# The Iron Moonhunter

​Fifth World Tales Stories for all children from the many peoples of America.
The Iron Moonhunter
Written & Illustrated by Kathleen Chang
Translated into Chinese by Chiu-Chung Liao :
| ​一百多年前，很多唐人到美國來建築鉄路，在旅程中，我們 都擠擁在船艙裏，船艙裏很黑暗，空氣非常混濁。我們忍受 了八個星期，才到達金山（美國）。 在中國時，僱用我們的人說：「美國人很喜歡僱用中國 人，而且給很高的薪水。」結果，我們是非常失望。我們 在三藩市靠岸時，當地的人並不喜歡我們。有些美國人用 奇異的眼光看着我們，用惡毒的字眼辱罵我們，甚至用磚頭 和槍來攻擊我們。我們很憤怒和想立刻回中國，但是沒有 能力付旅費，所以便留下來，在中太平洋鐵路工作。 | ​More than a hundred years ago, many of us Tong Yun came to America to build a railroad. We came crowded in the holds of big ships. It was dark and stinking down where we were. We suffered eight long weeks waiting to arrive in Gum Sahn, America. The men who hired us in China said we would be welcome in Gum Sahn and paid high wages. But we were disappointed. The men who met us at the docks in San Francisco didn't want us Tong Yun in America. We looked different to them and they called us names. They even threw bricks and shot at us. We were hurt and angry and wanted to go home, but we had no money to pay the boat fare. So we stayed and went to work on the Central Pacific Railroad. Tong Yun Chinese people Gum Sahn Golden Mountain — America |
| ​我們在西也拉·內華達山裏工作。從早到晚，我們 在砍大紅木樹，抬很重的鋼鉄和石塊，工作很辛苦。有 時，惡人還聚眾給我們麻煩。有一天，他們用炸葯炸死 了幾個我們的人。那時，有三位兄弟，関明，関强和関合， 他們實在看不過眼，関家兄弟三人帶了一隊中國人，去找 那些殺害中國人的兇手。結果，我們找到了放炸葯的 人，將他們懲罰了一頓。從此以後，那些番鬼再不敢 欺負我們了。関家兄弟告訴我們，他們是関公的後代。 関公是一個非常勇敢和忠心的神，所以又叫「戰神」。 | ​We worked high in the Sierra Nevada mountains. From sunrise to sunset we chopped down the giant redwood trees and lifted tons of steel and rock. Sometimes hostile gangs tried to make trouble for us. One day, they set off an explosion that killed several of our men. We decided to fight back. Our three best fighters, the Kwan cousins, Kwan Ming, Kwan Cheong and Kwan Hop, set out with a band of men to hunt down the gang who had killed our men. The guilty ones were found and punished. After that, troublemakers stayed clear of us. The Kwans told us they were only living up to their ancestor, Kwan Kung, god of war, who is famous for his bravery and loyalty to his friends. |
| ​過了幾個星期，我們要用炸葯在花崗岩上開了一條通路， 関家兄弟坐在從懸崖上吊下來的籃子裏，他們在岩石上鑽 孔，將火葯和導火管放在那些鑽好的孔內。然後燃着 導火管，把籃子拉到安全的地方，讓岩石爆炸。這樣一點 一點的爆炸，將岩石的孔擴大，鉄路就可以通過了。 関家兄弟非常喜歡這種工作。他們喜歡高飛的鷹，他 們站在那高高的內華達山上，可以看到很遠。 有一天，不幸的事情發生了。関合在工作的時候，他坐的籃 子的䋲断了，他和籃子一直摔到二千多呎的懸崖下。関明和関 强很悲傷，他們爬下懸崖找到関合，把他葬在崖下的河边。 | ​A few weeks later, we were blasting a ledge into a granite cliff. The Kwan cousins dangled over the edge of the cliff in baskets. They drilled holes in the rock and put gunpowder and a fuse in the holes. Then they lit the fuses and pulled their baskets to safety as the rock beneath them exploded. Bit by bit a path wide enough for a railroad was carved into the granite face face of the mountain. The Kwans liked their work. They liked being high as hawks, able to see far across the Sierra Nevadas. They liked the rugged wilds of Gum Sahn. They said they would work hard and get rich and start their families here. But then one day the rope that held up Kwan Hop's basket broke. Kwan Hop fell to his death in the river gorge, two thousand feet below. Sadly, Kwan Ming and Kwan Cheong climbed down the cliff to bury their cousin by the side of the river. |
