In FSB, the original oppression is over bathing. Essentially Nezha was bathing in the ocean and then 夜叉 came out to try to kick his ass, failed, then 敖丙 tried to again and failed. So they were trying to kill a 7-year-old kid for washing in "their" backyard. 100% the Dragon kings (and his minions) were using their monopoly of resources to over-punish the peasants for small misdemeanors.
Simultaneously, by the late Song-dynasty, dragon kings and eating kids have become a thing. At this time, Nezha has become the "regulator" of rain (aka ass-kicker of dragons who are slacking off/over-producing on their rain duties). The 1979 cartoon combined the folk stories with the FSB excerpt because they thought the bullying by dragons wasn't as obvious to the modern viewer without Ming dynasty life experience and wouldn't "get" the reference of bullying by the ruling class.
So, tl;dr, no FSB did not invoke the eating children bit, but the folk stories at the time did have that element.
no subject
Date: 2025-03-19 07:09 (UTC)In FSB, the original oppression is over bathing. Essentially Nezha was bathing in the ocean and then 夜叉 came out to try to kick his ass, failed, then 敖丙 tried to again and failed. So they were trying to kill a 7-year-old kid for washing in "their" backyard. 100% the Dragon kings (and his minions) were using their monopoly of resources to over-punish the peasants for small misdemeanors.
Simultaneously, by the late Song-dynasty, dragon kings and eating kids have become a thing. At this time, Nezha has become the "regulator" of rain (aka ass-kicker of dragons who are slacking off/over-producing on their rain duties). The 1979 cartoon combined the folk stories with the FSB excerpt because they thought the bullying by dragons wasn't as obvious to the modern viewer without Ming dynasty life experience and wouldn't "get" the reference of bullying by the ruling class.
So, tl;dr, no FSB did not invoke the eating children bit, but the folk stories at the time did have that element.