Boucquey Thierry (General Editor). Encyclopedia Of World Writers. 3 volumes

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The best Frenchmen are

agreed that no sweeter poem was ever com-

posed in dignity

and truth....They told it there: now listen

to it

here. This story is true, though it may be

amazing.

Willehalm recounts the struggles of the hero in

battle against the invading Muslim forces from the

south. In the tale, Wolfram continues with his use

of fantastical names and hazy geography meant

more to evoke exotic associations than to assume

any genuine historicity. Scenes of vivid action, such

as the battles of Alischanz, intermingle with scenes

of contemplation or tenderness, as when Wolfram

describes the love between Willehalm and Giburc.

Though a different work than Parzival, Willehalm

is imbued with no less spiritual awareness, Wol-

fram’s contribution not only to his source mate-

rial but also his lesson to his listeners.

Parzival has an assured place in the canon of the

greatest Arthurian literature, next to the romances

of Sir Thomas Malory and Alfred, Lord Tennyson.

Richard Wagner turned Wolfram’s Parzival into a

famed opera, and the legend of the Holy Grail,

with Percival as one of its chief knights, continues

to inspire retellings in the forms of present-day

novels and films.

English Versions of Works by

Wolfram von Eschenbach

Parzival. Edited and translated by André Lefevere.

New York: Continuum, 1991.

Parzival. Translated by A. T. Hatto. New York: Pen-

guin, 1980.

Willehalm. Translated by Marion E. Gibbs and Sidney

M. Johnson. New York: Penguin Books, 1984.

Works about Wolfram von Eschenbach

Poag, James F. Wolfram von Eschenbach. New York:

Twayne Publishers, 1972.

Weigand, Hermann J. Wolfram’s Parzival: Five Essays.

Edited by Ursula Hoffman. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell

University Press, 1969.

worak narratives Winnebago folklore

Worak narratives comprise one of two stylistically

distinct forms of Winnebago Native American

prose; the other is WAIKAN NARRATIVES. They are sec-

ular in nature in that their subject matter focuses

on the real world and historical events. The worak

(meaning “what is told or recounted”) are treated

less seriously than their waikan counterparts. Any-

one in the tribe is allowed to relate a worak, and the

stories can be told at any time of year. In addition,

characters in the worak narratives are always

human. Heroes are either human or divine beings

who have thrown in their lot with man. The action

in woraks always takes place within the memory of

mankind, and the tales always end tragically.

Some worak stories include “The Annihilation

of the Hotcâgara” (Hotcâk meaning “Winnebago”),

a story about how yellow fever wiped out many

Winnebago; “The Blessing of a Bear Clansman,” a

story in which a member of the Bear clan of the

Winnebago is blessed by divine spirits to be suc-

cessful in war; “The Great Fish,” which explains

why Lake Winnebago is full of sturgeon; and “Vita

Springs,” an account of a hot springs that the Win-

nebago believed to have healing powers. Like the

waikan narratives, these and other worak stories

have preserved much of the history, culture, and

traditions of the Winnebago.

English Versions of Worak Narratives

Kieterle, Richard L., editor and compiler. The Ency-

clopedia of Hotcâk (Winnebago) Mythology. Avail-

able online. URL: http://www.hotcakencyclopedia.

com/#anchor 1917766>. Downloaded on April

28, 2004.

Smith, David Lee. Folklore of the Winnebago Tribe.

Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997.

worak narratives 331

332



Xenophon (ca. 431–ca. 352 B.C.) soldier,

historian, biographer

Xenophon was born in Athens; his father was a

knight in the Athenian army. During his young

years, Xenophon was one of SOCRATES’ most suc-

cessful students. He is said to be the first person to

start recording his conversations with Socrates and

noting down the great philosopher’s sayings. These

writings were collected in Memorabilia (relating

Socrates’ life story and his teachings) and Sympo-

sium (written as a dialogue in which Socrates is the

main speaker).

