by Pu Songling
Cun: A length equal to 1/3 decimeter.
189. The Hell King
Li Jiuchang lived in Linqu. He was carrying a jug of wine with him as he went for a walk outside the village, when he saw a whirlwind come roaring by, so he poured out a respectful libation for it. Afterwards, as he was going elsewhere for some reason, his path took him near a number of impressive buildings, halls and pavilions that were magnificently beautiful.
A servant in light blue stepped out of one of them and invited Li inside, but he politely declined. The servant reiterated the invitation enthusiastically. “I don’t recall that we’ve ever met,” Li responded, “so are you sure that you’re not asking for the wrong person?”
“I don’t make mistakes,” replied the servant. Then he revealed that he knew Li’s name.
“Whose home is this?” Li asked him.
The servant replied, “Come inside, and you’ll find out.” They entered and proceeded towards the first gate, where Li saw a woman nailed to the door. Upon closer examination, he recognized that it was his sister-inlaw. He was completely horrified. Li’s sister-in-law had previously developed a ghastly sore on her arm and had been unable to get out of bed for more than a year. Hence he wondered to himself how she could have come to be there.
He became suspicious that this invitation meant something bad, so he was afraid to go any further and started to hang back. The servant then hurried him along, and they went through the gate.
_______________________________
Linqu: Now a county in modern Shandong province.
They came to a great hall, where a man wearing the raiment of a king, and possessing a fiercely intimidating demeanor, was seated. Li knelt and prostrated himself, not daring to look up. The king ordered that he be pulled to his feet, and reassuringly declared, “Don’t be afraid. Because I once took a cup of your wine, I wanted to offer you my thanks—no other reason.”
Li began to feel more relaxed, though he still didn’t know why he was there. The king then asked him, “Don’t you remember that when you were walking in the open country, you poured out a libation?”
Li suddenly realized that he was standing before a deity, so he kowtowed and said, “I just saw that my sister-in-law has incurred a serious penalty, and due to our family bond, I can’t bear such a sadness. Great king, please have mercy on her!”
“This sister-in-law of yours has been overbearing and jealous,” said the king, “thus it’s only proper she should be punished. Three years ago, when your elder brother’s concubine gave birth, her intestines slipped out, so your sister-in-law secretly took out needles and stabbed them into her intestines, and now she often feels pains in her viscera. How can your sister-in-law even be considered a human being!”
Li again asked pity for her. The king then declared, “Since you’ve begged on her behalf, she may be forgiven. Once you return home, you should advise the shrewish woman to change her behavior.” Li thanked him and went back outside, where there now was no one on the door.
When he returned and went to see his sister-inlaw, she was lying in bed, with dark blood staining the mattress. Quite often, whenever the concubine was unable to satisfy her requests, Li’s sister-in-law would launch a torrent of verbal abuse at her. “Don’t do this to yourself, sister-in-law!” Li hastily advised her. “All of the fierce torment you’re feeling now is the result of your daily envy and jealousy.”
The sister-in-law angrily told him, “Brother-in-law’s such a good man; and your wife’s such a virtuous woman that she allows her husband to sleep around with other women without daring to complain even a little. All of this is due to your restrictions and confinement of women, and now you won’t even yell at me, out of deference to your brother!”
With a little smile, Li said, “Don’t be angry, sister-inlaw, if I’ve spoken candidly about your conduct—perhaps you might even have a little cry over it.”
“Since I’d never steal thread from the Queen Mother of the West’s basket,” she sneered, “or snatch an effigy of the Jade Emperor from an altar, I don’t have anything to feel guilty about, so how would I have any reason to cry!”
In a low voice, Li said, “What would a person’s crime be, to prick someone’s intestines with needles?” His sister-in-law’s expression suddenly changed, and she asked him what he meant by that. Li then told her everything.
