15
was a long list of who was going to marry whom in the near and
far future. Thinking the old man was insane, Wei scoffed, but the
old man insisted he was telling the truth and said that Wei himself
was in the book. Pointing at a little girl walking with her father, the
old man said that the girl was none other than Wei’s future wife.
To show how little he believed the old man, Wei pulled out a knife,
stabbed the girl in the back, and ran away.
Fifteen years later, Wei finally decided to get married. After he
had searched for a wife for months, a government official offered
Wei his daughter’s hand. The official said he was anxious to find
her a husband because a number of possible suitors had rejected
her. When Wei asked why, the official said that she walked with
a limp because fifteen years before someone had stabbed her
in the back. At that moment, Wei real-
ized that the old man he had met in the
moonlight years before was Yue Lao and
had been telling the truth. Soon after-
ward, Wei married the young woman,
Statues like this one,
depicting Yue Lao, the god
of love, stand in a number
of town squares across
China. In his chief myth, he
kept a book containing lists
of future marriage partners.
Yue Lao
The god of love