The young historian’s discipleship with Socrates

did not last long, however. In 401, he decided to

join Cyrus, the prince of Persia, in his campaign

against his brother Artaxerxes II, king of Persia. He

joined the prince in Sardis and followed him into

Upper Asia, where Cyrus was killed in the decisive

battle at Cunaxa. Left without a leader on the wide

plains between the Tigris River and the Euphrates

the Greek troops elected Xenophon their new gen-

eral. He had not held an official position in Cyrus’s

army or ever served as a soldier, yet the soldiers’

choice turned out to be a wise one. Xenophon suc-

cessfully led the remaining 10,000 men on an epic

1,500-mile journey back to Greece.

Xenophon himself, however, did not go back to

Athens at once. Instead, he joined the Spartans,

served the Spartan king and general Agesilaus, and

fought against Athenians in the Battle of Coronea

(394

B.C.). When he returned to Athens a year later,

he was banished for having fought against his own

countrymen. The Spartans, however, rewarded

him by giving him an estate at Scillus near Elis,

where he moved with his wife and children.

For the next 24 years, Xenophon lived peace-

fully, writing, managing his slaves, hunting, and

entertaining guests. But when Sparta was defeated

in 371

C., he was expelled from his estate. Al-

though his banishment had been lifted, he still did

not return to Athens but spent his remaining years

in Corinth. While there, he wrote some of his best

works and spent much time contemplating the

reasons for his banishment from Athens. In addi-

tion to having fought against his former country-

men, he also disagreed with the Athenian attitude

concerning the war.

Xenophon believed that the happiest states are

those that have the longest period of unbroken

peace, and he considered Athens well suited to

peace and happiness. Debating those who believed

that war could benefit the city-state, Xenophon ar-

gued that the harshness of Athenian rulers would

eventually strip it of its prestige and authority. Gen-

erosity and fairness, on the contrary, would gain

Athens valuable alliances and power. Xenophon

also believed that war would destroy the Athenian

economy.

Critical Analysis

The most celebrated of Xenophon’s works is An-

abasis, which tells the story of Cyrus’s military

campaigns and the Spartans’ heroic retreat, which

Xenophon had engineered. The title Anabasis

means “The March Up,” although the majority of

the work deals with the march away from the site

of the disastrous battle at Cunaxa.

Anabasis was the first work that acquainted the

Greeks with elements of the Persian Empire; it also

revealed the army’s weakness. Ironically, Xenophon’s

account of the Spartans’ retreat through hostile lands

is said to have influenced Greek pride and eventu-

ally resulted in Alexander’s conquests in Asia. An-

abasis also immortalized Xenophon as a gifted

military leader and a hero of his people.

In addition to writing historical accounts,

Xenophon also wrote biographies, making him a

pioneer in the genre. One such work is Agesilaus, a

panegyric on Agesilaus II, king of Sparta, who was

one of Xenophon’s close friends. His most famous

biographical work, however, is The Cyropaedia,

which tells the life story of Cyrus, the founder of

the Persian monarchy, under whose command

young Xenophon began his military adventures.

The title The Cyropaedia translates as “The Ed-

ucation of Cyrus,” and the first of the eight books

that make up the work deals with Cyrus’s educa-

tion, describing his hunting as preparation for

fighting. Xenophon goes on to paint a highly ro-

manticized portrait of Cyrus as an outstanding

military leader and ruler. He relates Cyrus’s talent

in warfare, his generosity in forgiving defeated en-

emies, and his skill at turning former enemies into

allies. Because of its romanticized nature, The Cy-

ropaedia is considered by some critics to be a polit-

ical romance rather than a biography.

The work also reveals Xenophon’s admiration

for Spartan ways, and his accounts of Persian his-

tory are mixed with details of Greek customs, with

an emphasis on both military service (as influ-

enced by Cyrus) and the importance of learning

justice (as influenced by Socrates). In particular,

Xenophon describes how boys in Spartan schools

are punished for not returning favors, and how

qualities such as self-control are valued and

trained.

