Ashima

Among all the scenic spots in the Stone Forest, the rock of Ashima in the Small Stone Forest is the
most famous. The rock of Ashima resembles a girl of the Sani people, a branch of the Yi ethnic
group, with a kerchief on her head, and a bamboo basket on her back.

According to popular legend, a beautiful maiden named Ashima was kidnapped by the son of an evil
landlord and forced to marry him. Her name means "as precious and bright as gold" in language of
the Yi people. Her love, Ahei, went to save her with his magic bows and arrows.

Ahei and the kidnapper competed by singing for 3 days and 3 nights; Ahei finally won by outlasting
his opponent. On the way home, however, Ashima was drowned in a flood and became what is
known today as the Ashima rock. Standing there in her traditional costume, looking into the distance,
she is seen as a protector of the Sani people.

Ashima is a symbol of the hope for freedom to choose who to marry, and a happy life for the Sani
people. This story was first written down in the 1940s and performed in Kunming. It has been
published several times, and was filmed in the 1960s. The national dance drama "Ashima" is on the
list of the top Chinese dances in the 20th century. Since then "Ashima" has been translated into
eight languages including English, German, French, and Russian and has shed its beauty
throughout the international community.

Endless Love

A Traditional Korean Folktale

An original tale written by 

Ji-Young Lee from Korea
This is a tale of undying love between a young couple who won the struggle to be together.

Long ago, there was a village named 'Sa-rang' in Korea. The village had two flowers that
cried when a couple passed nearby. These flowers never died.

A long time ago there was a couple, Soo-il and Soon-ae, living in Sa-rang. They loved each
other so much that they wanted to get married, but Soon-ae's father, who was very rich,
never allowed her to marry Soo-il, who was very poor.

A few days later, her father lied to her. He told her that Soo-il got married to another girl
and pushed her to marry a rich guy named Jung-bae. She was very sad because she
believed her father and agreed to marry Jung-bae.

But, Soon-ae' and Jung-bae were not happy because they did not love each other. He hung
out with friends, met other girls, and seldom came back home. They would not stay
together long.
One day, Soon-ae heard a strange, continuous sound from outside the window, so she
slowly went to the window and opened it up. When she looked down, there was Soo-il. Her
heart started beating faster, and she made up her mind to go to him. She jumped down
from her room, which was on the second floor, and then she felt a big pain and fainted.

When Soon-ae was able to open her eyes, she saw the people she loved. There were
members of her family and Soo-il. They all looked at her with concern, but at that moment
she discovered that she could not move at all. She knew her father had lied to her, and she
cried every day. Soo-il came to see her every day, but her father would not let him see her.

Soo-il decided to secretly take her to a small town in the country where nobody could find
them. In that town. he cut trees and sold them to make a living, while Sa-rang slowly
recovered and was able to move again.

One day when Soo-il was coming back home after cutting trees, he saw a rose on the edge
of a cliff. Because Soon-ae liked roses, he tried to pick the rose. Unfortunately, he slid and
fell over the cliff.

While she was waiting for him as usual, some people living in the town came to her with his
possessions. Immediately, she went to the place where his possessions were found even
though she could not walk well.

However, when she got there, she could not find his body, only a strange flower. After that,
she never ate or drank and never talked to anybody. She only thought about Soo-il, who
could never return to her.

A couple of days later, she closed her eyes for ever and ever. She was buried near the place
where the flower was found. After a while, her grave disappeared, and another flower
appeared in the same place as the first one.