Tian Yi
Wild ginseng
is found in northeastern China. The remote Changbai Mountain in Jilin Province
is especially well-known for growing wild ginseng roots that are hundreds or even
thousands of years old. But the legend has it that the real hometown of ginseng
is Shandong, not northeastern China. Here is the story:
A long, long time ago
there was a temple called Yunmeng temple on Yunmeng Mountain in Shandong. There
were two monks in the temple, one master and one disciple. The master was never
in the mood for reading Buddhist scriptures or working in the field. He treated
his young disciple very cruelly, and the young monk became pale and looked very
weak.
One day the old monk left the temple and left the young disciple to work
alone in the temple. A child wearing a red bib showed up. Nobody knew where he
was from. He helped the young monk work. From then on, whenever the old monk left,
the child came to help the young monk work in the temple. As soon as the old one
returned, the child disappeared.
As time passed by, the old monk noticed that
his disciple looked ruddy and he seemed to be able to finish every job that he
was assigned with. The old monk was bewildered and he thought this was something
really strange. He called his disciple over and interrogated him about what was
going on. Reluctantly, the young monk told him the truth. The old monk thought,
"There are few people living on the mountain, so where is the kid with the
red bib from? He must be the legendary 'herb stick' (ginseng)." Therefore,
he took a red thread out from his suitcase, threaded it onto a needle, and gave
it to the young monk. He ordered the young monk to stick the needle into the kid's
red bib if he showed up again.
The next day, the old monk left. The young monk
wanted to tell the child what had happened, but he was too scared. He finally
stuck the needle into the child's red bib when the child was hurrying to go home.
Early in the morning of the next day the old monk locked his disciple in the temple,
and then he picked up his pickaxe and followed the red thread with a all the way
down to an old red pine tree. There he found one herb stick and he was extremely
excited at this discovery. He lifted the pickaxe to dig out a ginseng child (ginseng
that is very old takes the shape of a child).
The old monk took the ginseng
child back to the temple and put it in a pot with some water. Then he weighted
the lid with a stone and then called his disciple to make a fire and cook it.
Unfortunately he had to leave again on an urgent summons from his friend which
he could not refuse. Before leaving, he told the young monk seriously, "You
are not allowed to open the lid before I come back." After the old monk left,
the pot unceasingly emitted a fantastic smell. The young monk was overcome with
curiosity. He ignored his master's instructions, moved away the stone, and lifted
the lid from the pot. The smell was so good that he tore off a piece of the stick
to sample it. It was so sweet and juicy! So, forgetting everything, the young
monk ate up all of the ginseng and soup. Just then, the old monk came hurrying
back. The disciple was too anxious to do anything so he ran towards the temple.
Suddenly he felt his legs lightening, and he flew up into the sky. While the old
monk saw this scene, he knew that the disciple had eaten the entire ginseng. He
was very sad.
Actually, the child with the red bib was a ginseng root. It was
one of a pair of ginseng sticks living under the old red pine tree. Since the
old monk took only one of them, the one left behind cried from loneliness. The
red pine tree said, "Good boy, don't cry. I will bring you to northeastern
China where there are few people. There I can protect you forever." The ginseng
stopped crying, and followed the pine tree to flee away. They settled down on
Changbai Mountain in northeastern China. Since then, there were no more ginsengs
to be found in inland China. Instead, ginseng roots on Changbai Mountain became
more and more plentiful.