by Pu Songling
Yan: A prefecture in Pu’s time, now the city of Yanzhou, in Shandong.
The soldiers found out about this and rode naked on their horses, splashing through the fields so they were already undressed when they found any women. Only a woman from the Zhang family didn’t try to hide, brazenly choosing instead to stay in her own home.
There was a place in the family’s kitchen where she and her husband dug a pit during the night till it was several chi deep, and then they accumulated a pile of long grass; this they spread lightly to cover the pit, and next placed a mat on top of it, as though for someone to sleep there. Then she started a fire in the cooking stove.
When soldiers arrived, the woman went out and opened the door. Two Mongolian soldiers were there, wanting to force themselves on her. The woman told them, “This kind of thing can’t be done in front of other people!” One of the soldiers smiled and told the other in their dialect to leave.
The woman entered the kitchen, pointed to the mat, and directed the first soldier to lie down there to wait for her. As he did, the light covering of grass collapsed, and the soldier was trapped. The woman then picked up another mat and more grass, placed them over the pit, then stood beside it to lure the next soldier.
Before long, the other man entered. When he heard a moan coming from the pit, he didn’t figure out its source. Smiling, the woman beckoned him with her hand, “Come on over here.” The soldier stepped onto the mat, then fell into the pit.
The woman quickly tossed in some firewood and flung a burning coal into the heap. The fire blazed up mightily, igniting the room. The woman finally began to yell for help. After the fire was extinguished, the burnt corpses exuded a strong roasted smell. When people asked the woman what had happened, she replied, “We were afraid that the soldiers might take our two pigs, so we burned them in the pit.”
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Chi: A length equal to 1/3 meter.
Following this, she went a few li outside their village, to a wide point in the road where there were no trees along one side, taking some needlework with her, then sat down under the burning sun. Though the village was far away from this open setting, the soldiers arrived only moments later on horseback. They grinned and spoke in dialect, and though their words were hard to understand, she figured that most of them were sexual comments. But since the place was right out in the open rather than away from the road, affording them no privacy, they left and for several days there were no incidents.
One day, a shameless soldier arrived and rode towards her, wanting to rape her right there in broad daylight. The woman grinned and made no attempt to resist him. She secretly took a large needle and pricked the soldier’s horse with it, making the animal neigh nervously, so the soldier tied the horse’s reins to his leg to calm it, intending afterwards to have his way with the woman.
The Zhang family woman suddenly pulled out a large awl and stabbed it violently into the horse’s neck, causing it to suffer a shock of pain. The soldier was unable to unfasten the reins from his leg before the horse began galloping off, dragging him behind it for a few dozen li, until his fellow soldiers were finally able to stop the animal. They could no longer tell the soldier’s identity from his face or body, though the reins remained tied to his leg just as they had been.
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Li: A distance equal to 1/3 mile.
The collector of these strange tales remarks, “In the Han dynasty, Chen Ping used clever schemes six times to overcome a strong enemy, as did the Zhang family woman. This worthy woman should be celebrated for her intelligence and her ability to keep herself chaste!”
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Chen Ping: Chen (d. 178), advisor to the founder of the Han Dynasty, Liu Bang, is noted for his six innovative strategies (disguising Liu to help him escape the battlefield; advocating timely advancement of key figures; forging an alliance to oppose a common enemy; showering gifts on a wife in order to have her influence her husband; tricking an enemy into exposing himself to capture; and creating dissension between a rival and his advisor).
437. Yu Ziyou
A person who lived at the seashore told me, “One day, a tall mountain suddenly emerged from the sea, terrifying all the local people. A xiucai who was lodging in a fishing boat had just purchased some wine and was pouring some for himself.
“Late that night, a young man came aboard, dressed in Confucian cap and gown, and introduced himself as ‘Yu Ziyou.’ They proceeded to enjoy a refined conversation. This pleased the xiucai, who decided it was appropriate for them to enjoy some wine together. They drank until midnight, then concluded their carousing as Yu prepared to leave.
“‘Where is your home?’ asked the xiucai. ‘It’s so dark out, it’d be unsafe for you to go back now.’
“Yu replied, ‘I’m not from around here, but since it’s the season for Qingming, I’ve joined the king as he travels to visit his family’s graves. Family is more important than anything to him, so we’re stopping here briefly to rest, and then tomorrow we’ll be on our way. We need to return home soon, since he’s been separated from his subjects for quite some time.’
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Xiucai: A successful candidate in the imperial civil service examination at the county level.
Qingming: The Qingming (“pure brightness”) Festival, also known as Tomb-Sweeping Day, is celebrated in early April, a day for families to make offerings at the graves of their relatives, and to usher in the spring.
“The xiucai said he didn’t know what king Yu was talking about. Yu then walked with him to the bow of the boat, from whence Yu proceeded to dive in, slicing through the water, and disappeared, at which point the xiucai realized that he must have been a fish demon.
“The next day, he was looking at the mountain peak as it drifted along, but then moments later it sank and vanished. That’s when the xiucai realized that the mountain had been a giant fish, and it must have been what Yu was referring to as the king.” There’s a common tradition there that before Qingming, a giant fish ferries children to come and do obeisance at its tomb—can you believe it?