In general, Xenophon’s works, even those struc-

tured as historical ones, serve to reflect his views

on philosophy, life, adventure, history, economy,

and politics. In The Constitution of the Lacedaemo-

nians, for example, he expresses his admiration for

the Spartans’ disciplined life and values. In a later

essay, “Ways and Means,” he proposes methods to

improve Athens’s economy. He describes his ad-

venturous life and provides vast historical details

of life in ancient Persia and Greece in other essays,

such as “On the Cavalry Commander,”“On the Art

of Horsemanship,” and “On Hunting.”

Xenophon’s Hellenica is a historical account of

Greece from 411 to 362

B.C. He is valued not only

for the detailed information he provides in all his

works, but also for the simple and clear way in

which he provides it. He is one of the foremost his-

torians of ancient Greece.

English Versions of Works by Xenophon

Anabasis. Translated by Carleton L. Brownson. Re-

vised by John Dillery. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard

University Press, 1998.

The Education of Cyrus. Translated by Wayne Am-

bler. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 2001.

Hiero: A New Translation. Translated by Ralph Doty.

Lewiston, N.Y.: Edwin Mellen Press, 2003.

Xenophon’s “Spartan Constitution”: Introduction, Text,

Commentary. Edited by Michael Lipka. Berlin: De

Gruyter, 2002.

Works about Xenophon

Anderson, John Kinloch. Xenophon. London: Bristol

Classical, 2002.

Hirsch, Steven W. The Friendship of the Barbarians:

Xenophon and the Persian Empire. Lebanon, N.H.:

University Press of New England, 1985.

Hutchinson, Godfrey. Xenophon and the Art of Com-

mand. Mechanicsburg, Pa.: Stackpole Books,

2000.

Xenophon 333

Prevas, John. Xenophon’s March: Into the Lair of the

Persian Lion. Cambridge, Mass.: Da Capo Press,

2002.

Xie Lingyun (Hsieh Ling-yün, Duke of

K’ang-Lo)

(385–433) poet

Xie Lingyun was a member of a prominent aristo-

cratic Chinese family during the Qin (Ch’in) dy-

nasty. He entered the government before he was 20

years old and spent the next 20 years engaged in

politics. While the “barbarians” controlled the

north, aristocratic factions battled for control over

the Eastern Qin dynasty. After engaging in these

power struggles for many years, Xie found himself

on the losing side of a battle over the successor to

the newly reigning Liu-Song dynasty. At age 37 he

was exiled to Yung-chia on the southeast coast.

During this period, he had time to contemplate his

life and the natural world around him. He became

reconnected to his long-held Taoist and Buddhist

beliefs and began to write poetry.

Even after the exile was lifted, Xie did not return

to court life but instead became a recluse at the

family estate in the Shihning (Shih-ning) Moun-

tains. In one of his long prose-poems,“Dwelling in

the Mountains,” he describes his choice:“I devoted

myself to simplicity and returned to it all, / left that

workaday life for this wisdom of wandering, / for

this wilderness of rivers-and-mountains clarity.”

For a Chinese aristocrat, however, the life of a

recluse was not one of total isolation. Xie contin-

ued to live with his family and often entertained

friends. In addition, the government ordered him

to serve as a local governor at a far outpost. When

he refused, he was banished to Nan-hai on the

southern coast and later executed.

While Xie was prominent in government and a

well-known calligrapher, he was most famous for

his wilderness poetry. His poetry, greatly influenced

by that of Xie Hun (Hsieh Hun), not only describes

nature but also celebrates the mountain wilderness

and rivers, revealing Xie’s spiritual connection to

his surroundings. Though few of his works survive,

he is famous as the initiator of the “rivers-and-

mountains” (shan-shui) tradition. As the Taoist

hermit T’ao Hung-ching laments,“Here is the true

Paradise of the Region of Earthly Desires. Yet, since

the time of [Xie] K’ang-lo, no one has been able to

feel at one with these wonders, as he did.”

An English Version of a Work by Xie Lingyun

The Mountain Poems of Hsieh Ling-Yun. Translated by

David Hinton. New York: New Directions, 2001.