| ​冬天降臨，地上積雪有四十多呎厚，把那些很高大的樹也埋没了。 但番鬼還不讓我們休息，我們要從雪地下掘洞到雪地上 面，才可以吸到新鮮空氣。為着工作方便，我們從我們住的 地方掘了一條二百多呎長的隧道，通到工作的地點。在隧 道裏，工作要非常小心，積雪是非常容易倒塌下來。所以 有很多人被活埋在隧道裏。有一天晚上，関强就一直没 有回來。 | ​Winter came and forty feet of snow fell. The demons wouldn't let us stop working, though the snow was so high that even the tall trees were buried. We dug caves in the snow to shelter us, and tunneled up to the surface through the packed snow, making air shafts so that we could breathe. To get to and from work, we had to carve out a maze of snow tunnels, some of them two hundred feet long. Often huge hunks of the snow tunnels caved in and people were buried alive when nobody was looking. We lost many men in the cave-ins, and one night it was Kwan Cheong who never came back from work. |
| ​冬天過去，積雪融化。但是春天並没有帶 給関明一點歡樂，他很懷念関合和 関强。在深亱裏，他覺到関合和 関强常常站在他的牀 边，當他洗面時，在水 中可以見到他們的面 孔。唐人在這樣悽 涼的環境中工作， 很多人在爆石時， 在地洞內，在斜坡 边，因為遭到意外 而死去。 | ​Winter passed and the snow melted, but the spring brought no pleasure to Kwan Ming. He missed Kwan Hop and Kwan Cheong. Sometimes he woke up in the night thinking that they were standing by his bed. When he washed his face, he sometimes saw their faces in the water. The rest of us were troubled too. Many other men had died in explosions, cave-ins, and landslides. All of us were haunted by the unhappy faces of our dead friends. |
| ​一天晚上，㕑子亞丁不小心，將大鍋 熱湯倒翻了，只聼到他在叫喊：「王 三你為什麼跟着我？你是否餓了？」 関明說：「哎啊！亞丁，你見鬼了。王 三是在去年冬天山崩時已死了。」 亞丁的助手張然也說：「當我睡 覺時，我常夢見哥哥鬼魂在找尋 炸石時失去的兩隻手臂。」張然 很憤怒地說：「都是大老闆們 要我們建築鉄路，才令到我們 的朋友和兄弟死去，我們很痛 恨這些鉄路，我真想把這些 要建築這條鉄路的番鬼殺 死，甚至毀壞這條鉄路，好 讓我們唐人出一口氣。 | ​One night, the cook, Ah Ding, dropped a big pot of hot soup, shouting, "Wang Sam! Why do you follow me? Are you hungry?" "Aiya!" cried out Kwan Ming. "Wang Sam died in the landslides last winter. You're seeing a ghost spirit!" Jeong Yum, the cook's helper, was so troubled by the spirits that he could not sleep. "When I sleep I dream of my brother," he said. "I dream that his ghost is looking for the arms he lost in the explosion." Then Jeong Yum became angry. "It's because of the bosses and their railroad that our friends and brothers have died! I hate the railroad! I'd like to blow it up! I'd like to kill all those turtle-headed demons or die fighting them!" |
| ​有些人在叫喊，要炸壞這條鉄路。関明很 冷静地說：「朋友們，我們要理智些。因為這 條鉄路是用唐人血汗建成的。我們要因它而 感到驕傲，因為我們中國人有一句說話——不 要半途而廢。」 大家沉默了一會兒，亞丁說：「我們的 朋友和弟兄的鬼魂都留落在這荒山裏， 我們必須要照顧他們，否則我們也 得不到安寧。」 | ​The other men began to shout and talk about blowing up the railroad, but Kwan Ming calmed them down. "Talk sense, men," he said. "The railroad is our work and we should be proud of it. We're going to finish it because when we Tong Yun say we'll do something, we don't stop halfway." The men were quiet for a few moments, then Ah Ding said, "The spirits of our friends and brothers are lost and alone in these barbarian mountains. We must take care of them somehow, or we'll know no peace ourselves." |
