What are the flower language and legends of the white magnolia?
A Tang Dynasty poet praised it: “Gazing at the white magnolia morning and evening, even in old age one finds springtime.” If you admire the magnolia every day and breathe its rich fragrance, you can keep a young heart, hold onto the years, and remain forever youthful. The white magnolia is deeply loved by consumers for its special effects in beauty care, bathing, cuisine, and medicine. Now let us take a look together at the flower language and legends of the white magnolia!
What is the flower language of the magnolia?
Pure love, sincerity, gratitude.
What does giving a white magnolia mean
The magnolia represents gratitude. The magnolia often blooms with large white flowers amid lush greenery, and its rich fragrance gives people an indescribable air of elegance, truly fresh and lovely. Because its plant is tall and its flowers bloom high up, it sways in the wind with a spirited grace, like a heavenly maiden scattering flowers, very endearing. The new poem is already old and unbearable to hear, the desolate Jiangnan hostel separated by autumn clouds. Ever passionate, unchanging in color year after year, its timeless fragrant heart is offered to you.
The legend of the white magnolia
It is said that long ago, at the foot of Mount Emei, there was a poor unfortunate boy surnamed Li who made a living by picking up dog dung. He was born ugly, and people all called him Li Gou'er. When Gou'er grew to seventeen or eighteen, he saw that many young men in the village had married and started families, and he envied them greatly, hoping that he too would have such a day.
One year, Li Gou'er heard that many young people in the village had gone into the mountains to gather orchids and sell them, making a fortune. He itched to do the same, wanting to go into the mountains to gather orchids and sell them so as to save up silver and marry and start a family.
One day, Li Gou'er followed the villagers into the mountains to gather orchids. He found no orchids, but got separated from the others alone. He came to the foot of a cliff, hungry and thirsty, and sat down leaning against the rock wall. Thinking of his own miserable fate, he felt resentful and unjustly treated, and could not help but pound the rock wall with his fist. To his surprise, with a “creak,” the rock wall suddenly vanished, and he saw drifting clouds rolling and then spreading, and in an instant a wondrous world appeared. Li Gou'er craned his neck to look: inside there were sun, moon, and stars in the sky, and plants, trees, flowers, and birds on the ground. Nearby there was a lawn, and on it were all the orchids he wanted to gather. These orchids were green as if dyed, blooming with all kinds of orchids, giving off waves of delicate fragrance that stirred the heart.
Li Gou'er was overjoyed, thinking how much money these orchids would sell for if he gathered them and brought them back. He stepped into the lawn in a few strides and saw one orchid bearing a snow-white flower, with petals like jade and several tongues in the flower center, glittering and radiant. Delighted, he hurriedly bent down to pull it. Suddenly someone patted him on the shoulder. He looked up and saw an old woman in blue smiling at him, asking him: “Li Gou'er, you want to steal my immortal herb, the white magnolia!” Li Gou'er blushed and just giggled foolishly. The old woman added: “My immortal herb is a priceless treasure. Take it back to the human world and plant it in fertile soil, and after three days it will grant you one wish. The secret is to think of what you need in your heart and smell the white magnolia with your nose.” After saying this, the old woman disappeared.
Li Gou'er had met an immortal and was very happy. As soon as he bent down and pulled up that white magnolia, he heard a burst of music, the fairyland vanished, and he found himself standing in his own courtyard, holding that white magnolia with its pungent delicate fragrance.
As the immortal had instructed, he planted this orchid in the fertile soil of the courtyard. Three days later, this wondrous immortal herb came to life, and the beautiful white magnolia quietly gave off fragrance, filling the courtyard with scent. Li Gou'er thought excitedly: my greatest wish is to have a wife. But what kind should she be? A beautiful one would not match him, and an ugly one would be hard to look at. Ah, just take one of ordinary looks, a bit big, as long as she has strength to work.
Having made up his mind, he squatted beside the white magnolia, thought of a big woman in his heart, and smelled the white magnolia with his nose. Suddenly he saw the white magnolia flash and turn into a mass of white mist. The white mist dispersed, and indeed a woman appeared. This woman was tall and strong, broad-shouldered and round-waisted, looking very sturdy. She smiled and said to him: “My name is Bai Lanhua, and I am willing to spend my life with my husband.”
Li Gou'er was so happy he could not close his mouth. Holding her hand, he said: “Gou'er may be a bit ugly, but he is diligent; poor as he is, he knows how to cherish a woman.”……
After that, Li Gou'er truly cherished his wife. At home he vied to do the work every day, and when he went out to pick up dog dung he worked harder than before. His wife's looks were not much, but her heart was very kind, and she was very considerate of him. She said that picking up dog dung was both dirty and tiring, and no longer let him do that trade. Li Gou'er said that if he did not pick up dog dung he had no way to make a living. His wife laughed and said that this was no problem. She pointed her hand into the air, and shining white silver appeared on the table, piled up like a small mountain. Li Gou'er had never seen so much silver and danced with joy.