334 Xie Lingyun

335



Yang Wanli (Yang Wan-li) (1127–1206)

poet

Yang Wanli was born in southern China and grew

up during a time of political turmoil in which the

Jin (Chin) Tartars of northern China conquered

the Sung dynasty. Yang lived in poverty in the

southern Song (Sung) city of Zhu-sui (Chu-sui),

away from the center of the conflict. Consequently,

his childhood was relatively normal, and he re-

ceived a classical education. He passed the civil

service examination at age 28.

After three years of service at the Song capital,

Hangzhou (Hang-chou), Yang was sent to Ling-

ling in the Hunan Province in 1161. There he met

and was mentored by a famous general, Zhang

Zhun, who influenced Yang’s views on the conflict

between the Song and the Jin. Yang soon adopted

the general’s belief in strong resistance against the

Jin and remained committed to that belief

throughout his life. In the Confucian tradition, he

was critical of the government when he saw cor-

ruption or weak policies.

Yang was also influenced by the poet Xiao Dezao

(Hsiao Te-tsao), whom he also met in Ling-ling.

After Xiao advised him on the style of his poetry,

in 1162 Yang burned more than 1,000 of his poems

because he believed they were poorly written.

Yang’s later poetry, such as “Watching a Village

Festival” and “Songs of Depression,” was influ-

enced by Zen Buddhism and combines the essence

of a spiritual life with the events and concerns of

everyday life. His collected works feature more

than 3,200 poems and hundreds of pages of prose

written during his time as a government official.

When Yang died, he was considered to be one of

the greatest poets of the Song dynasty.

An English Version of a Work by Yang Wanli

Heaven My Blanket, Earth My Pillow. Translated by

Jonathan Chaves. New York: Weatherhill Press,

1975.

Works about Yang Wanli

Liu, James J. Y. Major Lyricists of the Northern Sung.

Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1974.

Schmidt, J. D. Yang Wan-li. New York: Twayne, 1976.

Yaqui deer songs Native American

ritual songs

The Yaqui deer dancer is called the saila maso, “lit-

tle brother deer.” The deer songs, called maso

bwikam, are traditional songs, usually performed

by three men, that accompany the dance of the

saila maso. To the Yaquis, the deer song is the old-

est and most respected of their verbal arts. Authors

Larry Evers and Felipe Molina describe them this

way: “Highly conventionalized in their structure,

their diction, their themes, and their mode of per-

formance, deer songs describe a double world,

both ‘here’ and ‘over there,’ a world in which all the

actions of the deer dancer have a parallel in that

mythic, primeval place called by Yaquis sea ania,

flower world.” The Yaqui deer songs reflect aspects

of life practiced for centuries in the Sonoran desert,

long before the appearance of Europeans.

Yaqui tribes occupied present-day Arizona and

Sonora, northern Mexico. Their first European

contact was the Spaniard Diego de Guzmán in

1533 and later the Jesuit missionaries, who ar-

rived in 1617 and brought profound changes in

community organization and belief systems.

Yaqui folk literature contains mythical histories of

the region prior to Spanish influence, describing

the spirits thought to inhabit the land and the

magic powers sometimes possessed by animals.

These myths were part of the cycle of religious

ritual and belief practiced by the Yaqui prior to

the Jesuit missionaries, which the deer songs

record and celebrate.

Aside from their agriculture, the Yaqui de-

pended on deer as a food source. Dancing and

songs were performed prior to the hunt to ensure

success. The Yaqui deer songs reflect a worldview

where all parts of the huya ania, the “wilderness

world,” live in an integrated community. Birds and

insects, plants and animals, even the rocks and

springs of the desert are intimately connected. The

language of the deer songs, called bwika noki, or

“song talk,” is the language of this carefully inter-

connected, beautifully balanced community.

While the deer singers may know as many as

300 songs, at any given performance they will per-

form only a fraction of these. The first songs set the

stage or purify the space in which the dance will

be performed. A formal speech and often a pro-

cession follow, and then the musicians perform a

sequence of songs. Usually the instruments include

a violin, a harp, a flute, and drums, and songs may

be repeated several times. The sequences are de-

signed to symbolize the elapse of night and the

coming of morning, which parallel the symbolic

preparation, hunting, and killing of the deer. These

lines from “The Fawn Will Not Make Flowers,”

translated by Evers and Molina in Yaqui Deer Songs,

are part of an alva bwikam, a morning service song:

This flower-covered dawn world rises up

brightly,

here where they divide

the enchanted earth with light.

