Vince's image of the paper talismans reminded me of a story I read recently. It comes from the memoirs of an American in Peking just after the turn of the century (1900s). After reading it I thought this is great material for a fairy tale and I'd like to work something like this into my vision. It concerns the Tai Ping Rebellion for those interested.
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"I remember just after going to China, sitting one
evening on a kang, or brick bed, with Yin-ma, an old nurse, our
only light being a wick floating in a dish of oil. Yin-ma was
about the age of the Empress Dowager, but, unlike Her Majesty,
her locks were snow-white. When I entered the dimly lighted room
she was sitting in the midst of a group of women and
girls--patients in the hospital--who listened with bated breath
as she told them of the horrors of the Tai-ping rebellion.
" 'Why!' said the old nurse, 'all that the rebels had to do on
their way to Peking, was to cut out as many paper soldiers as
they wanted, put them in boxes, and breathe upon them when they
met the imperial troops, and they were transformed into such
fierce warriors that no one was able to withstand them. Then when
the battle was over and they had come off victors they only
needed to breathe upon them again, when they were changed into
paper images and packed in their boxes, requiring neither food
nor clothing. Indeed the spirits of the rebels were everywhere,
and no matter who cut out paper troops they could change them
into real soldiers.'
" 'But, Yin-ma, you do not believe those superstitions, do you?'
" 'These are not superstitions, doctor, these are facts, which
everybody believed in those days, and it was not safe for a woman
to be seen with scissors and paper, lest her neighbours report
that she was cutting out troops for the rebels. The country was
filled with all kinds of rumours, and every one had to be very
careful of all their conduct, and of everything they said, lest
they be arrested for sympathizing with the enemy.'
" 'But, Yin-ma, did you ever see any of these paper images
transformed into soldiers?'
" 'No, I never did myself, but there was an old woman lived near
our place, who was said to be in sympathy with the rebels. One
night my father saw soldiers going into her house and when he had
followed them he could find nothing but paper images. You may not
have anything of this kind happen in America, but very many
people saw them in those terrible days of pillage and bloodshed
here.' "
