Strange Tales from Liaozhai--Volume 6

by Pu Songling

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  Changshan: A county in Pu’s time, located in the southern part of Shandong province’s modern Huantai county.

  Then a few moments later, she wanted him to go out and relieve himself. He quickly got up, walked a few steps, undid his clothing and began to discharge a gluey fluid as he staggered about, and when the curdled mess was finally all out of him, he felt relieved of all his body’s pain.

  He came back to lie down again, and asked her, “Who are you, fair lady? Please tell me your name, so I can invoke blessings on your behalf.”

  “I’m a fox immortal,” she said. “In the Tang dynasty, you were known as Chu Suiliang, and my family owed you a favor which we’ve remembered with gratitude and wished fervently to repay. Today I met up with you, the man I’ve been searching for; now I’ve had the chance to repay our long-standing debt, and we can celebrate.”

  Zhao was ashamed of his shabby appearance, then thought about the thatched cottage he was renting, with its coal-burning stove soiling the magnificent beauty’s clothing. The woman, however, asked him to go on inside. Zhao then led her into the cottage, and since there was no mat over the clay bed that he heated to sleep on, or even a fire in his stove, he declared, “Regardless of my circumstances being like this, I can’t stand the fact that we’re meeting in such disgraceful conditions; if you wish, look closely into my empty urn, then tell me—how could I ever support a wife?”

  The fox beauty, however, responded, “There’s nothing to worry about.”

  In the course of their conversation, Zhao turned around and saw that blankets and quilts had already been laid over a mattress on his bed; then just as he was about to ask her how it was possible, in a twinkle he witnessed the room fill with a silvery glow from scrolls of paper that were stuck to the walls like mirrors, for everything in the cottage had been transformed, and a small table that had been utterly clear now displayed delicacies and wine. They proceeded then to laugh and drink together. At nightfall, they made love and slept in the same bed, like husband and wife.

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  Tang dynasty: Spanning 618-907 C.E.

  Chu Suiliang: A high-level official, Chu (597-658 C.E.) served as court historian and advisor to emperors Taizong (626-49) and Gaozong (649-83), until falling out of favor with the latter when the emperor replaced his first wife with Wu Zetian, who ruled as China’s first sovereign empress from 690-705.

  When Zhao’s landlord heard about these strange occurrences, he asked if he might be allowed to take a look at her for himself. The fox beauty then came out to meet him, without displaying the least reluctance to do so.

  From this point forward, the news spread everywhere and crowds of people began arriving at their gate. The woman never turned anyone away. If anyone ever invited Zhao to feast with them, she made sure to go along with him.

  One day, they were sitting with a xiaolian who was secretly entertaining licentious thoughts about her. The fox beauty was well aware of what he was thinking, so she suddenly started berating him. Then she took her hand and began pushing his head; soon it was sticking outside the window’s latticework while his body remained inside the room, unable to pull his head back in or push his body all the way out, turning and twisting futilely. Since other people joined together to beg for him to be excused, she finally pulled him all the way outside.

  As the year passed, she began to find all the requests from people becoming an increasing annoyance, till she finally grew fed up with it all. She began to refuse to see them, and they always cursed Zhao as the reason.

  During the Dragon Boat Festival, they happened to be drinking wine together when suddenly a rabbit hopped up to them. The fox beauty stood up and exclaimed, “The Jade Hare has come in response to my call!” To the rabbit, she said, “Please go on ahead.” The rabbit then sped off, hurrying out of sight.

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  Xiaolian: A successful candidate in the imperial civil service examination at the provincial level.

  Dragon Boat Festival: Held near the summer solstice, on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, to celebrate the day that statesman Qu Yuan (d. 278 B.C.E.), who served the ruler of the state of Chu, drowned himself when the rival state of Qin razed the Chu palace and ancestral temple.