The last songs of the cycle typically celebrate the

roasting and eating of the deer, whose body is sym-

bolized again with the imagery of flowers, as in

these lines:

My enchanted flower body,

fire, above the fire,

side by side is hung.

The rhythmic repetition of sounds, lines, and

songs, and the images of death paired with the im-

ages of dawn and rebirth, give to the performance a

mythic quality that parallels the natural cycle in

which the Yaqui people lived their lives for centuries.

The Yaqui deer song is a living tradition that

continues to this day. While performances of the

deer songs are no longer connected to the hunt,

they serve as more than a means of entertainment.

The context in which the deer song is performed is

vital to its enjoyment; the smoke from the fires, the

chatter of the audience, the antics of the masked

clown, and the noise of the dancers all complement

the poetry of the songs. Moreover, the perform-

ances offer a way to celebrate, forge community

bonds, and preserve an ancient cultural heritage.

English Versions of Yaqui Deer Songs

Endrezze, Anita. Throwing Fire at the Sun, Water at

the Moon. Tucson: University of Arizona Press,

2000.

336 Yaqui deer songs

Evers, Larry and Felipe S. Molina. Yaqui Deer Songs,

Maso Bwikam: A Native American Poetry Sun

Tracks. Tucson: University of Arizona Press,

1987.

Padilla, Stan. Deer Dance: Yaqui Legends of Life. Lin-

coln, Neb.: Book Publishing Company, 1998.

Works about Yaqui Deer Songs

Painter, Muriel Thayer. With Good Heart: Yaqui Beliefs

and Ceremonies in Pascua Village. Edited by Ed-

ward Spicer and Wilma Kaemlein. Tucson: Uni-

versity of Arizona Press, 1986.

Savala, Refugio. The Autobiography of a Yaqui Poet.

Edited by Kathleen M. Sands. Tucson: University

of Arizona Press, 1980.

Spicer, Edward H. The Yaquis: A Cultural History.

Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1980.

Yoshida Kenk¯o (1283–1352) poet, essayist

Yoshida Kenk¯o was born into a family of Japanese

Shinto priests around the year 1283. He distin-

guished himself at a young age through his liter-

ary abilities and served in the Japanese court under

the emperor Go-Uda. While his early poetry is tra-

ditional and conservative, he was regarded as a fine

poet during his lifetime.

In 1324, Yoshida became a Buddhist priest. His

most famous work, Tsurezuregusa (Essays in Idle-

ness, 1330), a series of 243 short chapters or essays,

reflects the Buddhist view of the world, especially

the transience of all things and the cycle of life,

growth, death, and rebirth. The essays are unified

by Yoshida’s belief that the world and everything in

it was steadily declining, but this was not a negative

view. As Yoshida says in “Essay 7,” “If man were

never to fade away...but lingered on forever in

the world, how things would lose their power to

move us.”

While Essays in Idleness was not widely read

during Yoshida’s lifetime, it has become a standard

work in Japanese education. It has also posthu-

mously established Yoshida’s reputation as an in-

sightful and gifted essayist.

English Versions of Works by

Yoshida Kenk¯o

Essays in Idleness. Translated by Donald Keene. New

York: Columbia University Press, 1967.

Miscellany of a Japanese Priest. Translated by William

H. Porter. Rutland, Vt.: Charles E. Tuttle Co., 1973.

A Work about Yoshida Kenk¯o

Chance, Linda H. Formless in Form: Kenko, Tsurezure-

gusa and the Rhetoric of Japanese Fragmentary

Prose. Palo Alto, Calif.: Stanford University Press,

1997.

Yu Xin (Yü Hsin) (513–581) poet

Yu Xin was born in Chiang-ling, China, in 513. His

father, Yu Jianwu, worked directly for two sons of

the Liang dynasty’s Emperor Wu and was able to

provide Yu Xin with an excellent education; it is

likely that some studies were at the Imperial Li-

brary. When he was 14, Yu Xin also attended

classes taught by one of Emperor Wu’s sons.