The sister-in-law began trembling uncontrollably, tears flowing freely, and said with a mournful cry, “I wouldn’t have dared to do such a thing!” While she was unable to stop her crying, she felt the pains in her arm abruptly cease, and in ten days she was fully recovered. From this point forward, she completely changed her former ways and could truly be called virtuous and understanding.
Afterwards, the concubine gave birth again and her intestines again slid out, with needles visibly sticking out of them. When the needles were removed, the pain in her intestines disappeared completely.
_______________________________
Queen Mother of the West: Daoist goddess, the epitome of yin, the female essence. She’s associated with “autumn, death, the afterlife, and paradise,” considered one of the Daoist cocreators of the world, and revered as a force for maintaining “cosmic harmony” (Cahill 3).
Jade Emperor: The supreme deity in Daoist belief, revered in Southeast Asia as well as in China.
The collector of these strange tales remarks, “If we acknowledge that there are plenty of people as fiercely jealous as Li’s sister-in-law, we may feel resentful that there are so many of them who have gone unpunished. I say: Not so. The Hell King has his own ways of punishing, even nothing less than being nailed to a door—however, he doesn’t do it in consultation with us.”
190. The Clay Statue
A man named Ma, from Yishui, married a woman surnamed Wang, and they lived together in perfect marital harmony. Ma died while still quite young, so Wang’s parents wanted her to remarry, but Wang swore she wouldn’t. Wang’s mother-in-law pitied her youth, and also tried to advise her, but she wouldn’t listen.
Her mother said, “Your determination not to remarry is a virtuous one; but you’re so young, and you haven’t yet had any children. It’s not unusual to see a woman who’s initially reluctant to remarry, yet later commits some shameful deeds. Therefore, you’d best remarry early, which is also a widespread custom.”
Wang took in her words, swore that she would kill herself rather than remarry, and her mother believed her. The girl ordered a statue of her husband to be made, and always offered it food and drink like it was alive.
One night, just as she was about to go to sleep, she saw the clay statue of her husband yawn and stretch. Shocked and stunned as she watched, it grew to the size of a real human being, and then it actually became her husband. Frightened, Wang cried out for her mother.
The ghost stopped and said, “Please don’t. I felt your attachment to me, and my heart filled with sorrow, even far away in the underworld. When one generation of a family produces a virtuous person, their descendants for several generations will share in that glory. My father was an awful person when he was alive, and thus I was doomed to live only a short life. But the Hell King considered your determined loyalty to me, and for that reason he’s sent me home, till you give birth to a son who can carry on the family line.” Wang’s sleeves were wet with her tears.
_______________________________
Yishui: A county in Shandong province.
Then they made love together happily as though they’d never been separated. At the cock’s crow, Ma got up from the bed and left.
Thus in a little more than a month, Wang felt something in her stomach make a slight movement. Ma’s ghost tearfully appeared to her and said, “My time limit has expired, so now death must part us forever!” Then he disappeared.
Wang originally hadn’t said anything about this to anyone; but as her stomach subsequently grew larger, she couldn’t keep it hidden, so she privately told her mother everything. Her mother initially suspected that she’d
become involved with some other man; but when she observed Wang’s loyalty to Ma, she utterly dismissed all of her suspicions.
Ten months later, she gave birth to a boy. When other people heard the details behind all this, they couldn’t conceal their laughter; but Wang couldn’t offer anything concrete to defend herself. There was a village head who was an acquaintance of Ma. He reported everything to the magistrate. The magistrate ordered the detention and interrogation of Wang’s neighbors, but no one had anything bad to say about Wang.
The village head then declared, “I’ve heard that ghosts cast no shadow, so if this infant has a shadow, he’s a fraud.” As Wang held the baby boy in her arms, he cast a shadow as faint as wisps of smoke. Then they pricked the boy’s finger to smear some of his blood on the clay statue, and immediately afterwards there was no mark on it; and when they smeared blood on other clay statues, they had to wipe them clean afterwards. Hence they believed Wang.
