The Water Mother is a Chinese fairy tale collected by

Wolfram Eberhard Wolfram Eberhard (March 17, 1909 – August 15, 1989) was a professor of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley focused on Western, Central and Eastern Asian societies. Biography Born in Potsdam, German Empire, he had a strong ...

in ''Folktales of China''. It does not exist in early text, although the cult of the Water Mother existed from the time of the

Song dynasty The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the rest ...

. Wolfram Eberhard pointed out that "elements" of the Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index type ATU 565 appear here.Wolfram Eberhard, ''Folktales of China'' p 225 The University of Chicago Press Chicago, 1956 Other tales of this type are ''

Sweet Porridge "Sweet Porridge" (german: Der süße Brei), often known in English under the title of "The Magic Porridge Pot", is a folkloric German fairy tale recorded by the Brothers Grimm, as tale number 103 in ''Grimm's Fairy Tales'', in the 19th century. ...

'' and '' Why the Sea Is Salt'' -- ''Why the Sea Is Salt'' also using it as an explanatory legend.

Synopsis

A woman lived with her mother-in-law and daughter; though she was dutiful, her mother-in-law hated her. One day, she decreed that they could not buy water from water-carriers, but her daughter-in-law would have to carry it from the well. The work was too hard for her, but she was beaten when she failed. One day, she thought of drowning herself in the well. An old

woman A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardl ...

told her not to, and gave her a stick, which, when used to strike the pail, would fill it with water. She was to tell no one of the stick's power, and to never strike the pail twice. For a time, she was happy, but her mother-in-law spied on her, stole the stick, and struck the pail twice. This caused a flood that drowned many houses and her daughter-in-law. The pail had become a spring. Afterward, a temple was raised for the daughter-in-law, and they called her the Water Mother.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Water Mother Water Mother Female characters in fairy tales ATU 560-649

Synopsis

See also

References