Traditional Chinese legend, retold in simple Mandarin
The Old Man Under the Moon
月下老人
The Old Man Under the Moon (月下老人, Yuèxià Lǎorén) is a Chinese legend, retold in simple Mandarin as a 4-chapter story with audio for learners at about HSK 3 (Intermediate).
A proud young scholar meets an old man reading by moonlight, whose bag is full of red threads, and learns who his wife will be. Retold from Li Fuyan's Tang tale “The Betrothal Inn.”
Meet the voices
- Narrator · 旁白 — Tells the old Tang tale of the red thread, the way it has been told for more than a thousand years.
- Wei Gu · 韦固 — A proud, impatient young scholar who lost his parents early and badly wants to marry into a good family.
- The Old Man Under the Moon · 月下老人 — A gentle, amused old man who reads by moonlight, keeps the book of every marriage in the world, and carries a bag of red threads.
- Granny Chen · 陈奶奶 — A poor, hardworking old woman who sells vegetables at the market with a little girl on her back.
- The Bride · 新娘 — A graceful seventeen-year-old who has worn a small flower between her eyebrows for as long as she can remember.
4 chapters, one journey
Chapter 1: The Old Man with the Book
看书的老人
Wei Gu hurries to a temple before dawn, sure that today he will finally find a wife. On the steps sits an old man with a book no one can read.
Free to read
Chapter 2: The Red Thread
红线
The old man opens his cloth bag and shows Wei Gu what ties every couple together. Then Wei Gu asks the question he came for: who is his wife?
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Chapter 3: I Don't Believe It
我不信
At the morning market, the old man points out Wei Gu's future wife. Wei Gu can't believe his eyes, and his temper gets the better of him.
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Chapter 4: Fourteen Years Later
十四年以后
Fourteen years later, Wei Gu finally marries. On their wedding night, his bride tells him why she never takes off the little flower between her brows.
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Key words in The Old Man Under the Moon
Behind the story
This story comes from “The Betrothal Inn” (定婚店), a short tale by Li Fuyan in 续玄怪录, a Tang-dynasty collection of strange stories. It is set in the year 807: Wei Gu, a young man in a hurry to marry, meets an old man reading by moonlight who keeps the marriage records of the whole world.
The old man became 月老, short for 月下老人, the Chinese god of love and marriage, and his red thread (红线) became the picture of fate in love. People say 千里姻缘一线牵, “a match that is meant to be is tied by one thread, even a thousand li apart,” and playing matchmaker is called 牵红线, “pulling the red thread.”
Did you know?
- In the tale, the red thread is tied around the couple's feet. In Japan, where the legend also traveled, the “red thread of fate” is said to be tied to the little finger instead.
- When the local magistrate heard Wei Gu's story, he named the inn where Wei Gu had stayed 定婚店, “the Betrothal Inn,” which gave the tale its title.
- People still visit 月老 temples to pray for love, and many take home a red thread for luck.