The Monstrefact: The Nine Faces of Death

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Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio.

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Speaker 2: Hi, my name is Robert Lamb and this is the Monster Fact, a short form series from Stuff to Blow Your Mind, focusing on un mythical creatures, ideas and monsters. In time, I'd like to return once more to the world of Chinese mythology and legend. In this episode, you might remember our previous discussion of Chiseltooth, a monstrous ogre ultimately slain by the mighty archer Oh Ye. Well, today we have another unnatural creature that only Ye or another suitable hero or god was capable of slaying the Nine faces of death. It's another being detailed in the Classic of Mountains and Seas of the Shanghai Jing, which you might remember us recording an episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind about, and as Shooting Need describes in the excellent book Chinese Myths, the entity's name Jiu Ying or nine Infants doesn't quite convey the true monstrosity of the creature, because this creature does present you with the heads of nine infants, but these heads are attached to a monstrous green or black serpentine body. Each head inflicts one of the nine pains, burning, corroding, freezing, drowning, blinding, poisoning, violence, destruction, and cruelty. The anbural translation of the Shanghaijing translates the monster's name as aid Willem. It is also known as sheng Lu. This is the name astronomers give the only known moon of the dwarf planet twenty two five eight eight Gongong, itself named for the Chinese water god. Fort Is said that Chu Ying was once a minister of the water god, but has left to fend for itself after Gongong's defeat and divine battle. And so the nine headed monster roamed the earth, feeding with its nine heads from the nine mountains, leaving toxic swamps, gorgeous famine, and devastation in its wake. It helped bring about the Great Flood, and neither Heaven nor Hell would permit the creature's entry, according to n and so it was left to the mighty archer Ye to slay the creature. In the Handbook of Chinese Mythology by Yang at All, the authors attribute the monster's slaying, at least in some versions, to You the Great, the legendary ruler and tamer of floods. After its slaying, the monster's foul blood is said to have corrupted the very earth that it spilled upon, and so you dug out the soil three times and built a terrace for the gods on Kunlun Mountain out of the excavations. The authors here add that some orally transmitted versions of the tale hold that the monster survived as more of a nine headed dragon, only to ultimately meet its death at the hands of the creator. God es new why whoever it's slayter, it is clear that the nine phases of death are no match for bravery, ingenuity, and creative power. Tune in for additional episodes of The Monster Fact each week. As always, you can email us at contact at stuff to Blow Your Mind dot.

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Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.