| ​関明提議：「不如我們為這些鬼魂來完成這件條 鉄路吧！」他繼續說：「我們要建築一條全世界 最好的鉄路，和造一架最好的火車，我們要用 這架最好的火車去找尋我們死去的朋友和兄弟。」 我們便繼續為中太平洋鉄路公司工作。在建 築時，我們省下一些鋼鉄，每當一部火車撞毀了， 我們便把那些零件拾起來。我們也造了一架像 龍一樣的火車，並且叫它做「追月號」。 | ​Kwan Ming had a plan. "We'll build a railroad for the spirits," he said, "our own Tong Yun railroad. We'll build the finest train in the world, and we'll ride our train to find the spirits of our friends and brothers." And that's what we did. While we built the Central Pacific Railroad, we saved some of the steel rails. When the trains crashed and tumbled off the tracks, which happened often in those days, we gathered up the parts. We built a train in the shape of a dragon and called it the Iron Moonhunter. |
| ​同時，我們在西也拉山開礦時，開採了黄金 和白銀。為了紀念我們死去的親人和朋友，我們 給「追月號」火車油上了鮮艷的顏色，裝上了銀色 的鬍子和牙齒，在車內用黄金做成幸運的图案，還 為它裝上翅膀，使它能在高山上飛馳。我們 將它的烟囱裝飾成號角和笛的樣子，當它奔 跑時能發出美麗的歌聲。還有把它的眼睛 裝上探照灯，利用探照灯去找尋死去的唐人。 我們把日常生活所需要的用品都放在火車內。 | ​We mined the Sierras for gold and silver. We gave the Moonhunter silver whiskers and teeth that gleamed as he grinned in the night. We painted him bright colors and inlaid designs and good luck charms in gold. We gave the Moonhunter wings to help him balance on the high mountain ridges, and sometimes he flew into the clouds from those peaks. We shaped his smokestacks into horns and flutes, so he played his song as he ran. His eyes were long searchlights, and he looked for Tong Yun who were lost far from home. Inside the Moonhunter, we built everything we needed for living and everything we wanted to play with. |
| ​當我們坐火車經過我們所建築的鉄路時，讓所有親人和朋友的 鬼魂都聽到火車發出來的歌聲： 我是山裏的雷鳴 我是輕風把歌聲送到月亮裏 我在乘風歌唱 我是「追月號」火車 快來吧！當你聽到我的歌聲時 快來吧！快來吧！ 在「追月號」的眼睛照耀下，我們見到一個個的鬼魂從深 山裏出來。他們見到這架美麗的火車在找尋他們，他們 的面上都充滿着快樂的眼淚。 | ​We rode the Moonhunter back over the track we'd laid. All the ghost spirits heard the Moonhunter's song. It went: "I am the thunder of the mountains. I am the winds that croon to the moon. I am the laughter that rides the winds. I am the Moonhunter singing my tune. Come along when you hear my song. Come along, come along." One by one the ghost spirits stepped out of the mountains' shadows into the yellow light beams from the Moonhunter's eyes. Kwan Cheong was waiting in the tunnel where he died. Kwan Hop waited at the cliff's edge. They wept with joy to see the beautiful train their friends had built to find them. |
| ​現在，我們又重叙在一起。我們把鉄軌 鋪到西也拉的山裏，我們掘隧道。火車在那 些大山中飛馳，好像穿針引線似的，我們 駕着火車沿着彎曲的山路，就像一輪巨大的 過山車。沿途中，我們在唱歌，在玩牌，把獵 到的野味煮來吃。當我們見到唐人有困难時， 我們停下來，去幫助他們，像：給貧窮的人黄 金，逐走欺負唐人的惡人。 建築第一條鉄路的人已經死去了，但他們的靈 魂還乘着「追月號」火車，穿過西也拉內華達 山，它仍在照顧在金山的唐人而我們仍可聽 到「追月號」在飛馳發出的歌聲。 | ​Now we were all together again, and we laid tracks deep into the Sierras. We dug tunnels through the mountain peaks and the train flew through them like thread through the eye of a needle. We raced the Moonhunter round the mountain curves, climbing up and plunging down like a giant roller coaster. As we rode we feasted on game we caught, and gambled and played our music. When we saw Tong Yun in trouble we stopped to help. If they were poor we gave them food and gold. If they were being bothered by troublemakers we fought the troublemakers off. The first railroaders grew old and died, but the ghosts of our people still ride the Moonhunter through the Sierra Nevadas. They still look after us Tong Yun in Gum Sahn, and the Iron Moonhunter still plays his song. |
​The Iron Moonhunter
