A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

Overview

A lonely daughter jokingly promises to marry her family’s white stallion if it brings her travelling father home. The horse breaks loose, finds the father and carries him back. Afterwards it refuses food and lashes out at the daughter. When the father learns of her promise, he kills the horse and hangs its hide in the courtyard, then leaves on his travels again.

The girl later mocks the hide in front of a companion. It rises, wraps itself around her and carries her away. After several days the searchers find her hanging in a tree, still inside the hide; she gradually becomes a silkworm and spins a thick, strong cocoon. Her companion removes the cocoon, lets her emerge and profits by spinning and selling the silk.

The account ends with the girl appearing to her grieving relatives on horseback among the clouds. She says that heaven has assigned her to protect silkworm cultivation. Temples and seasonal offerings follow. The edition calls her the girl with the Horse’s Head, but its narrated transformation is into a silkworm, not explicitly into a woman with a horse’s head. Its note distinguishes her from other protectors of silk culture; their names and biographies should not be merged into this transformed maiden.

Horse-hide rises and abducts its promised brideGirl transforms into a silkwormReturns as a cloud-riding protector of silk cultivation
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Origins & earliest records

Chinese tales mediated by Richard Wilhelm and Frederick H. Martens

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Records & interpretation

Complete tale and its attached source note read in the retained1921-edition transcription.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

  1. 01

    The Chinese Fairy Book

    Richard Wilhelm, editor; Frederick H. Martens, translator · 1921

    XXI, The Girl with the Horse’s Head or the Silkworm Goddess, pp.56–58; New York, Frederick A. Stokes Company

Family & connections

A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.

Primary records and illustrations

Complete historical translated account

Richard Wilhelm/Frederick H. Martens, The Chinese Fairy Book (Stokes1921)

The Gods. XXI, The Girl with the Horse’s Head or the Silkworm Goddess, pp.56–58

Complete chapter and attached note read in wilhelm-XXI.txt and29939.html. Sacred narrative context retained; historical interpretation and ritual descriptions not modern factual or practical advice.

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References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

  1. Historical translated taleWilhelm/Martens, The Chinese Fairy Book, The Girl with the Horse’s Head or the Silkworm Goddess, pp.56–58Research access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

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