Several years later, the boy’s facial features, and even his manner of speech, exactly resembled Ma’s own. Only then did the villagers really accept Wang’s explanation.
191. The Woman from Changzhi
Chen Huanle lived in Lu’an prefecture, in Changzhi. He had a daughter who was both wise and beautiful. A Daoist priest came there begging alms, and after he looked askance at her, he left. Following this, he started bringing his begging bowl to their household each day.
When he spotted a blind man coming out of Chen’s house, the Daoist hurried over to walk along with him, asking him where he’d just been. “I was just coming from Chen’s house,” the blind man replied, “where I figured to find good fortune.”
The Daoist said, “I’ve heard that there’s a young lady in his family, and my first cousin wants to propose to her, but he doesn’t know her age and birthdate.” The blind man provided him those details, and the Daoist then took his leave of him and went on his way.
Several days later, the young woman was doing some embroidery at home when she suddenly felt a numbness in her feet that gradually spread to her legs, and from there spread by degrees to her waist and stomach; after a while she became so dizzy that she almost fell down. She was motionless for over fifteen minutes, till she began to feel that perhaps she might be able to stand, and was just about to look for her mother and tell her about her condition.
But as she was about to go out, she saw an endless road, narrow as a thread, stretching into a vast expanse of black waves; astonished, she retreated back inside, discovering that the rooms of the house had already begun to sink into the black waters. Then when she checked on the road, the only passerby was the Daoist, strolling past the front of their house.
_______________________________
Lu’an . . . Changzhi: Changzhi county is located in Shanxi province.
Therefore she followed him, hoping to run into some fellow townspeople who could let her know what was happening. She ran for several li, and all of a sudden spotted a house that she later recognized as her own home.
Quite shaken, she said, “I’ve been running as fast as I can, yet I’m still in the village. I don’t understand how I can still be here!” Glad to get inside, she discovered that her parents still hadn’t returned home. She returned again to her own room, her embroidery work lying on top of a shoe that was on her bed. She felt exhausted, so she decided to sit down on the bed and rest.
The Daoist suddenly entered, causing the young lady such fright that she wanted to run away. But he caught her and held her down. She tried to scream, but discovered herself mute and unable to make a sound. The Daoist quickly took out a sharp knife and cut out her heart.
The young woman felt her spirit float free from her body and stand up. She looked around her family’s home, but it seemed all topsy-turvy, as if it’d fallen over the side of a cliff. She saw the Daoist take a bit of her heart blood and put it on a wooden figure, then gestured with his forefinger and spoke an incantation; the young woman felt herself become one with the wooden figure. The Daoist advised her, “From now on, you have to listen to me, and you’d better not disobey my orders!” Then he stuck the wooden figure in the sash around his waist.
When Chen’s family couldn’t find the daughter, the entire household was perplexed. They began to look for her in the Oxhead Mountains after they’d heard rumors from other townspeople that a young woman in the mountain range had died from having her heart cut out. Chen hurried to investigate, and discovered his daughter’s corpse there.
_______________________________
Li: A distance equal to 1/3 mile.
Tearfully, he took her body to the magistrate, to report the matter. The magistrate arrested residents from nearly everywhere in the Oxhead Mountain range and had them beaten, but without discovering any clues. Consequently, the magistrate concluded that he should detain all of the people for some further investigation.
Meanwhile, the Daoist had traveled several li away, so he sat near the road, under a willow tree, where he suddenly told the young woman, “Your first task from me will be to spy on the investigation hall. Once you’re there, hide yourself above the paper ceiling of the inner wooden room. And when you see the magistrate about to use his seal, you have to flee—and remember what I’m about to tell you! There are certain restrictions, so you have to leave during chen and return before the end of si. If you’re fifteen minutes late, I’ll take a needle and stab it into your heart, which will cause you immediate pain; if you’re half an hour late, I’ll stab with two needles; if I stab you with three needles, your spirit will be utterly destroyed.”