This story takes place in the fall and winter of 1866 and the spring of 1867. The first cross-country railroad was under construction by the Central Pacific Railroad, building from Sacramento eastward, and the Union Pacific Railroad, building from Omaha westward. The federal government awarded substantial lands and monies to the builder of each mile of track, and so the two companies were engaged in a fierce race for profit.
Huge work forces were needed on both sides. Because of a shortage of willing laborers in California, the Central Pacific Railroad went to China to hire men. More than twelve thousand Chinese were put to work. In spite of vicious anti-Chinese racism, much loss of life, and the harsh climate of the Sierra Nevadas, these men accomplished some of the most remarkable feats of railroad construction of their time using only their own hands, blasting powder, and a few simple tools.
* Series editor — Harriet Rohmer;
* English lettering — Roger I Reyes;
* Chinese calligraphy — Maurice Chuck;
* book design — Harriet Rohmer, Robin Cherin, Roger I Reyes, Kathleen Chang;
* production — Robin Cherin, Delphey & Chase;
* editorial assistance — Bridget Chang, L.K. Syltebo, Roger I Reyes, Betty Berenson, B.J. Jenkins, Git Low, Yvonne Chong, Florence Lau, San Francisco Chinese Bilingual Project / ESEA Title VII;
* printing — Tea Lautrec Lithography, San Francisco.
The Iron Moonhunter Written and Illustrated by Kathleen Chang
   "The Iron Moonhunter is based on an old legend that still circulates in Chinese America: that the Chinese American railroaders built a railroad of their own while they were building the Central Pacific Railroad. Perhaps it's a fairy tale our grandparents concocted so we would think of the bitter past with wonder and pride; perhaps it's an explanation of abandoned railroad tracks in the Sierras that seem to lead nowhere; and perhaps it's true."
   —Kathleen Chang
Children's Book Press / Imprenta de Libros Infantiles 1461 Ninth Avenue San Francisco, California 94122
We are a new nonprofit publishing house specializing in the stories, legends, and folklore of the many peoples who now live in North America. Other books in this current series feature stories from the Vietnamese, Pilipino, Black, and Native American communities. We have previously published a series of bilingual books presenting the legends of ten different Spanish-speaking cultures. comments and suggestions are welcome. Please send for our free information sheet and order form.
ISBN 0-89239-011-5
Library of Congress catalog card number: 77-73783
Age Range: 5-11
​Copyright 1977 by Children's Book Press / Imprenta de Libros Infantiles. All rights reserved under Pan American & International Copyright.
Copyright is claimed until June 30, 1987. Thereafter, all portions of the work covered by this copyright enter the public domain.
This book was developed and published with the assistance of a grant from the U.S. Office of Education, Department of Health, Education and Welfare. However, the contents do not necessarily represent the polices or practices of that agency and no U.S. Government endorsement should be inferred.