Asia
Sometimes you have to listen to the wizard
Duke Hui of Jin (?- 637 BC), the duke of Jin during the Spring and Autumn Period of China's Zhou dynasty.
One day a wizard told him that he was going to die and won’t be able to eat this year's new wheat.
He was furious. He caught the wizard and wanted to cut off his head.
He ordered his servant to make him a bowl of rice out of this year’s fresh wheat and wanted to eat it in the wizard’s presence.
Before he ate the rice, he suddenly felt a pain in his stomach and went to the toilet.
He fell to his death in the cesspool, without eating the fresh wheat.
Drink the vinegar = Be jealous
In Chinese, being jealous can be directly translated into “drink the vinegar”. It started with a story between Emperor Taizong of Tang and one of his most loyal countries,Fang Xuanling.
The Emperor heard that Mrs. Fang wouldn’t let her husband have any concubine, so he endowed Fang with many concubines and made the order that if Mrs. Fang doesn’t accept them, she would have to take the poison that the Emperor endowed and kill herself with it.
The edict came with the girls and a bowl of poison, and Mrs. Fang chose the poison. She drank off the liquid in the bowl and found out that it was a bowl of vinegar.
The Emperor was then aware of her determination and never forced Fang to take concubines again.
Giraffe ? Kylin ?
Zheng He (1371 – 1433 or 1435), the famous Chinese mariner, explorer during China's early Ming dynasty.
Zheng commanded expeditionary treasure voyages to Southeast Asia, South Asia, West Asia, and East Africa from 1405 to 1433.
Zheng and his fleet saw the giraffe for the first time in Africa; they brought the pet giraffe of the Sultan of Bengal all the way to China in the thirteenth year of Yongle (1415) and assumed it was Kylin (one of the legendary mascots in ancient China)
The Curse of Thailand's Royal Family
King Taksin the Great was the only king of the Thonburi Kingdom.
He was taken in a coup d'état and executed, and succeeded by his long-time friend Maha Ksatriyaseuk ( Rama I) , who then assumed the throne, founding the Rattanakosin Kingdom and the Chakri dynasty, which has since ruled Thailand.
According to folklore, King Taksin put a curse on Rama Ⅰ and his dynasty. The curse goes:“The one who takes my throne, his kingdom will fall after ten generations. ”
The current King of Thailand is Rama X.
