Welcome to the 2022 A to Z Blogging Challenge! My theme this year is Gemstone Folklore. Because I love stories about shiny things. Read the introduction to the project here.
JADE
Jade is actually the name of the gem quality version of two silicate minerals: nephrite, or jadeite. It is usually light to dark green in color, and has played an important role in East Asian and South American cultures for centuries.
Squire Yang plants jade
China
A kind man named Yang moves up to a steep mountain where there is no water source. He hauls water up the mountain to establish a free drinking station for pilgrims crossing the pass. One day a traveler, in exchange for his kindness, gives Yang a handful of stone seeds, telling him to plant them in a rocky place. Yang does so, and lo and behold, a crop of jade sprouts from the ground.
Later on, when Yang wants to marry a wealthy girl, her parents ask for a bride price in jade. Yang fulfills the request from his secret jade garden, and earns himself a wife. Finding out about the miracle, the emperor makes Yang a minister, and marks the Jade Field with four columns.
Sources:
You can find this story in here. It is a translation from the Soushen Ji, a 4th century Chinese collection of legends and tales.
If you could grow any mineral or gem, what would you plant?
Interesting tale. The picture of jade at the top is so pretty!
ReplyDeleteRonel visiting for the A-Z Challenge My Languishing TBR: J
I like the idea of a jade garden, but you'd definitely need to be careful with that lest you cause gem inflation and throw the value out of whack! On the other hand, I'd hate for the moral to be "hoard your treasure to keep the value artificially high," so I'm not sure how that works out.
ReplyDeleteJ is for Jewelled
A jade garden sounds fun! If you could grow one of the kind, I would prefer a multicolored and multistones garden ;)
ReplyDeleteSeeds that grow into gemstones - wouldn't that be a fun garden to watch grow. Your post reminded me of something I had forgotten. My mother developed an allergy to gold and took to wearing a jade wedding band. I thought it was very lovely.
ReplyDeleteAlways an education coming here! Another great post. If I could grow a gem? Well diamonds would sure fix a lot of things! But knowing my wife we would have a dozens of different kinds growing.
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Tim Brannan
The Other Side | A to Z of Conspiracy Theories
I think jade would be a pretty choice to grow, as it's green like leaves already. I'd hate to break them off to sell though. How lovely Yang valued his wife to be enough to give jade from his secret garden. Greedy in-laws though.
ReplyDeleteI would probably grow lapis lazuli or turquoise, since they're December birthstones, and there are so many powerful properties attributed to them.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand whether or not I like this story.
ReplyDeleteBut I do leve jade :-)
@JazzFeathers
The Old Shelter - Enter the New Woman