• Chang'e Flying to the Moon

    Chinese Mythology
    Imagine a time when the sky wasn't quite like it is today. Instead of one friendly sun, there were TEN suns! Can you believe it? Everything was super-duper hot. Plants drooped, rivers dried up, and people felt like melty ice cream.

    But then, along came a hero! His name was Houyi, and he was the best archer in the whole wide world. He had a big bow and super strong arms. Houyi said, "This is too much sun! I'll fix it!" And *twang, twang, twang*! He shot down nine of those naughty suns, leaving just one perfect sun to warm the Earth.

    Everyone cheered! "Hooray for Houyi!" A kind Queen from a magical mountain was so happy, she gave Houyi a special gift: a tiny bottle with a magic potion. She told him, "Drink this, and you will live forever and fly up to the sky!"

    Now, Houyi had a lovely wife named Chang'e. He loved her very, very much. He thought, "Living forever sounds nice, but I don't want to go to the sky without Chang'e." So, he gave the magic potion to Chang'e and said, "Please keep this safe for me, my dear."

    One day, when Houyi was out hunting, a sneaky bad guy named Feng Meng (he wasn't very nice!) tried to steal the potion. Feng Meng knew it was super special and wanted it all for himself.

    Chang'e knew she had to protect the potion. Quick as a flash, she thought, "I can't let him have it!" So, she drank the whole potion herself! Gulp!

    Suddenly, Chang'e started to feel very light. Lighter and lighter! Whoosh! She began to float up, up, up, out of the window and into the sky. She floated all the way to the big, bright moon.

    When Houyi came home, he was so sad to find Chang'e gone. He looked up at the moon and saw her there. He missed her terribly. So, every year, on the night when the moon was biggest and brightest, Houyi would put out all of Chang'e's favorite fruits and cakes, hoping she could see them from the moon.

    And that's why, even today, people look at the beautiful full moon and remember Chang'e, the lady who flew to live there, sometimes with a little bunny friend to keep her company.

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