  The woman instructed Zhao to go bring a ladder. Zhao went behind the cottage, put a long ladder that was a few zhang in length over his shoulder and returned with it. There was a big tree in the courtyard, against which she had him place the ladder; the ladder reached upward to the very top of the tree.

  The woman climbed up first, then Zhao followed her. She turned around to look down and said, “If any relatives and guests wish to come along, they’ll have to start climbing immediately.” The crowd of well-wishers below watched them, but didn’t dare climb up themselves. Only the landlord’s boy servant jumped up to follow after them.

  As they reached the last rungs at the height of the ladder, they became obscured by clouds and the people below could no longer see them. When the people moved forward to examine the ladder closely, they saw that its rungs were simply a ruined door that hadn’t been used in years, its color all worn away.

  Once the group entered the couple’s cottage, they discovered dust on the walls, the stove empty like before, and there wasn’t a thing of Zhao’s left inside. They figured that when the servant boy returned they could ask him about it, but in the end they never saw him again.

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  Jade Hare: The hare “lives in the moon and there pounds, in a magic mortar, the drugs which compose the elixir of life” (Willoughby-Meade 168). The elixir is pounded beneath a cassia tree, which flowers near the time of the Autumn Moon Festival (fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month), and cassia bark “is one of the ingredients in the elixir of immortality” (Perkins 420).

  Zhang: A length equal to 3.33 meters.

  473. Liu Quan

  In Zouping, there was a certain animal doctor named Hou, who happened to be carrying some food to workers cultivating the fields. When he reached open country, the wind started whipping up, so Hou grabbed a ladle with both hands and started dipping out some rice gruel, offering blessings to calm the blustery breeze. After he’d offered several ladles’ full, the wind finally ceased.

  One day, he happened to be at the temple of the city god, wandering through a particular hallway, when he spotted an effigy of Liu Quan making his melon offering, but the effigy had become so obscured by bird droppings that its eyes were completely covered over. Hou cried, “Brother Liu, how can you stand this foul insult!” Accordingly, he took his fingernails and scraped away the droppings.

  A few years later, Hou was lying down, feeling ill, when suddenly two court officers arrived to take him into custody. He was brought before a court building, where to his chagrin the two officers tried to coerce him into bribing them. Hou had no idea how he was going to do this, when suddenly a man dressed in green came out of the building, looked at him in surprise, and exclaimed, “Master Hou, why have you come here?”

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  Zouping: A county in Shandong province.

  Effigy of Liu Quan: According to chapter eleven, Journey to the West, Liu Quan was so disenchanted with his life that he volunteered to die on behalf of the Tang emperor, Taizong (599-649), and then to take some melon and fruit offerings to the underworld. Hence his effigy in the city god’s temple commemorates both his personal sacrifice and the offerings he delivered.

  Hou complained about the men who’d dragged him there. The man in green interrogated them, concluding, “This is Master Hou, an important man, so how could you treat him with such impertinence!” The two court officers replied respectfully to him, humbly apologizing that they didn’t realize who he was.

  Presently, Hou heard the sound of drums booming like thunder. “Time for the morning court session,” said the man in green. They went inside and the man in green asked Hou to stand beside the steps into a hall, explaining, “While you stand here briefly, I’ll go see what’s
up.” Entering the hall, the man then waved over a court clerk and spoke several words to him.

  The clerk looked over at Hou, then greeted him respectfully with folded hands and remarked, “Has Brother Hou arrived? You have nothing to worry about, there’s just the matter of a suit that a horse has brought against you, so after a brief inquiry you can return home again.” Then he withdrew into the hall.

  Shortly afterwards, a call came, summoning Hou. He entered and knelt beside a horse that was also kneeling there. The presiding official asked Hou, “Is there any truth to this horse’s accusation that you killed it with poison?”

  “The horse contracted some kind of disease,” explained Hou, “so I had to do something to try to counteract it. I gave it some medicine, but that proved ineffective and it died a day later, so how can I be blamed for what happened?” The horse was able to speak in human language, so the two of them disputed back and forth.

