嫦娥 was the wife of the archer
后羿, who had been given the elixir of immortality by the
西王母. She swallowed it and floated up to the moon, where she lives alone in the
广寒宫 'Palace of Vast Cold' with the
玉兔, the jade rabbit. The story is told at the Mid-Autumn Festival,
中秋节.
