The Butterfly Lovers, is a tragic love story that originated all the way in China, during the East Jin Dynasty. The heroine, Yingtai, is the ninth child of the aristocratic Zhu family and is the only daughter. Although only boys and men were allowed to take lessons and go to school, it did not stop the sixteen year old girl from having a great desire to learn and read and write. And so, her parents eventually let her go to the Confucius Academy that is all the way in Hangzhou, 18 miles away from her home in Shangyu in Zhejiang Province.
Whilst traveling those eighteen miles, she then stumbled upon a boy that is a year older than her. He was handsome and tall and a sweetheart. They felt like old friends at the first meeting and had a happy time studying together. It had been that way for nearly three years. But while they studied and tested and read, Yingtai wanted to hint to Shanbo that she was really a girl in disguise. But Shanbo, sometimes dubbed as a bookworm by his classmates, never caught on and still thought he was an actual boy. But the schoolmaster’s wife had noticed that Yingtai was a girl. Yingtai begged for the schoolmaster’s wife to not say anything into it, in which the women agreed and took care of her.
And then, it was while Yingtai and Shanbo were in their third year in school together when a letter had arrived at the Confucius Academy. It was from Yingtai’s father, urging the girl to come home as soon as possible. Shanbo heard the news from Yingtai herself, and the two were then forced to say goodbye, as opposed to being the best of friends.
They did not speak to each other for the 18 mile journey home. But, at the gates of the Zhu household, Yingtai said to Shanbo that her disguise had a twin sister and that he could be married to her. Delighted, Shanbo agreed and they parted.
But her plan had unfortunately backfired and a young, but cold, handsome man appeared out of nowhere in the house. Yingtai alerted her father about the man, but instead, he said, “My daughter! Allow me to introduce you to your future husband! Ma Wencai!” Wencai was a wealthy business man that had been friends with the Zhu family for many years. But Yingtai did not agree with this and said: “Father, I appreciate what you do as a father. But I have my opinions. My father, I have met someone else. And his name is Liang Shanbo!”
But Yingtai’s mother scoffed and Yingtai’s father then frowned. “A lady must never chase someone outside our class. You may marry a prince, an aristocrat, a rich man, for all we care! But never a lowly and incompetent peasant!” Yingtai burst into tears as her mother shouted between her ears. Her father felt her sympathy, but all he could do was watch the two women in his life fight and argue.
Shanbo arrived only two days later and Yingtai was delighted. But she was also sad. He was sitting outside the gardens of the house, when a woman Yingtai’s age gracefully entered the scene. Shanbo noticed the tears in Yingtai’s eyes, and quickly assumed correctly that it was Yingtai herself! He asked if something was wrong. Yingtai forcefully nodded her head. “My father has arranged a marriage! It is about to take place!” Shanbo then stood frozen. “I thought you loved me?!” he asked, tearfully. “O, but I do! But I must obey what my family tells me to do! If I don’t, I will be punished with blood, with no sweat, and only tears!” Yingtai and Shanbo cried in each other’s arms, and later parted, while they were still in tears.
Even if they did part, they did not find it in themselves to forget about each other. Everyday, all they could do was think about how much they loved each other. Little did they know that one of them would actually die from their depression. It was the early morning of Yingtai and Wencai’s marriage, when a letter from the schoolmaster’s wife arrived at the Zhu household. One of the maids that read the letter informed Yingtai that Shanbo had died from an accident. But Yingtai did not believe it. She then snatched the letter from her father’s study/bedroom. It read that Shanbo had actually starved himself to his death! Yingtai clutched her hands inside the paper and cried hard and loud for the whole house to hear.
It was then time for the wedding. But Yingtai did not bother to show a smile. She thought of Shanbo’s spirit right beside her, holding her hand for comfort. But it was just no use. As of Yingtai’s request, the wedding was carried out at the grave of Liang Shanbo. The wedding procession went on for many hours. The skies grew stormy. And then…it began to rain. And Yingtai did the unthinkable.
She took off her red wedding dress and revealed a lace and shining white undergarment. She knelt right in front of the tombstone that had Shanbo’s name written on it and wailed to her heart’s content, begging and pleading for the grave to open, so that she could join Shanbo as punishment for her family. After a few more minutes of tears and screams, a lightning bolt suddenly appeared and fractured the stone in two, with a crack. Yingtai began to hallucinate and thought she saw the spirited figure of Shanbo with his hands open, urging Yingtai to join him as she wished. Without any hesitation at all, Yingtai ran to the supposed figure and ran to the grave, thinking that she was going to be in Shanbo’s arms for all eternity. But then, Yingtai’s body sank. The wedding party struggled to pull her out of the grave. But it was too late.
Both Ma and Zhu families assumed this was the punishment that Yingtai had mentioned. As they mourned the loss of both of the children, Wencai said: “Anon, good company! Over there!” Wencai pointed everyone to the shattered tombstone and out came two butterflies that were colored in Magenta and Aquamarine. The wedding company had figured that they had been punished but also forgiven by the heavens, and thanked them for turning their spirits into butterflies.
Every now and then, they would plant the flowers that had circled the grave. And every spring, the two butterflies would dance in a circle around them, as if they were spreading their powerful love to their families. It was while it was at the end of Spring that the voice of Yingtai had said, “Wǒ ài nǐmen (I love you all!)!”