- Kunlun Nu
Kunlun Nu (Zh-t|崑崙奴 - "The K’un-lun Slave" or "The Negrito Slave") was a
wuxia romance written by "P’ei Hsing" (Zh-t|裴鉶) (c. 880) during theTang Dynasty . The Hero of the tale is aNegrito slave that uses his supernatural physical abilities to save his master's lover from theharem of a court official.Plot
It takes place during the "Ta-li" reign era (766-80) of Emperor Daizong and follows the tale of a young man named "Ts’ui" who enlists the aide of "Mo-lê", [Prof. Liu states "This is the modern pronunciation. The T’ang pronounciaton was something like 'Mua-lak' and is said to have been taken from Arabic." (Liu 1967: 88).] his negrito slave, to help free his beloved who was forced to join the
harem of a court official. At midnight, Mo-lê kills the guard dogs around the compound and carries Ts’ui on his back while easily jumping to the tops of walls and bounding from roof to roof. With the lovers reunited, Mo-lê leaps over ten tall walls with both of them on his back. Ts’ui and his beloved are able to live happily together in peace because the official believes she was kidnapped by knights-errant and did not want to make trouble for himself by pursuing them. However, two years later, one of the official’s attendants sees the girl in the city and reports this. The official arrests Ts’ui and, once he hears the entire story, sends men to capture the negrito slave. But Mo-lê escapes with his dagger (apparently his only possession) and flies over the city walls to escape apprehension. He is seen over ten years later selling medicine in the city, not having aged a single day.Liu, James J.Y. "The Chinese Knight Errant." London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1967 (ISBN 0-2264-8688-5)]Taoist influence
Mo-lê’s gravity defying abilities and agelessness suggests the fictional character is a practitioner of esoteric life-prolonging exercises akin to
Chinese immortal s. According to a tale attributed to the Taoist adeptGe Hong , some hunters in the Zhongnan Mountains saw a naked man whose body was covered in black hair. Whenever they tried to capture him he “leapt over gullies and valleys as if in flight, and so could not be overtaken."Campany, Robert Ford. "To Live As Long As Heaven and Earth: Ge Hong’s Traditions of Divine Transcendents". Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002 (ISBN 0-520-23034-5)] After finally ambushing the man, the hunters learned it was in fact a 200 plus year old woman who had learned the arts of immortality from an old man in the forest. Still, it was popular in folktales for immortals to sell medicine in the city, just like Mo-lê does. Thehagiography of the immortal "Hu Gong" (Sire Gourd) says he sold medicine in the market place during the day and slept in a magic gourd hanging in his stall at night.Other media
Film
*"The Promise" (2005). This is a very loose film adaptation of The K’un-lun Slave. Instead of being called Mo-lê, the slave is simply called “Kun-lun” and he is portrayed by Korean actor
Jang Dong-gun . [ [http://www.hollywoodjesus.com/movieDetail.cfm/i/20DBC742-93F1-3D5A-C62B88F8785059E9 The Promise movie review] ]
*"Kunlun Nu Yedao Hongxiao" (Zh-s|昆仑奴夜盗红绡 - "The Kunlun Slave Steals Hung-siu by Night") (1956). [ [http://www.citwf.com/film190457.htm KUNLUN NU YEDAO HONGXIAO] ]ee also
*
Magical Negro
*Noble Savage References
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