| It is a folk custom in the countryside of China to have
a kid wear a kind of hat which looks like a dog's face,
especially in the provinces of the southeast of China.
Here is a story about the kind of hat. Long ago, there
were two brothers in a family, both of whom were married
and lived peacefully. The elder brother and the wife
were honest and tolerant, but they did not have any
children. And it was regarded as one of the biggest
problems for a couple without children in China then.
The elder brother and his wife were so upset for the
matter that he would like to adopt one of his nephews.
"Well, my nephew is the right person to be my heritor."
he said to himself. But when he talked this to his younger
brother and the wife, he was refused absolutely for
no reason.
Not long after, anyhow, the younger brother fell ill
and died. Eventually, the burden of supporting the two
sons was laid on the younger brother's wife. In that
case, the elder brother brought the request for adopting
one of the sons from her again. But he was refused again
and was given no reasons. That made the elder brother
very puzzled.
Years later, to the elder brother's delight, his wife
was finally pregnant at her middle age. The elder brother
was a merchant and he sometimes had to go out on business.
For fear that his wife would give birth when he was
away, he had everything well prepared and a midwife
was found in the village. Little did one think, things
happened just as he did not wish to. His wife was brought
to bed just when he was out doing business. The younger
brother's wife went to help eagerly. She went for the
midwife in time, but she bought off the midwife to accomplish
a plot on the elder brother's wife. Now what the midwife
would do was nothing but their conspiracy according
to the younger brother's wife, who had been intending
to get the properties from the elder brother. And that
was the reason why she refused to meet the request for
adopting a son from her. She wished the elder brother's
family had come to an end due to no descendants.
It was hard to give birth to a child for a woman of
her age. The elder brother's wife was in great pain.
The younger brother's wife comforted her phonily but
she snickered at heart. The midwife replaced the baby
with a dog peeled off the skin quickly and neatly before
the elder brother's wife came to know something. And
then the younger brother's wife took the baby away and
left the baby in the fields. No one knew the matter
but a brown dog standing by all the time.
When the elder brother's wife regained consciousness,
she was surprised at the strange thing which she was
told was her baby. She was so disappointed that she
cried as soon as she saw her husband who returned home
later that day. He also felt so disappointed and puzzled
as to give himself away down to the floor, burying his
head between the knees. Just then, the brown dog came
to him and pulled him with one of its paws and led him
out to the garden. To his astonishment, he found a tender
baby in the dog's hut crying. Now everything had become
clear to him. When the head of the county heard about
the case, he got very angry. So an accusation was brought
against the cruel younger brother's wife. She was punished
severely, but she didn't know how on earth the baby
she threw away could be brought back to the mother's
arms, since she had never noticed the dog was following
her. The dog was praised greatly. It was the dog that
managed to bring the baby back home. And it was the
dog that smashed the blackness and saved the family.
So in memory of the dog's loyalty and its great honor,
the baby's mother made a dog hat for her baby and named
the baby "Dog Son". Dog hats became more and
more popular among villagers not only because it was
practicable but also because it had a close relation
with the faithful dog.
|