The Butterfly Lovers – A Tang Dynasty Chinese Folktale Retold By Me Photograph

In a time that has passed and in a land not so far from where our ancestors were born, there lived a brilliant woman of exceptional intelligence and beauty. Her name was Zhu and, unlike her female peers, she pursued her natural gift for learning by protesting to her father that she should attend school. He eventually submitted to her wishes but only on the stipulation that she protect herself from the inevitable social stigma by disguising herself as a man. So great was her thirst for acquiring new knowledge that she conceded to her father’s terms and soon after began packing to set off to fulfil her most cherished dream to study and explore the world beyond the realms of her small town. At the school she met an equally astute scholar called Liang and the two quickly became very good friends, in fact, each often felt that they had always known the other, possibly the remnant impressions of another lifetime. Liang admired his friend as much as his passion for his studies but he did not know of Zhu’s true identity as a woman. Always there for each other, studying long into the night and allaying sadness and homesickness whenever one was struck down for the desire to return to their family, somewhere and at some point, Zhu fell deeply in Love for her companion. Unable to tell Liang what he meant for her, the immensity of her devotion to the man who was so close by and yet a world away, became as like the ghostly galleon trapped in a glass bottle floating on the ocean of her heart. One day she received news that she must return to her father. Distraught and torn by the pain of unspoken Love, she hesitantly told Liang of her imminent departure. He insisted to accompany her on the journey home and she, humbled and touched, accepted. On the long trip, Zhu attempted many times to drop clues to her true female identity. At one point she likened their relationship to a pair of Mandarin ducks which was a popular motif for lovers in Chinese myth however, Liang still remained hopelessly clueless to the truth. It was only many months later that Ling finally came to discover Zhu’s secret. He now understood the nature of the strange attraction he had always carried for Zhu and, without wasting a moment more, confessed to Zhu his eternal Love and dedication to her. Alas, it was too late for he arrived to her to sadly learn that her father had arranged her to marry a wealthy man of his choice. Liang was heartbroken, only matched by Zhu’s own grief-stricken soul. Unable to contest with the plans set forth by Zhu’s father, Liang dejectedly returned home and soon after, his health began to suffer until, one day at work, he died. A man broken in as many pieces as there were grains of sand, his death was purported to have turned the skies the darkest colour of lead. Zhu, upon learning of the loss of her greatest Love, entered a vow of silence and on the day her palanquin was hoisted in the bridal procession to her groom’s house, she fearlessly jumped off as it came by Liang’s grave and maddeningly flung herself on the mound. Hair suddenly unkempt and feet inexplicably blistered, she wept and demanded to her Creator that the grave be open so that she may join Liang. She demanded and chanted the words over and over and over again. Then, a loud thunderous roar ripped the sky into two and the grave wedged open and, without even a care for the world behind her, she joyfully leapt into the black abyss to be finally reunited with her beloved Liang. The Creator watched the spectacle below with surprise as if it were created by a God above His own self so, in remembrance of that extraordinary day, He turned the pair of lovers into two beautiful butterflies. They flew out of the grave with wings of astonishing vigour and deepest hue, fluttering and bouncing off each other as they rose and rose in the air until they melted away like snowflakes on warm skin… Photograph & Journal Excerpt: © Masufa Khatun | Mazzy Khatun Photo Stories | Entomological Collections | Oxford University Museum Of Natural History | Oxford | UK 2014

Photography:Color on Other

Original:One-of-a-kind Artwork

Size:19.7 W x 35.4 H x 0.4 D in

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