Chinese
Hou Yi, Archer of the Ten Suns
Every child knows the archer who shot down the suns. Almost no one can say who he was: a god sent from heaven, a mortal who seized a throne, or two men fused into one by centuries of retelling.
Deathlessness itself: the food or plant that confers it, and the mortal attempt to seize it.
Every child knows the archer who shot down the suns. Almost no one can say who he was: a god sent from heaven, a mortal who seized a throne, or two men fused into one by centuries of retelling.
He conquered the four quarters, named his ministers after clouds, and fathered the whole line of emperors, then cast a cauldron, mounted a whiskered dragon, and rose into heaven while the people below clutched at his falling bow.
Dying in his bed, Gilgamesh dreams he must stand before the gods and hear them decide what even he can keep.