When she heard this, her limbs shook with fright, and then she began floating away in the air. In a flash, she came to the magistrate’s office, and found her body in the wooden room that the Daoist had described.
At that time, the mountain people had all been gathered together and were on their knees in the courtyard, no longer being interrogated. The magistrate was just about to put the seal of his office on an official document regarding the case, too late for the young woman to hide herself from seeing it, for his official stamp was already out of its box. The woman then felt her floating body grow heavy and weak, so the paper ceiling of the private room couldn’t hold her up, and she heard the sound of it beginning to tear.
_______________________________
Chen . . . si: Chen is the fifth of the twelve “earthly branches,” divisions used for calculating time, which corresponds to 7:00-9:00 a.m., and si, the sixth branch, corresponds to the 9:00-11:00 a.m. span (Mayers 371).
The large group of people who’d been packed into the courtyard looked over in amazement. As the magistrate ordered them to return to their business, they heard the ripping sound like before; and as they were about to proceed, the ceiling collapsed and the woman’s spirit fell to the ground. Everyone in the crowd heard it.
The magistrate then stood up and spoke a blessing to the woman’s spirit, saying, “If you’re the ghost of one who was wrongly killed, please state your grievance. I shall judge it and exonerate you.”
At first the young woman’s throat was choked with emotion, then she told of the Daoist’s threats to destroy and dissipate her spirit. The magistrate dispatched servants who galloped to the willow tree, where the Daoist was waiting. They captured him and brought him back, where an interrogation was conducted and a report issued. The man’s criminal acts thus came to light.
“The injustice has been avenged,” the magistrate said to the young woman, “but how can you go home now?”
“I was hoping to serve you,” she replied.
He told her, “My office has no place to accommodate you, so it would be better for you to return home for now to your family.”
The young woman pondered this for quite a while, and then said, “Your government office has become my home, so I’ll just live here.” When the magistrate asked her another question, the sound of her voice had already turned to silence.
Just as he withdrew and entered his residence, his wife gave b
irth to a daughter.
192. The Faithful Dog
There was a certain man in Lu’an prefecture whose father had been arrested in a lawsuit and was on the verge of being executed. When the man collected all of his savings, he found he had a hundred taels, so he decided to visit the prefectural headquarters and offer it as a bribe.
He mounted his mule and headed out, followed by the family’s black dog. He shouted at the dog, to try to send it back home; instead it ran after him and continued to follow, and though he lashed out at it to chase it away, it wouldn’t go back.
Indeed, it pursued the man for several dozen li. The man climbed down from his mule and hastened to the side of the road to urinate. When he finished, he took some stones and chucked them at the dog, till the dog began to run away; then as the man proceeded onward, the dog suddenly returned, nipping at the mule’s tail and feet. The man angrily struck the dog, which yelped and barked but wouldn’t stop.
Suddenly it leapt in front of the mule, frantically snapping at the mule’s head, like it wanted to stop it from going any further. The man considered this very inauspicious, became even more annoyed, and turned the mule around to chase the dog off. When he saw that the dog was finally retreating into the distance, he turned the mule with the bridle and sped along, so he arrived at the prefectural headquarters at dusk.
_______________________________
Lu’an prefecture: Located in Changzhi county, Shanxi province.
Li: A distance equal to 1/3 mile.
When he reached into the money bag at his waist, he found that half the taels were gone. Sweating nervously, he felt utterly lost. He tossed and turned all night long, then suddenly he began wondering whether there was a reason that the dog had been barking at him.
Once he was outside the town, he looked carefully as he retraced his route. Then he reflected that since the travelers there were as numerous as ants on the north-south thoroughfare, it was highly unlikely that the lost money would still be there. He slowly moved forward, to the place where he’d stopped to relieve himself, and there he saw the dog lying dead in the grass, its fur as wet with sweat as if it’d been bathing.