Preface: Ma Gu is a goddess of Chinese folk belief, belonging to the Taoist figure. In the past, Chinese folk celebrated women’s birthday by presenting them with the statue of Magu, which was named Ma Gu Xianshou.
Ma Gu was a little girl during the Northern and Southern Dynasties.
Her father, Ma Qiu, earned a living by raising horses, and her mother was captured during wartime chaos.
Ma Gu learned sewing from the Han people since childhood and often did sewing work for wealthy families.
One day, after finishing her sewing work, she was rewarded with a big peach. She didn’t want to eat it and wanted to take it home to share with her father.
On the way home, Ma Gu saw an old lady lying on the ground, starving. She took out the peach and fed it to the old lady.
After eating the peach, the old lady regained her strength. Ma Gu then went home to cook porridge to help her further.
But her father, Ma Qiu, was angry and didn’t let her send the porridge. He also locked her up.
In the middle of the night, Ma Gu secretly took out the porridge, but found that the old lady was gone, leaving only a peach pit.
When her father found out, he beat her.
At night, the old lady appeared and thanked Ma Gu, saying that eating the peach had prolonged her life.
Ma Gu planted the peach pit in the yard, and it grew into a peach tree that bore big peaches every year.
Ma Gu used the peaches to help poor old people, and they became healthier after eating them.
Later, Ma Qiu became a general, and Ma Gu moved into the general’s mansion, but she was unhappy.
She saw how hard the laborers worked and often secretly took medicine to them and sewed clothes for them.
Ma Gu also helped the laborers finish work early by making the cocks crow early.
When Ma Qiu found out, he was very angry and locked Ma Gu up.
The old lady appeared again. She was actually the Li Shan Lao Mu (Legendary Female Immortals). She rescued Ma Gu and took her to practice Taoism and become an immortal.
Ma Qiu never saw his daughter again, but Ma Gu still sent peaches to poor old people every March.
通过阅读中国神话、民间故事、历史典故、人物传记学汉语，简单易学，中英对照，适合初学者！
Learning Chinese through reading Chinese mythology, folk stories, historical allusions, and biographies is easy to learn and bilingual, suitable for beginners!