The Origin of Dajia’s Straw Hats and Straw Mats

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Once upon a time, a single mother and her son lived together in Yuanli, Taichung. One day, after bringing the cows out to graze, the son fainted due to heatstroke. The neighbors told the mother,“You have to cover your house with fresh grass to keep the heat of sun out.”

The next day, the mother went to the river bank to cut some grass, and tied it in bundles. Then, she took an afternoon nap under a tree. When she woke up, she saw an old grandma with a wrinkled face. She wore a red top and a black skirt and a circlet of grass upon her head. She wore many necklaces around her neck that looked very special. And in the grandma’s basket there was a type of grass that the mother had never seen before. The mother said, “Excuse me, Grandma, could you please tell me where to pick this kind of grass? What is it called? And what is it used for?”The grandma replied, “To cure heatstroke.”And she crossed the river. When the mother heard that the grass could be used to cure heatstroke, she quickly asked,“Could you teach me how to use it to cure heatstroke?”But the grandma walked quickly toward the mountain, and the mother had to follow behind quickly. Finally, they arrived at a stone house covered in moss and vines.

The mother saw the grandma seated upon a pile of light golden straw weaving a straw mat. After she finished the straw mat, the grandma continued to make a straw hat. The mother asked curiously, “Can these two be used to cure heatstroke?”The grandma said, “Of course! The straw mat absorbs sweat, and is cool to sleep upon. Wearing a straw hat keeps out the sun’s heat.”The mother asked the grandma to teach her how to weave the straw, but the grandma said, “Even if you knew how to weave, I won’t give you the straw.”So, the mother tried learning how to weave using the straw that she had brought. Although the mother’s straw was rough and made her fingers bleed, she continued to learn determinedly. In the end, the grandma sighed and said,“You are indeed a loving mother. The sky is getting dark. Take this straw mat and straw hat to your son. This type of straw grows upstream of this river by the small lake deep in the mountains.”

After using the straw hat and straw mat, the son never suffered from heatstroke again. The mother made a lot of straw hats and mats and sold it at Dajia town for a lot of money. The mother and son wanted to thank the grandma for her help, but the stone house had disappeared.