After Yu Xin passed the governmental examina-

tions, he began a career in the imperial service. He

spent most of his early career working for one of the

Wu princes, Xiao Gang, in the Liang dynasty capital,

Jiankang (Chien-k’ang; modern-day Nanjing

[Nanking]). In 548, after a series of political and

military miscalculations by Emperor Wu, Jiankang

was attacked and conquered, and Yu Xin was forced

to flee the city.

Despite the political turmoil that continued for

years, Yu Xin remained affiliated with the Liang

dynasty. In 554, he was sent as an ambassador to

Chang’an, the capital of the Western Wei dynasty

in the North, with the purpose of preventing an in-

vasion of Liang territory. While there, he was held

under house arrest for three years and not allowed

to return to southern China for the rest of his life.

Despite this, Yu Xin was well respected by the

Western Wei and had numerous honorary titles

bestowed upon him. He was recognized as the

greatest poet of his century and treated as a cul-

tural icon.

Yu Xin 337

One of Yu Xin’s most famous works is “The

Lament for the South,” which was written (ca. 578

A.D.) during his time in Chang’an, where he held

mostly symbolic posts while devoting his life to

writing. He helped compose the Zhou (Chou) rit-

ual hymns and was the author of the congratula-

tory memorial on their completion. The “Lament

for the South,” a long rhapsodic poem, or fu, pro-

vides a historical commentary on the wars and po-

litical upheavals of the Liang dynasty. The work

also expresses Yu’s sorrow in the North and his wish

to return to his native region. In relating the events

of a decade ending with the fall of the Liang dy-

nasty, Yu’s poem is brimming with historical allu-

sions. His own homesickness while in exile in the

North, however, permeates the final verses of the

lament:

As an honored guest . . .

I see bells and cauldrons . . .

I hear servings and song . . .

But how can they know that . . .

Among the commoners of Hsien—

Yang, not only the prince

Longs for home.

An English Version of a Work by Yu Xin

“The Lament for the South”: Yü Hsin’s “Ai Chiang-nan

Fu.” Edited and translated by William T. Graham,

Jr. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press,

1980.

338 Yu Xin

339



Zen parables (Buddha parables)

(ca. 528 B.C.) fiction

Zen Buddhism is a Buddhist school of thought

that originated in India and came to China during

the Tang dynasty (618–906) and Japan in 1191.

The nature of Zen Buddhism is purposely illogical,

because satori, a state of total understanding, can-

not be achieved through traditional meditative

methods. Understanding requires viewing the

world through a “third eye.”

Zen masters helped their students along the

path to satori through the use of parables and

koan, short dialogues or statements meant to en-

gage the students’ thinking. In one of the most fa-

mous koan, the Zen master Hakuin asks his

students to hear the sound of one hand clapping.

The question is designed to get the students to stop

thinking in a traditional logical sense and to start

reordering their thoughts based on their inner ex-

periences. Zen parables work in the same fashion.

Parables are allegorical stories that help teach a

moral lesson. However, unlike the famous parables

of Jesus in the New Testament, Zen parables are

often paradoxical, and despite their use as educa-

tional tools, they rarely explicitly define a moral;

rather, they hint at possible ways of viewing situa-

tions. For example, in one parable, a student asks

his teacher, “What is enlightenment?” The teacher

replies, “When hungry, eat. When tired, sleep.”

Such a response might lead the student to learn or

“see”that much of what we do is based on survival,

yet there might also be 100 other interpretations of

the teacher’s response. In this way, Zen parables

lead toward “enlightenment” by allowing students

or listeners to interpret the parables as their con-

scious or subconscious leads them.

Zen Buddhism has influenced such prominent

figures as Australian philosopher Ludwig Wittgen-

stein (1889–1951); German philosopher Martin

Heidegger (1889–1976); and the poets Gary Snyder

(1930– ), Jean-Louis (Jack) Kerouac (1922–69),

and Allen Ginsberg (1926–97). The effect of Zen

still lingers. Not only have the parables and Zen

meditative thought influenced every aspect of an-

cient and medieval Japanese society, they also con-

tinue to influence many aspects of modern world

culture around the globe.

