The Four Dragons: The Chinese And Mongolian Myths

T8: What is the role of magic in the myths and stories? What does magic show us about each culture? Myths, as they are known to most of the world today, are stories that provide a better understanding into a culture’s past. Although each myth has distinct motifs that set it apart from other stories, magic is one that seems to remain throughout most myths, usually popping up when someone is in need of aid or protection. The Chinese and Mongolian myths, for example, both contain situations where those with magical abilities go out of their way to help those in need. In the Chinese myth “The Four Dragons,” we find this situation occurs between the humans that reside on Earth and the dragons that fly in the sky. We see this situation unfold

Although the shaman agrees to help, expecting some reward for her action, we can still infer from the myth that

Although each culture has unique ideas that they live by, karma is one that seems to be shared by many. The Japanese and Mongolian myths, for example, both contain situations where those who do harm to others eventually have bad things happen to them. In the Japanese myth “The Tongue-cut Sparrow,” the idea of karma comes up against the wife of the old man whose actions are described as “cross-patch” (“Tongue-cut” 1). From the bad things that the wife endures in this myth, we learn that the Japanese believe in karma, and that one should treat others as they would treat themselves or face the consequences of their actions. We see this when the wife of the old man is scared with “a number of horrible and frightful demons” because of how she lived her life and how she treated others (“Tongue-cut”2). Another concept that comes from this idea of karma is the idea of second chances to those who are deserving. We see this idea when the wife of the old man “repented her unkind ways and became a good old woman” after nearly being scared to death by the demons (“Tongue-cut” 3). Compared to the Mongolian myth “The Nishan Shaman,” there is a similar pattern regarding the topic of karma. Although the Mongolian culture believes in Buyan, there are still many similarities that the two beliefs share. For instance, in the Mongolian myth “The Nishan Shaman,” we can see an idea similar to karma