The Monstrefact: The Silkworm Horse

Published Feb 8, 2023, 11:00 AM

In this episode of STBYM’s The Monstrefact, Robert discusses the silkworm horse from Chinese traditions… 

Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of My Heart Radio. Hi, my name is Robert Lamb and this is the Monster Fact, a short form series from Stuff to Blow Your Mind, focusing in on mythical creatures, ideas and monsters in time. The domestic silkworm is an important species in both Chinese history and human fiber and fabric history in general. The larvae of these silk moths spends a cocoon of secreted silk, which can then be harvested and woven into highly desired textiles. Selective breeding has left the domestic silkworm completely dependent on humans for reproduction, and the larvae favor the leaves of the mulberry tree, as related by Anne Beryl in her book Chinese Mythology and Introduction. A fascinating mythological tale concerning all of this is found in the fourth century c. E book A Record of Researches into Spirits, or the socn G, commonly thought to be the work of Historyan gan Bao. In the story, a father travels forth and leaves his daughter and a horse at home, where they live in poverty. The daughter tires of this and eventually tells the horse a stallion, if you find my father and bring him home to us, I will marry you. The horse is eager and agrees to these terms and rides out in search of the old man and indeed finds him. But the father is suspicious of the horse, reasoning that he is not doing this for nothing, but he agrees to go with the horse. He travels home on the creature's back and only then learns the truth of the daughter's promise to the beast. Of course, the daughter doesn't want to marry the horse, and the father realizes that this would be a shame full horror for the family. He chastises her for making such a pact, kills the horse with an arrow, skins it, and leaves its hide to dry on some branches. Later, the daughter is walking past the hide with a friend, and she mocks the horse for thinking she would ever marry him. And this is where things take a horrific turn. The horse hide comes to life, leaps from the branches, envelopes the daughter, and drags her away. The friend screams and flees. A few days later, after searching the surrounding area, the father finds her once again. The hide wrapped woman has transformed into a great silkworm which feeds amid the branches of an interesting tree. The locals soon discovered that the silk of this silkworm is superior to that of others, and they realize that the reason is not her transforms status, but the tree itself. This is, of course a mulberry tree, and they give it a special name. They call it Song, which means mulberry tree in Mandarin, but can also mean funeral, old corpse, or mourning, as in the Mourning of the dead. It is a story of mythic botanical origins, the curse of sexual desire and of metamorphosis. I also find it interesting that it concerns two different domesticated species and humanities, perhaps at times anxious place as the mitigators of their reproduction. Tune in for additional episodes of The Monster Fact each week. As always, you can email us at contact at stuff to Blow Your Mind dot com. Stuff to Blow Your Mind. It's production of I Heart Radio from our podcasts. From my Heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

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