The Fire-God

In the legendary time before Fu Hi, the ruler of humankind was Dschu Yung, the Magic Welder. He discovered how to use fire, and from him the generations after learned to cook their food. So his descendants were given the task of keeping fire safe, and he himself was made the Fire-God.

The Fire-God is a form of the Red Lord, who appeared at the beginning of the world as one of the Five Ancients. He is worshipped as the Lord of the Holy Southern Mountain, and in the sky the Fiery Star, the southern quarter of the heavens, and the Red Bird all belong to him. In the beliefs described by this tale, the Fiery Star’s strange brightness and the arrival of fire-crows are omens of a blaze.

In the land of the four rivers there lived a very rich man. One day he climbed into his wagon and set off on a long journey. On the way he met a girl dressed in red, who asked if she might ride with him. He let her climb in and drove on for half a day without once glancing at her.

Then the girl got down and said goodbye. “You are a truly good and honest man,” she told him, “so I must tell you the truth. I am the Fire-God. Tomorrow a fire will break out in your house. Hurry home now, put your affairs in order, and save whatever you can!”

Alarmed, the man turned his horses around and raced home as fast as he could. He carried out of the house all his treasures, clothes, and jewels. Just as he was about to lie down to sleep, a fire broke out on the hearth, and nothing could put it out until the whole house had fallen into dust and ashes. But thanks to the Fire-God, the man had saved everything he could carry.

Where this story comes from

“The Fire-God” comes from the “Legends of the Gods” section of The Chinese Fairy Book, which Richard Wilhelm compiled and Frederick H. Martens translated into English for Frederick A. Stokes (New York, 1921). It begins by explaining who the Fire-God is before telling its brief tale.

The opening gathers the deity’s associations with fire, the south and red imagery. The traveller’s red clothing repeats that pattern before her identity is revealed. These are the tale’s religious and symbolic associations, not practical methods of predicting a house fire.

Read the original: Project Gutenberg’s copy of The Chinese Fairy Book (Wilhelm and Martens)

Reading guidance: a short legend in which a house burns down despite a warning. Discuss the difference between its magical foreknowledge and real fire safety; possessions are not worth entering a burning building to save.

A warning without prevention

The passenger rewards the man’s courtesy by revealing the coming fire, but does not stop it. The ending is therefore a limited rescue: portable wealth survives while the home is lost. Her red clothing lets an attentive reader connect her to the introductory description before the man knows who she is.

Make two lists, headed ‘what the warning changes’ and ‘what it does not change.’ How does that distinction complicate the claim that kindness always brings good fortune?

Questions to ask

• What gift did Dschu Yung give to people, according to the legend?
• Why do you think the Fire-God decided to warn the rich man?
• What did the man manage to save, and what was lost?

Related stories

• How the Five Ancients Became Men — the Red Lord and the other Ancients at the beginning of the world
• The God of War — another of Wilhelm’s legends of the gods
• The Flying Ogre — another short tale of a mysterious stranger met on a journey