Edgar’s Jasmine White Monkey

There is a story about White Monkey Tea. Long long ago, there was a grandmother who lived at the foot of Maotianlin Mountain of Zhenghe County. She made a living by midwifery, sewing and washing.

There were also many monkeys living on the mountain. One cold winter night, when the grandmother was asleep, she suddenly heard a knock at the door. The grandmother thought it was someone who had a wife in labor and was about to give birth, so she opened the door quickly. As a result, she saw a black monkey standing outside the door, which startled her. The old woman was about to close the door, but she was anxiously pulled by the black monkey, and it looked at her with begging eyes, pulling the old woman up the hill.

The grandmother guessed it was probably a sick monkey, too late to think much, she followed the monkey to a cave. There, she saw a female monkey, moaning painfully. The kind grandmother helped the mother monkey to deliver the baby. After a while, a little monkey was born，the grandmother was nervous all the way to relax at last. Just as she turned to leave, the monkey took out a bag of tea seeds and gave it to the grandmother respectfully as a gift. Grandmother was very happy and wrapped them in a handkerchief. She hinted to herself all the time that she must keep it, not lose it. So she walked all the way, and kept touching the bag for fear that she might lose it. However, a few tea seeds from the handkerchief cracks scattered on the road. After the grandmother got home, she planted the remaining few tea seeds carefully on the hillside in front of her house, and soon a Green Tea sapling grew. Thus, the old woman named it Monkey Tea.