Collection of Dimen Stories

Zhu Lang and Niang Mei

A boy named Zhu Lang fell in love with a girl named Niang Mei. The girl’s parents wanted her to marry a relative however. The boy and the girl ran away to another village and settled there. A rich man from that village fell in love with the girl at first sight and wanted her very badly. No matter how much the rich man tried to tempt her, she still loved Zhu Lang and resisted the man’s advances. Eventually, he came up with an evil plan. He organized a hunting competition in the mountains in which only men were allowed to participate. During the hunt, he killed the boy by tricking him to eat a piece of meat off of a knife and stabbing him with it. He ordered everyone to keep silent about it. The girl waited for three days after all men returned back from the mountain. She eventually figured that the evil man killed her husband. After calming herself down, she decided to take revenge. She announced that she would marry whomever would help her burry her husband’s body. The wealthy man was overjoyed when he heard the news. He went with the girl and worked hard at digging the grave. When he was about done and the hole was very deep, Niang Mei snuck from the back and hit the back of his head with an axe. The rich man died on the spot and Niang Mei buried him in the grave he dug for himself.

The Dragon at the Tang Gung Temple in Dimen
The emperor of China once came to Guizhou and wanted to visit Dimen. When he was getting close, he asked someone where Dimen was. That person lied and told him that he would wear out nine pairs of shoes before arriving to Dimen. Emperor therefore turned around and went back home. Many years later the emperor died and his spirit finally traveled to Dimen and found out it was indeed very close. He visited Dimen people in their dreams and told them to build him a temple. He then transformed into a dragon and lived in the temple. Ever since then, this dragon protects Dimen. Once the mountain people wanted to attack Dimen and kill its people. All the neighboring villages fell and were killed. The Dimen people heard of the killers coming and they hid indoors shaking with fear. However when the mountain people tried to attack Dimen, they saw thousands of soldiers and ran away. The Dragon protected Dimen by sending his otherworld army.

A Story of Beauty, Lust and Sibling Rivalry
There were two brothers and a sister: Liu Jin, Liu Er and Liu Mei. Their father died. Because the two brothers were lazy, all the family business was taken care of by the Liu Mei who was very beautiful. A fortuneteller saw her and wanted her for himself. He asked her to draw him water from a well and caught her hand as she was giving him the cup. She got mad and fought with him. He cursed her saying that she would never marry anyone but him. In casse she did marry someone else, her life would be miserable. He told her brothers that the family is poor because of the girl. The brothers believed the fortuneteller. One day the brothers worked in the fields. Liu Mei brought them their lunch. They told her that their mother needed some wild fruit to stimulate her appetite and asked Liu Mei to pick some wild cherries that grew on top of a steep cliff. When she could not reach the cherries, they offered to hold her hand. When she tried to reach for the cherries, the brothers let go of her hand and she fell down the cliff. Liu Jin and Liu Er then went back home and told their mother that a tiger ate their sister. Liu Mei’s mother cried her eyes out with sorrow. In the meantime, thirty-eight-years-old hunter named Ming Sui found Liu Mei and saved her. They got married and had two children. They went back to visit Liu Mei’s mother and told her about what the brothers did to her. The village folk took revenge on the fortuneteller and plucked his eyeballs out.