The Story of Silk
A Festival Day
— I can't wait, Grandpa! — I'm glad you are. Come on, let's go to the front! — Yay!
Magnificent, isn't it?
— Yes! — Oh! Look, who is that, Grandpa? — That's Empress Leizu, the mother of the silkworm. — The mother of the silkworm? — Yes. Thanks to her, the world learned about silk. I'll tell you about her when the festival is over. — No! I want to know now! How can I enjoy the grandeur of the festival if I don't know anything about the one it's dedicated to? — Ha ha ha! You're right there. All right, I'll tell you.
Leizu, the Kind Girl from Shiling
You see, once upon a time, right here in the land of China, lived Empress Leizu. She was the wife of the great Yellow Emperor, and she was both beautiful and clever.
But Leizu wasn't always an empress. She had been a kind girl living in Shiling, in southwest China. Young Leizu's parents were very ill, and she took care of them, bringing them water and wild fruits from outside.
— Here's some water, Father! — Oh, we're lucky to have a daughter like you, Leizu. You work all day to... — Father, don't worry. It's my duty as a child. Now, I'll quickly prepare dinner.
And so, the days always passed the same way. Leizu would wake up early in the morning and go into the forest to look for fruits and edible seeds.
Tears Under the Mulberry Tree
One day, after walking for hours searching for fruits, Leizu sat under a mulberry tree and began to cry bitterly, for she couldn't find any food anywhere and worried that her parents would starve.
— Oh! What am I going to do? I have no food to take back. Mother and Father must be starving.
Her crying was so sad and heartbreaking that a fairy, who was sitting on a branch transformed into a bird, was touched. With her magic, she dropped some mulberry leaves onto the ground.
Leizu didn't notice the leaves right away and continued to cry. Then the bird came down to the ground and began to peck at a mulberry leaf with its beak.
When she saw the bird eating the leaves, Leizu also took a mulberry leaf and began to chew it hesitantly, finding that it was both sweet and bitter.
— Oh! It's not so bad after all!
Happy that the leaf was edible, she gathered a few for her parents and went home.
An Unexpected Meeting
When she arrived home, she saw something terrible.
— Oh! No! Father! Mother!
Leizu's parents were gone. The poor girl was alone now.
Days passed, and Leizu constantly sat, comforting her sorrow in the shade of the mulberry tree.
One afternoon, as she sat under the tree, talking to the bird about her purpose in life, she suddenly heard a sound drawing closer and closer.
— Water! Water! — It's the King! Oh dear! It seems he's fainted from thirst and exhaustion!
King Shiling's horse stopped next to the large mulberry tree, and the King fell to the ground.
— Water! Water!
Leizu quickly ran home and returned after a while with a pitcher of water, helping the thirsty King to drink.
— He must recover immediately. Stay calm! Oh, why am I talking to you? You're a horse! I'll leave the pitcher here. Tell him to drink more when he wakes up. Ah! I can't tell him anything. You're a horse, and I'm still talking to you. Well, goodbye!
Leizu walked home with her head down, unaware that she was being secretly followed by the horse.
She left the forest, then went to her house by the lake. The horse watched her from a distance, then returned to its master, who had, in the meantime, regained consciousness.
— Ah, Fusang, boy! Where have you been? And... and who left this pitcher of water here next to me? — Do you know who?
King Shiling mounted his horse and arrived at Leizu's house. Leizu, who was crying bitterly, stood up and, wiping away her tears, went to the door.
— I wonder who's knocking at my door? Oh! King Shiling! — Are you the kind person who brought me water? — Yes, Your Highness! — Interesting! You help your King and then don't wait to be rewarded? — It was my duty to help, Your Highness! — Very well. And it is my duty to reward you. Call your parents. Tell them the King has come.
Leizu's eyes welled up with tears, and her mouth puckered.
— What is it? — My parents died a few months ago. I live alone.
The King, moved by Leizu's situation, placed his hand on her head and said:
— From today, that will no longer be the case. I, King Shiling, adopt you, and you are my daughter. — Oh! Your Highness! — Call me Father. Come, let's go to the palace.
And so, young Leizu became Princess Leizu, loved and adored by all.
The Discovery of Silk
Princess Leizu grew up and became a young woman skilled in archery and political matters. With the blessing of her father, King Shiling, she married the Yellow Emperor and became Empress Leizu. Together, they helped unite China, but that story we'll save for another time.
Let's return to the day Empress Leizu was practicing archery.
— Perfect, Empress! Practice makes perfect. Exactly! Is the tea ready? — Yes, Your Highness, it awaits you in the shade of the mulberry tree.
Empress Leizu sat down to drink her cup of tea under the mulberry tree.
— What a beautiful day it is today! — Yes, Your Highness.
Empress Leizu raised the cup to her lips, and a small, white, paste-like object fell into her cup from somewhere in the branches of the mulberry tree above.
— Oh! What is this? I'll bring you another tea! Wait! I've never seen anything like this before.
Curious, Empress Leizu picked the little ball out of her tea and saw that it was strangely soft. The silky ball, soaked in tea, became even softer, and tiny threads began to emerge from it, shimmering in the sunlight. The Empress gently pulled on a thread.
— Ah! Look how it comes out! Here! Hold it and pull too!
The maid kept pulling until the thread stretched as long as the garden.
— Wow! It's magnificent! It truly is, Your Highness!
Being a curious and very clever person, Empress Leizu decided to find out the source of the object. She walked around the tree and found several cocoons fallen on the ground.
— Look! Identical objects!
Curious, she gathered more cocoons from under the tree and transformed the threads into fabric. When she finished, she saw that she had woven a very soft and shiny fabric, pleasant to the touch, and very elegant.
— It's very delicate and very elegant!
Delighted by what she had discovered, she thought of telling the Emperor, but then decided to study the subject in detail. Over the next few weeks, she examined the silk moths. She learned that a female moth lays 300 to 500 eggs at a time.
From these eggs, silkworms later emerge. Then the silkworm feeds on a huge quantity of mulberry leaves and reaches maturity in about six weeks. And then they stop eating and start raising their heads; that's when they're ready to spin their cocoon.
After studying the silkworm for several weeks, Empress Leizu realized that they eat nothing else but mulberry leaves.
Empress Leizu's Legacy
— It's time to speak with my husband.
Empress Leizu went to her husband, the Yellow Emperor, and told him what she had discovered.
— A soft thread? My dear, what are you talking about? — Oh, my! It's very soft and superb! — We can produce it here, in our country. Imagine how much our trade will grow! — You're right. And what do you want me to do?
Convinced by his wife, the Yellow Emperor created a mulberry orchard for his wife, where she domesticated the silkworm.
Soon, she invented ways to gather large quantities of silk threads, which she then wove on a loom.
Thus, silk clothes appeared, enjoying huge success on the world market. And not only that. Empress Leizu encouraged the Emperor to promote silkworm cultivation throughout the country.
China thus became a major producer of silk and flourished thanks to exports. In fact, it is said that China became the most powerful in the early years of global trade, all thanks to Empress Leizu, the kind and clever girl from the kingdom of Shiling.
— Wow! She's fantastic! — Yes. And today, China produces almost 80% of all the silk in the world. — And it all started with that afternoon tea! — Ha ha ha! Yes.
Thus, simple curiosity and dedication transformed an orphaned girl into a legendary empress, whose discovery brought prosperity and fame to her entire country, changing the course of history and global trade.