English Versions of Zen Parables

100 Parables of Zen. Translated by Joyce Lim. Singa-

pore: Asiapac Books, 1997.

Wada, Stephanie, with translations by Gen. P.

Sakamoto.The Oxherder: A Zen Parable Illustrated.

New York: George Braziller, 2002.

Works about Zen Parables

Freke, Timothy. Zen Made Easy: An Introduction to

the Basics of the Ancient Art of Zen. New York: Ster-

ling Publishing, 1999.

McRae, John R. Seeing through Zen: Encounter, Trans-

formation, and Genealogy in Chinese Chan Bud-

dhism. Berkeley: University of California Press,

2004.

Sudo, Philip Toshio. Zen 24/7: All Zen, All the Time.

San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2001.

Wu, John C. H. The Golden Age of Zen: Zen Masters

of the T’ang Dynasty. Bloomington, Ind.: World

Wisdom, 2003.

Zhang Heng (Chang Heng) (78–139)

poet, scientist, mathematician

Zhang Heng was born in Henan (Honan), China.

He was sent to the capital, Loyang, to receive his

education in Confucian philosophy. Zhang Heng

showed an early aptitude for literary pursuits and

achieved fame for his poetry in his 20s. His work

To Live in Seclusion is considered a masterpiece of

the late Han dynasty, and his poem “Rhapsody on

contemplating the Mystery” is a good example of

fu, rhapsodic poetry.

While most educated young men in China at

the time sought to obtain government posts,

Zhang Heng spent many years learning mathemat-

ics and astronomy instead. His accomplishments

in these fields are extremely noteworthy and rival

his literary fame. He was able to create an accurate

chart of the stars, which assisted in keeping the im-

perial calendar accurate. He also invented a rudi-

mentary flying machine, which was able to leave

the ground, though only for a few moments. In

132, he invented the first seismograph, which

traced the direction of earthquakes and their seis-

mic waves. The device could detect shocks from

earthquakes across China days before the reports

filtered in from the site of the earthquake.

It was only later in his life that Zhang Heng held

a series of important government positions in the

capital and outlying regions, beginning in 116 and

continuing until his death. He is remembered for

his literary talents, his abilities in mathematics, and

his strong moral code.

Works about Zhang Heng

Hughes, E. R. Two Chinese Poets: Vignettes on Han

Life and Thought. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood

Press, 1977.

Tong, Xiao, ed. Wen xuan, or Selections of Refined Lit-

erature: Volume Three: Rhapsodies on Natural Phe-

nomena, Birds and Animals, Aspirations and

Feelings, Sorrowful Laments, Literature, Music, and

Passions. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University

Press, 1996.

Zuni narrative poetry Native American

folklore

The Zuni tribe, inhabiting a region of west-central

New Mexico before European contact, preserved

their religion, history, and cultural practices in a

lively and textured tradition of verse narrative. Like

other traditions of ORAL LITERATURE, Zuni stories

are anonymous in origin and were meant to be per-

formed. They were remembered and retold in Shi-

wi’ma, the Zuni language. Storytellers frequently

acted out the dialogue and other conversations

within the story, requiring inventive techniques to

represent a range of voices. Changes in volume,

pitch, and rhythm were used to give emphasis. The

tale-teller might use pauses or silence to punctuate

a line; at other times he or she might chant or burst

into song.

Zuni tales, because of their twining nature, were

associated with snakes. Telling a tale out in the open

might attract the “smile of a snake” (snakebite).

Therefore, tales were reserved for the cold winter

months, after the meeting of the medicine society

sent all the snakes, especially the rattlesnakes, into

their homes under the ground. Since no one

wanted to speed along the brief bit of light avail-

able during the winter day, tale-telling took place

after dark, to help fill the long evenings. Someone

in the audience would address the storyteller with

“telaapi,” meaning “take out a tale.” The storyteller

would respond with “so’nahchi!,” something to the

340 Zhang Heng