During the early years of Kangxi’s reign, in Laizhou, the tide washed up an enormous fish that for several days trumpeted forth a loud bellowing like an ox might make. After it died, people crowded the street, carrying baskets to cut off chunks of its flesh. Altogether it covered an area of more than a mu, and it possessed both fins and tail; but it didn’t have any eyes. Its eye sockets were as dark as a well, and filled with water.
When they sliced the flesh, anyone who accidentally slipped and fell on any of it inevitably ended up drowning. Some people say, “In the sea, the great fish was demoted so it had to leave its eyes behind there, eyes that were like great luminescent pearls.”
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Kangxi’s reign: This Qing emperor (also known as Shengzu) reigned 1663-1723.
Laizhou: A prefecture in Pu’s time, now known as Ye county in Shandong province.
Mu: An area equal to 1/6 acre.
438. A Male Concubine
A gentleman official, who went to Yangzhou to purchase a concubine, met with several families there but didn’t find any women who suited his fancy. It happened that an old woman from out of town was trying to sell her daughter who was about fourteen or fifteen, charming and pretty, and well-trained in many skills. Extremely pleased, the gentleman paid a high price and purchased her.
Once night came, he slipped under the covers with her and her skin felt buttery smooth to his touch. When he happily started stroking her private parts, however, he discovered that she was a boy. Shocked and dismayed, he pressed the boy to tell him what was going on. It turned out that the boy had been purchased specifically so he could be carefully dressed and made-up to deceive someone wanting to buy a concubine.
At dawn, the gentleman sent servants to go look for the old woman, but she’d already escaped without a trace. The gentleman felt depressed and irresolute about the whole affair.
It happened that a certain colle
ague of his, who’d passed the civil service examination when he had, arrived from Zhejiang and inquired into the matter, so the gentleman informed him about what had happened. His colleague then asked to see the boy and at first glance was so pleased with what he saw that he paid the gentleman what he’d originally given to the old woman, then took the boy away with him.
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Yangzhou: Located in Jiangsu province.
The collector of these strange tales remarks, “Once someone meets a soulmate, it’s no easy thing to tear them apart. What this old biddy didn’t know was that making the boy pretend to be a girl was pointless for the Zhejiang colleague!”
439. Wang Keshou
Wang Keshou, from Huangmei county in Hubei province, could recall three of his former lives: in one he was a xiucai, and was busy studying in a Buddhist temple. The mare belonging to one of the priests there gave birth to a mule foal which the xiucai coveted so much that he took it from the priest by force. After the xiucai died, the Hell King looked into his official register of souls and was infuriated to discover report of the xiucai’s violent greed, so the Hell King punished him by making him a mule and sending him to the priest’s temple as compensation.
Once the xiucai was reborn as a mule, the priest took tender care of it, but the mule just wanted to die. All the time, he thought about throwing himself down into some ravine or valley, but he was afraid that since he’d been cared for with such kindnesss, the Hell King would find some even worse punishment for him, so he accepted the situation. Several years passed until he’d finally paid sufficiently for his crime, and the mule died.
He was reborn into a farmer’s family. Even as he emerged from his mother’s womb, he could speak, but his parents considered this so strange that they killed him, and he was subsequently reborn into the family of a xiucai named Wang. The xiucai was nearing the age of fifty, so the birth of a son made him extremely happy.
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Xiucai: A successful candidate in the imperial civil service examination at the county level.
Wang Keshou clearly realized that he’d been reborn again; but he also remembered from his previous incarnation that his death had resulted from him speaking too early, so now he didn’t dare speak. Thus by the time he was three or four years old, everyone figured the boy must be a mute.
One day, his father happened to be writing an essay when a friend came to visit him, so he laid aside his writing brush and went out to see his visitor. Wang walked into his father’s room and saw what he’d been doing, which made him unconsciously itch to show off his own skill, so he finished the essay. When his father returned and took a look at it, he demanded, “Who’s been in here?”
“No one,” replied his servants. Wang’s father definitely suspected that something odd was going on.
The next day, he wrote down a composition topic and left it on his desk, then turned and walked out; in a little while, he returned swiftly, muffling his steps, and entered the room. He saw his son bent over his desk, having already sketched out several lines, but when Wang Keshou suddenly saw his father enter, he couldn’t help crying out, and on his knees he begged his father not to put him to death.
His father was so overjoyed that he took his hand and helped him up, saying, “Our family has only you for a son, and it’s extremely fortunate for us to discover now that you can write like this—why would you hide your talent this way?” Henceforward, his father helped him to improve his writing skills even further.
While he was still a young man, Wang became a jinshi, and later was promoted to the position of provincial governor, stationed in Datong.
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Jinshi: A successful candidate in the highest level of the imperial civil service examination.
Datong: A city in Shanxi province.
