Hou Yi and Chang’e

Having shot down the nine suns, Hou Yi brought home the elixir the Queen Mother of the West had granted, gave the packet to Chang’e to hide, and went out hunting with his disciples as before. His disciple Feng Meng, learning that the elixir could lift a person into heaven, broke into the inner room with a sword while Hou Yi was away and demanded it.

Chang’e backed to the window and swallowed the whole dose; a moment later her sash lifted and her body rose past the eaves into the night sky. Unwilling to go far from the human world, she stopped at the nearest thing to the earth, the moon, and moved into the Guanghan Palace.

When Hou Yi came back there was nothing in the courtyard but moonlight; he went after the moon, and for every step he took it drew a step further off. He could only set out in the yard the fruits Chang’e had liked and make his offering across the night.