The first time I heard of this story was when my best friend and I went to see the movie at the Pagoda Theater. It was raining that day, but not as hard as when Xu Xian met Lady White and Miss Green for the first time.

Xu Xian traveled by boat to the river town of Zhenjiang to oversee the local medicine shop. On his way, he read his medical journals. The sky grew dark and began to pour down. Xu Xian put his books away so not to drench them. He then saw two beautiful women standing at the riverside. They were alone without anything to cover their heads. He motioned the boat captain to pull along side of the women.

Xu Xian offered to take them to their destination. The older of the two women introduced herself at Lady White and declined the kind offer by Xu Xian. Lady White’s sister, Miss Green, motioned that she was feeling cold from the downpour of rain. Xu Xian, noticing this and was taken by their beauty, gave them his umbrella. Xu Xian’s boat pulled away from the dock and Xu Xian watched the two women walk away into the brush.

When Xu Xian arrived at Zhenjiang, he again met Lady White and Miss Green. He thought it was fate that they were together again. Not long after that, Xu Xian and Lady White married. Everything was going well for Xu Xian: his lovely wife was pregnant; his sister-in-law helped around the house and his shop; and his medicine shop was a success. The villagers loved Xu Xian because he was a good physician and had a kind heart. He made house calls and healed people who didn’t have money to pay him. He was very popular in the village.

Xu Xian was walking to his shop one day and came across a monk. The monk confided that Lady White and her sister, Miss Green, were snake spirits. Xu Xian called the monk crazy, disbelieving that his beautiful wife and her sister were snake spirits. Monk said if he didn’t believe him, to have his wife drink the special dragon festival wine. If snake spirits drink this wine, they would show their true selves. Xu Xian walked away, shaking his head, and feeling sorry for the monk, who he thought, was crazy.

The dragon boat festival was upcoming and one of Xu Xian’s patients paid for his treatment in dragon boat festival wine. He brought it home to share with his wife. She refused saying wine would harm her baby to be. Xu Xian put the cup to her mouth and the wine poured into her mouth. Instantly, she turned into an eight-foot snake. Xu Xian’s eye widened and his hair turned white. To that, his heart stopped and Xu Xian fell to the ground, dead. Miss Green ran into the room and screamed. The pitch of her voice awoke Lady White, who transformed back into her beautiful human self.

Lady White knew of one herb, which would bring her husband back to life. But to obtain it, she’d have to travel far to the mountaintop. She and Miss Green immediately climbed the mountainside. At the top of the mountain was a lake; in the middle of the lake was an island. On the island was a lone tree. On this lone tree, grew the magical herb that would bring Xu Xian back to life. Lady White and Miss Green ascended to the edge of the lake. They saw the traveling monk sitting on the island meditating. He opened his eyes and chanted some mumbo jumbo spirit incantations. He was trying to prevent the two snake spirits from taking the magical herb. The two snake spirits flew to the island in the middle of the lake. The monk blocked them and said that humans and snake spirits couldn’t live in harmony.

A confrontation broke out with the monk fighting the snake spirits. Miss Green drew her sword first. The monk fought back. Lady White dove into the lake, creating a huge wave, attempting to wash the monk off the island. The monk stood firm. Miss Green explained to the monk that they were not evil, but trying to keep Lady White’s loving husband alive because he was a good man and deserved to live. The monk refused to listen to her. Lady White jumped up and her gown turned into a white cloud. Behind this cloud, Lady White quickly snatched a sprig of the magic herb. The cloud and the two spirits disappeared, leaving the monk alone and defeated.

The snake spirits returned back to the village. They made a potion with the magical herb. Lady White soaked a cotton ball with the potion and put it in her dead husband’s mouth. Lady White and Miss Green waited for a minute. The wait was unbearable. Then something stirred in Xu Xian and his eyes opened up. He sat up and spat out the cotton ball. He remembered nothing of the past couple of days, and couldn’t figure out why he had the biggest headache of his life. He shook his head, looked up and was glad to see Miss Green and her lovely sister, Lady White.

The Pagoda Theater doesn’t stand at the corner of Filbert and Vallejo any more, so my best friend and I have to watch Chinese movies elsewhere. But we have our memories: dark empty theaters, moy and shrimp chips for snacks, watching double features endlessly, and seeing the film, "Tale of White Snake" along with an off the wall vampire flick.