440. The Buffalo Calf
A farmer living in Chu was returning home from the city when he happened to stop for a bit along the roadside. A physiognomist who arrived afterwards also stopped and they had a pleasantly earnest conversation. Suddenly the physiognomist glanced up at the farmer and declared, “Your complexion looks quite inauspicious—in three days, you’re going to have to pay out some money when an official punishes you.”
“Officials have already collected my taxes,” replied the farmer, “and I’ve never gotten into a fight in my whole life, so on what grounds could I possibly be punished?”
“I have no idea. But with your complexion looking like this,” exclaimed the physiognomist, “you can’t afford to be careless!” The farmer really couldn’t take his concern seriously, so he respectfully said goodbye and continued on his way home.
The next day, while he was tending his cattle out in the fields, an official’s post horse passed by, and when the farmer’s water buffalo calf saw it in the distance, it mistook the animal for a tiger, and straightaway attacked it, killing the horse. Servants subsequently brought the farmer before the official who owned the horse, who then punished him lightly by having the farmer compensate him for the horse’s cost.
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Chu: Broadly, the region that includes Hubei and Hunan provinces.
Whenever a water buffalo sees a tiger, it’s certain to attack it, so the farmer had purchased one to take out with him as he slept in the open field. Water buffaloes always protect the farmers; when this farmer saw the horse passing in the distance, he should’ve rushed like a thunderbolt to turn the calf away so it wouldn’t attack the horse.
441. Wang Da
Li Xin was a gambler. He was having a nap one afternoon when suddenly he saw his former gambling friends, Wang Da and Feng Jiulai, who invited Li to play a few games with them. Li happened to forget that they were both dead, and joyfully agreed to play. Consequently, Wang Da walked into the village to invite Zhou Ziming, and Feng led Li on ahead to a monastery east of the village.
Presently, Zhou showed up with Wang. Feng took out some playing cards so they could gamble. “Since I’ve come in a hurry,” said Li, “I don’t have any money to bet, and I’m very sorry to turn down your sincere invitation, but what can I do?” Zhou remarked on the same point.
“Down in the valley,” said Wang, “there’s an official named Huang Ba who could lend us money, and if we went there together to borrow some, I’m sure he’d agree to make a loan.” Thereupon, the four men left in a group.
They swiftly came to a large village. There was a mansion in the village surrounded by a wall, and Wang pointed through its gates, announcing, “This is Master Huang’s house.” An old servant came out to see who was there, and Wang explained why they’d come. The servant then went inside to announce them. He returned, acting on his master’s orders, and invited Wang and Li to come meet with Master Huang.
As they entered, they saw that the master was about eighteen or nineteen years old, and he proceeded to converse with them in amicable cheer. He took a big sum of money in hand and delivered it over to Li, saying, “I know you are honest and frank, so there’s no harm in lending this. But Zhou is obviously someone I can’t trust.”
Wang effusively vouched for Zhou. Huang wanted Li to stand as the guarantor for the loan, but Li didn’t wish to do so. Wang pressured him with encouragement from the side, and Li finally relented. He accepted a thousand taels in all and then they went back outside. When Li handed the money over to Zhou, he related Master Huang’s comments in order to compel Zhou to repay everything.
As they left the valley, they observed a village woman, who had married into the Zhao family and who always liked to argue, being particularly adept at cursing. Feng remarked, “There’s no one here, so we can pull some tricks and give her a bit of punishment from the demons.” He grabbed her and they reentered the valley.
The woman started yelling, so Feng held her down on the ground and covered her mouth with mud. Zhou encouraged his actions, exclaiming, “With this kind of woman, you should just drive a wooden stake into her!” Feng then reached into her garments and took out a piece of feldspar, which
he proceeded to insert into the woman’s genitals. She consequently passed out, as though dead. The group of men subsequently ran off, returning to the monastery where they began gambling together.
From noon till midnight, Li kept winning game after game, until Feng and Zhou lost all their money. Accordingly, Li added his profits to cover the interest on the loan and handed everything over to Wang, so he could repay Master Huang for him; Wang then proceeded to give a portion of it to Zhou and Feng so their gaming could continue.
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Feldspar: This passage is suggestively phallic (following up the “wooden stake”), as the characters signifying this kind of crystallized magma are 长石, literally “long stone” (changshi).
They hadn’t been playing long when they heard the sound of someone scrambling frantically as a man ran in and cried, “The venerable city god’s arresting gamblers, and now he’s come here!” Li and his comrades all turned pale. Li abandoned his money, climbed over the wall and ran away. The others tried to collect the money, and hence were arrested.
They were all taken outside, where they spotted an immortal seated on a horse, and behind his horse stood more than twenty other gamblers, bound by restraints. The sky wasn’t even light yet when they reached the walls of a city and the gates opened for them to enter. They came to a government office, where the city god took his seat to judge them, calling for the offenders to be brought forward, holding a book of accounts as their names were called.
Once they’d been called, he ordered that their middle fingers be chopped off with a sharp axe, then that black and red ink be smeared around their eyes before they were forced to walk three circuits around the city. The only alternative was to offer some bribes to the escort in order to escape the punishment of the ink, so the group of gamblers was ready to do so.
