Chinese Myth Figures 中国神话人物 10 The God of Silkworm 蚕神

In the very ancient time, a man went on a long journey and left a beautiful daughter and a horse at home. When the father was not in, the daughter would keep the horse as a company and fed it with grass and fodders every day. The daughter became very lonely at home and missed her father very much. One day, she fed the horse and said to him, "Horse, if you can find my father and cany him back, I will marry you as your wife."

Listening to her words, the horse became extremely excited, swaying its tail and nodding heads. After eating the grass, the horse suddenly rushed toward, broke the rein and ran out of the yard. The horse ran for several days and nights and finally found the place where the father lived.

Seeing his horse running from his hometown thousands miles away, the father was both surprised and elated. He fed the horse with water and grass in person and then rode on it to have a walk. However, the horse did not go anywhere but looked at the direction it had come, neighing from time to time. The father was very surprised on seeing that. Was there anything wrong at home since the horse ran from the hometown far away and acted strangely? So he quickly rode on the horse and went back home.

Arriving at home, he knew that nothing happened at home but his daughter missed him. The horse understood human's emotion and carried the father hack. The father treated the horse very well for its smartness. However, whatever the father brought to feed it, the horse refused to eat and as long as it saw the daughter pass by the stable, the horse would reveal a strange facial expressi0n, neighing and kicking.  To hit surprise, the father called his daughter into the room and asked her again and again. The daughter had to tell her father honestly the joke she made to the horse last time. The father became furious and said strictly to his daughter, “It was a shame. Do not tell anyone ab0ut it.”

Though the father liked the horse very much but he could not allow a horse to be his son-in-law. Hence, he shot dead the horse with an arrow, peeled off its skin and dried it in the yard.

One day, the father went on a journey. The daughter played with the neighbor's girls in the yard. On seeing the horse skin, she was very angry and went up to kick it, abusing, " You brute! You are dreaming to marry a human! You deserved to be skinned. Dare you... "

Without finishing the words, that horse skin suddenly flew from the ground and closely wrapped the daughter. It revolved around like a heavy wind, then rose up to the sky and disappeared at the end of the field. Those little girls were frightened and stood still. They were so surprised and frightened that no one could help her. When the father came back hurriedly, the daughter had disappeared without trace.

People of the whole tribe went out to look for her for several days and nights, and finally found the daughter wrapped by the horse skin among the branches of a big tree. She had already become a long worm with a head like a horse. She spun out a kind of thin thread white and smooth from her mouth. People who were curious all came to see it and this worm spinning out thin thread was named " Can (silkworm)", which meant it could spin out thin thread to wrap itself. The tree related was named "Sang (mulberry)" denoting that someone lost life here.

This is the origin of silkworm. And the daughter became the god of silkworm while the horse skin became her inseparable intimate company. After Huangdi defeated Chi you, it was she that spun out silk in person and presented it to Huangdi to celebrate the victory.