Opera Story Legend of White Snake

Once upon a time, there were two snakes living in the Emei Mountain for thousands of years. One was a white snake spirit. The other was a green snake spirit. The two like the beautiful scenery on earth. So they changed themselves into two beautiful women. The white snake was called Bai Suzhen and the green snake was called Xiao Qing. They came to the West Lake in Hangzhou, the famous scenery spot.

It was so beautiful in the West Lake. They came to the famous broken bridge. Suddenly it started to rain. So they went to find a shelter under a willow tree. At that time, a young man came with an umbrella in hand. He was called Xu Xian and just came back after sweeping the tomb. Seeing that there were two women under the tree, Xu Xian lent his umbrella to them and called a boat to send them home. Bai Suzhen began to like the young man and asked him to get back the umbrella the next day.

The next day, Xu Xian went to Bai Suzhen's house. Bai thanked him for his help and then began to ask for information about his family. She knew that Xu Xian's parents died and he lived with his sister. He worked in a medical shop. Bai Suzhen then asked Xu Xian to marry her. Xu Xian agreed. So the two went through the marriage ceremony. After marriage, they started a medical shop of their own. Bai Suzhen knew the art of heeling. Everyday she treated a lot of patients. Everybody liked her and called her Lady Bai.

There was a temple nearby and a monk, Fahai, lived in the temple. When he knew that Bai Suzhen was a snake spirit, he wanted to try every means to make Bai leave Xu Xian because he thought that snake spirit would do harm to people.

Fahai went to Xu Xian's home, telling him that his wife was a snake spirit. Xu Xian didn't believe it. Then Fahai told Xu Xian to get some realgar wine for Bai Suzhen to drink at the Dragon Boat Festival. Bai would reveal her original form after drinking the wine.

When the Dragon Boat Festival came, every household drunk the realgar wine. The snake was afraid of the wine very much. Bai Suzhen and Xiao Qing had thought to hide for some time in the mountain but they were afraid that Xu Xian would be doubtful about it. So they pretended to be ill.

Xu Xian didn't believe Fahai's words. But since everybody drank the wine on that day, he persuaded Bai to drink a little. Bai could not refuse. So she drank one cup and began to feel uncomfortable. Xu xian took her to the bed and then went to get some soup to sober her up. When he went back, he was so horrified to see a large white snake on the bed. Xu Xian was scared to death.

When Bai Suzhen woke up, she was sad to find that Xu Xian was dead. She asked Xiao Qing to take care of him and she went to the Fairy Mountain to get the glossy ganoderma. It was said that only the glossy ganoderma could save Xu Xian's life.

At that time, Bai Suzhen was pregnant. She went to the Fairy Mountain but was stopped by the Fairy boy. The two had a fierce fight. Seeing that Bai really wanted to save her husband, the Fairy Elderly gave the glossy ganoderma to her.

So Xu xian was resuscitated. But he was still fearful. So Bai Suzhen thought of an idea. She turned the white waistband into a large snake hanging on the roof. Xu Xian no longer doubted that his wife was a snake spirit.

But Fahai did not resign. He took Xu Xian to the temple by cheating and did not let him go home. Bai Suzhen and Xiao Qing went to the temple to try to get Xu Xian back. They fought fiercely with Fahai. The fight disturbed the foetus and Bai Suzhen was defeated. When she came to the broken bridge, she recalled the experience when she first met Xu Xian. She was very sad. Xiao Qing blamed Xu Xian for taking Fahai's words and persuaded Bai Suzhen to leave Xu Xian.

Xu Xian, under the help of the little monk, escaped from the temple and found his wife at the broken bridge. Bai Suzhen told her she was a snake spirit. Xu Xian knew that Bai Suzhen kept a profound feeling to him. So he promised to live with her until the end of his life, whatever she was a snake or person.

They came back to their home. Later, Bai Suzhen gave birth to a son. When the son was a month old, everybody was happy. But Fahai came again. He neglected Xu Xian's pleading and put Bai Suzhen under the Leifeng Tower near the West Lake.

Xiao Qing escaped to the Emei Moutain. She learned skill hard. She finally defeated Fahai and save out Bai Suzhen.