  The official then ordered that the court’s register be examined to determine the length of life that had been assigned to the horse, which revealed that the horse had died precisely in the year, month, and day that were fated for it. The official then scolded it, “This is when you were fated to die, so why have you made this absurd allegation!” The horse left the hall, accompanied by the official’s rebukes.

  Consequently, the official told Hou, “You live a principled life and do kind things for others, so it’s not right that you should die.” He then ordered the two court officers to return him to the living.

  The man in green and the court clerk also came out to see Hou off, advising the officers to ensure that he was treated well on the way home. “Today you helped to protect me,” Hou told them, “even though I’ve never had the honor of meeting you. If you’d please tell me your names, I intend somehow to show you my gratitude.”

  The man in green replied, “Three years ago, when I was passing through Taishan, I was dying of thirst. As I passed by, outside your village, you gave me some ladles of gruel to drink, and I’ve never forgotten that kindness.”

  “My name is Liu Quan,” said the clerk. “I was covered in filthy bird droppings, so disheartened I could hardly bear it, then you scraped them away with your hands, and now I can see everything brightly once again. We have no wine or food in the underworld, so I can’t entertain you as my guest—thus I’d recommend that you leave right away.” Hou recognized Liu’s urgent subtext and headed homeward.

  After reaching his home, he cordially tried to detain the court officers, to offer them something to drink, but they didn’t dare take even a cup of water. When Hou suddenly revived, he learned that he’d been considered dead for over two days already. Henceforth he became even more generous and supportive. Whenever there was a seasonal festival, he’d pour out libations of wine to honor Liu Quan.

  At the age of eighty, Hou, strong and healthy as ever, could still leap up onto a horse and gallop away.

  One day, Hou was out on the road when Liu Quan came riding up on horseback, as if he was about to embark on a long journey. Once they finished greeting each other with warmth and respect, Liu informed Hou, “Your allotted time has almost expired, and an official document to that effect that has already been issued. I turned back the servants of the court who were sent to take you into custody and told them they didn’t need to send anyone else. You can return home to make the necessary preparations, and after three days’ time, I’ll come to accompany you on your journey. I’ve arranged for you to receive a modest official appointment in the underworld, so you’ll suffer no hardships there.” Then he rode away.

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  Taishan: Mt. Tai, located in western Shandong province.

  Hou returned home, explained the matter to his wife and children, summoned relatives and friends to bid them farewell, then prepared a coffin and burial clothes. At sundown of the fourth day, he announced to everyone assembled there, “Brother Liu has arrived.” He then stepped into the coffin and died.

  474. Turning Soil into Rabbits

  During the time that marquis Zhang Yong was suppressing a rebellion in Lanzhou, he was out trapping a large group of rabbits, amongst which he found a half a carcass—that is, two legs of the rabbit—that seemed to have a clay-like quality.

  At one time, the idea spread in Qinzhong that the soil could be turned into rabbits. This effect of nature also couldn’t be explained.

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  Zhang Yong: Leader of Loyalist forces in western Gansu province in 1674-5, when the provincial commander of Shaanxi province, Wu Fuchen, rebelled and took over Lanzhou (Wakeman 1109).

  Lanzhou: The capital of Gansu province.

  Qinzhong: Ancient name for Shaanxi province.

  475. The Harbinger Birds

  Shi Wucheng was living with his family in Yuancheng when suddenly a flock of birds, in color and appearance resembling crows, gathered over his house. When Shi saw them, he told his family members, “My wife has sent these birds to summon me. I must arrange my affairs quickly, for the date of my death is impending.” Indeed, he died at the time of the summer solstice.

  On the day that he was to be taken and buried, the crows came again, following his coffin in the funeral procession from Yuancheng to Xincheng. When they reached Shi’s burial site, the crows abruptly vanished.

  Wu Muxin, from Changshan, witnessed this with his own eyes.

