's 羿.  Hou Yi eliminated nine of the ten sunbirds—sparing only one, so that on Earth there was no darkness, no cold. As a reward, he received the elixir of immortality, enough to share it with his wife, Cháng'é 嫦娥.  But the woman was a beset of immortality and took all the potion at once: she found herself suddenly flying to the Moon, not being able to return, where she still lives today in a palace made of ice and lost her companion forever.