Bai Lanhua was very capable. She hired people to tear down the shabby house and build a new one; she had Gou'er take off his ragged cloth shirt and change into a handsome mandarin jacket; she said Gou'er was weak, so every day she cooked many delicacies from mountains and seas to nourish his body.
Under his wife's careful care, Li Gou'er soon became strong, and he also became younger and more handsome. He began to feel a little smug, and his eyes began to steal glances at the young women in the village. Somehow, the more he looked at the young women in the village, the more beautiful he found them, and the uglier his own wife seemed. He regretted it, thinking: at the beginning I should have wished for the most beautiful woman. He felt wronged, and gradually began to look down on his wife.
Li Gou'er grew fat and lazy, did not want to do the work at home, idled about all day, often frequented gambling houses and brothels, became corrupt and degenerate, and spent money like water.
When Bai Lanhua saw that he had changed his heart, she was very sad. She urged him to be an upright person. He admitted it with his mouth, but in his heart not a word could enter. He thought that since his wife was an immortal, the money would never run out, and there was no trouble he, Li Gou'er, could not handle. He still went his own way, gambling and whoring all day, doing everything without restraint.
There was no one in the area who did not know about Li Gou'er's family wealth. Seeing that he had suddenly become as rich as a god of wealth, they all found it strange and suspected that his money came from an unknown source. Someone wrote a petition and submitted it to the Emei County yamen to accuse him.
The county magistrate of Emei County was a corrupt official surnamed Zhu, named Can, who judged cases by money, not by reason. Seeing that the accused was a poor bachelor who spent money like water, he also found it strange, so he sent bailiffs to Li Gou'er's village to investigate. Upon investigation, they found that Li Gou'er had a woman of unknown origin in his home. Zhu Can hit upon a plan. He summoned Li Gou'er to the yamen, treated him to a banquet, and made him tell the origin of his wife. Li Gou'er had never seen the county magistrate before. Now that he was invited to a banquet and asked to tell the origin of his wife, he was overwhelmed by the favor. He hurriedly told the whole story of how he went into the mountains to gather orchids, how he obtained the white magnolia, and how he made the white magnolia turn into an immortal wife. When Zhu Can heard this, he was both jealous and pleasantly surprised. His eyeballs rolled and he said: “Li Gou'er, the gambling house is not as good as the official court, and a beauty is not as good as an official's hat. How about exchanging your big wife?”
“Exchange wife” - Li Gou'er hesitated, but on second thought, “being an official brings prestige, can bring honor to one's ancestors, and with power and influence one can do whatever one wants, without worrying about silver or women.” So he nodded and agreed.
When Zhu Can saw that Li Gou'er had agreed, he immediately wrote an exchange contract and had him press his fingerprint.
The next day, Li Gou'er brought Zhu Can back home. He proudly told his wife about using her to exchange for an official's hat. When Bai Lanhua saw that her husband had actually done such a wicked thing, she trembled with anger, but she still gently persuaded him, asking him to take back the contract from the county magistrate and not forget the days when he was a bachelor before. When Li Gou'er saw that she had exposed his past, he was both ashamed and angry, and cursed her as an ugly woman who wanted to cling to him for a living.
When Bai Lanhua saw that he was ungrateful and beyond saving, she glared hatefully at the county magistrate, turned back to Li Gou'er and said: “Gou'er, do not regret it!” With that, she walked straight into the bridal sedan chair.
When Li Gou'er saw that the deal was done, he hurriedly asked for Zhu Can's official hat and put it on his head. When Zhu Can saw Bai Lanhua enter the sedan chair, he hurriedly ordered the bearers to return to the yamen. At this moment, Li Gou'er suddenly discovered that the official hat on his head was made of paper. Furious at being cheated, he wanted to rush out and stop the sedan chair. Zhu Can flew into a rage and ordered the bailiffs to rush forward and give Li Gou'er a good beating, then set fire to his beautiful new house and had the bearers carry Bai Lanhua away.
Zhu Can and his party had just carried the bridal sedan chair to a mountain hollow when the sedan chair suddenly became extremely heavy, and the bearers had no choice but to stop and rest. When Zhu Can saw this, he flew into a rage. Not believing that the sedan chair could become heavier, he cursed as he walked toward it. Just as he was about to lift the sedan curtain to see what was going on, he saw the curtain suddenly shake violently, and a giant python burst out from inside, instantly frightening him out of his wits and costing him his life. Strangely enough, this python did not harm anyone else; it swayed its head and slowly slithered toward Mount Emei.
Now to speak of Li Gou'er: when he came to, he saw that the house had been burned and he had become a bachelor again, so he had no choice but to sling the dog-dung basket over his shoulder again and go back to that old trade.
Thus it is: the beauty of a flower should spread beautiful kindness throughout the world; the fragrance of a flower should spread fragrant love through society; the purity of a flower should offer a pure true heart to the ten directions; the colors of a flower should connect with others through a colorful good heart. People are not as good as flowers, and even flowers can do nothing about it.