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  Yuancheng: Located in Shandong province. Xincheng: Modern Huantai county in Shandong.

  476. Another Scholar Ji

  The E family of Nanyang was afflicted by a fox that kept stealing their money and various other things. When the family tried to stop it from doing so, the wicked spirit just increased its activities. Master E had a nephew named Ji, a celebrated scholar and irrepressible individual, who burnt incense for the fox spirit, begging it to stop bothering the family, but to no avail; then outside his uncle’s home he invoked blessings on the spirit, inviting it to come to his house instead, but again to no avail.

  People began laughing at him for doing these things. “Though this fox can cause this magical mayhem,” said Ji, “the spirit must still harbor some sentiments of decency. I’m determined to guide it so it can be reborn into a better life.” For several days he continued to go and offer blessings for it. Even when he couldn’t see the results of his actions, wherever he was, the fox stopped its harassments. Thus Master E often encouraged scholar Ji to stay overnight with his family.

  At night, Ji would gaze up into the sky and request a meeting with the fox spirit, inviting it even more insistently. One day, after Ji had returned home and was sitting alone in his study, the door to the room suddenly opened slowly all by itself. Ji got up to pay his respects, inquiring, “Has brother fox arrived?” But all remained quiet, without a sound in response.

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  Nanyang: A prefecture in Pu’s time, now a county in Henan province.

  Then one night, the door to his study opened all by itself again. “If that’s you, brother fox,” said Ji, “then this is what I’ve been wishing for, so why haven’t you appeared to me?” He stepped back, but all was still silent. The two hundred copper coins that had previously been on his tabletop, however, were gone the next morning.

  That evening, Ji put a few hundred additional coppers on the table. At midnight, he heard the coins clinking together loudly and clearly. “Have you come?” asked Ji. “I’ve respectfully provided a few hundred additional coins for your use. Even if my offerings aren’t exactly copious, I’m not stingy, either. If you need money, you shouldn’t hesitate to say so frankly, so what’s the point of stealing from me?” In a little while, he went over to the table and saw that there were still a couple hundred coins there.

  He continued putting the coins out in the same place, and for several nights none of them went missing. Instead, a roasted chicken that he’d intended for the entertainment of some friends was taken. In the evening, Ji put out some wine for the fox. However, there were no signs of the spirit’s
presence after this.

  Meanwhile, the E family began to be plagued by the wicked spirit just like before. Ji then went there to offer blessings once again, and said to the fox, “I set out money for you, but you didn’t pick it up, then I set out wine, but you didn’t drink it; my uncle is old and infirm, so please don’t torment him any longer. I’ll prepare some modest offerings for you to pick up tonight.” Then later on he set out on his table about ten thousand coins and a whole jar of wine, along with two chickens, all for the fox to take.

  Ji went to bed, but there was no sound all night long, and in the morning, everything was still on the table. From that point, the fox ceased its disturbances.

  One day, Ji was returning home late, and when he opened the door to his study, he found a jug of wine on his desk, along with a platter of roasted chicken; there were four hundred copper coins strung together with red cord, just like the things that had previously been taken. He realized that these were meant as compensations from the fox.

  He sniffed the wine, finding it quite fragrant, noticed its blue-green color as he poured it, then enjoyed its rich but mellow taste. After drinking half of the pot, he began experiencing covetous thoughts and suddenly found himself wanting to go steal something. Consequently, he opened his door and went out.

  Thinking about a particularly wealthy household in the village, he went and climbed over the family’s wall. Even though the wall was quite high, he was able to leap over it lightly, as though he had a bird’s wings. He entered the home, stole a sable robe and a golden pot, and then left. When he returned to his study, he placed the items beside his bed there and fell asleep.

  The next morning, he carried the items into his bedroom. His wife was surprised and when she asked him where he’d gotten them, Ji haltingly told her, though he was wearing a joyful expression. Astonished, his wife cried, “You’ve always been upright and unyielding, so why have you suddenly become a thief!”