30. This piece is among the earliest works featuring the motif “Revival of a Ghost Wife.” A variant version with almost no difference is found in volume 8 of Liu Jingshu’s 劉敬叔 Yiyuan 異苑 [A garden of marvels]. A longer version of this story is found in volume four of the Soushen houji 搜神後記 [Further records of an inquest into the spirit realm], and it was included in Karl S. Y. Kao, ed., Classical Chinese Tales of the Supernatural and the Fantastic, 130–32. Noted works following this model include the famous Ming drama Mudan ting 牡丹亭 [The peony pavilion] by Tang Xianzu (1550–1616).
31. Guangping 廣平 Commandery, southeast of modern Xingtai 邢臺, Hebei. See Tan Qixiang, Zhongguo lishi dituji, 4. 51.
32. Among the love stories between men and spirits in Chinese narratives, this piece is fairly unusual. The young man was so shy and so cowardly, and the heavenly girl was so heartless and so mean.
33. Jingkou 京口, modern city of Zhenjiang 鎮江, Jiangsu.
34. The Ming dynasty handwritten edition reads 女怒，遣之使出, “The girl became angry and drove him out.”
35. Qi zhi 乞之, “give her [stuff] back.”
36. Yangxian 陽羨, modern Yixing 宜興, Jiangsu.
37. A more detailed account of Cui Maobo is found in TPGJ (324. 2574), yet no source is provided.
38. Taishan Commandery, modern Tai’an 泰安 County, Shandong.
39. Shanyin 山陰, modern city of Shaoxing 紹興, Zhejiang.
40. This story is also included in volume 6 of Yi yuan.
41. Jiangling 江陵, modern Jingzhou 荆州.
Gu Changkang 顧長康, named Kaizhi 愷之, was a famous painter, calligrapher, and poet of the Eastern Jin. His biography is found in Fang Xuanling 房玄齡 (578–648), et al., eds., Jin shu 晉書, 92. 2404–06.
42. The biography of Gu Kaizhi in Jin shu includes this story with a happy ending as follows: “Kaizhi therefore expressed his feelings to her, and the girl yielded to him. Thus he secretly took the hairpin out, and the girl healed” (Jin shu 92. 2405).
43. Dongping 東平 Commandery; its seat was at modern Dongping County in Shangdong.
44. Qu’e 曲阿, see footnote 27 above.
45. These two lines are from the “Shao siming” 少司命 [Lesser master of fate] in Qu Yuan’s 屈原 “Jiuge” 九歌 [Nine songs]. See Hawkes, trans., The Songs of the South, 112.
46. Liu Ji 柳季, a man of Lu 魯 State in the Spring and Autumn period, also called Liu Xiahui 柳下惠, who had the fame of not behaving improperly even when a beauty sat in his arms.
47. “Sangzhong” 桑中 [Mulberry field] is a poem in the Shijing 詩經 [The classic of odes] that depicts a girl’s rendezvous with her lover. a mulberry field later became the place of lovers’ secret meeting.
48. Tuzhong 塗中, “in the mud.”
49. Wu 吳 County, present-day Suzhou 蘇州.
50. Hedong 河東 Commandery, the area centered around present-day Xia 夏 County and north of the city of Sanmen xia 三門峡, Henan. See Tan Qixiang, Zhongguo lishi dituji, 3. 35. Its seat was located at modern Yongji 永濟 County, Shanxi.
51. Zhang’an 章安 County, located southeast of modern Linhai 臨海 County, Zhejiang.
52. This tale was credited also to Zhenyi zhi 甄異志, likely Dai Zuo’s 戴祚 (fl. late fourth century). Zhenyi zhi 甄異傳, by TPGJ (468. 3861).
53. Yongxing 永興 County; its seat was located west of modern Xiaoshan 蕭山, Zhejiang.
54. TPYL (580. 2617b) reads Yongjia 永嘉 (307–312) [of Jin] for Yuanjia.
55. Taishan Commandery, located in modern Tai’an 泰安, Shandong.
56. Xiang 相 County, established in Liu Song, was in the area of modern Xuzhou 徐州, Jiangsu.
57. Jinling 晉陵, modern city of Changzhou 常州, Jiangsu.
58. Dongyang 東陽 Commandery was established in Wu of the Three Kingdoms period, and its seat was in modern Jinhua 金華, Zhejiang (Tan Qixiang, Zhongguo lishi dituji, 25–26).
59. A lutelike four-stringed instrument with pear-shaped sounding box and fretted fingerboard.
60. Waguan 瓦官 Monastery, one of the oldest monasteries in Nanjing, built in the second year of the Xingning 興寧 reign (364) of Eastern Jin.
61. “The City of Stone” was built in the capital of Wu 吳 in the Three Kingdoms period (220–280), and since then it has become Moling 秣陵 (or Jianye 建業) and modern Nanjing 南京.
62. Juzhang 句章 County, modern Ningbo 寧波, Zhejiang.
63. TPYL (884. 3928b) credits this tale to Soushen houji 搜神後記, which adds the following at the end:
The next morning he walked beyond the eastern outer wall of the city, where an old lady was selling food in the food store. This man sat there temporarily and told her what he had seen last night. The old lady was startled, saying, “This was my daughter who died recently and was buried outside the outer wall of the town.”
TPGJ (316. 2504) erroneously credits this story to Lingguai ji 靈怪集, a much later work by Zhang Jian 張薦 (744–804) of the Tang dynasty.
2
A GARDEN OF MARVELS
26. LORD OF MOUNT LU
During the reign period of Sun Quan (r. 222–252),1 the south sent an official to present a hairpin made out of rhinoceros horn. Passing by Lake Gongting, the official went to the temple of the Lord of Mount Lu to pray for good fortune. The deity sent down an order to request the hairpin, and the hairpin container was just in front of the deity.
The official kowtowed, saying, “This hairpin is intended for the emperor. I have to piteously beg your mercy.”
The spirit replied, “Before you enter the City of Stone,2 it will be returned to you.” Thus the official left.
When the official arrived at the City of Stone, a carp three feet long jumped into his boat. The official cut open its belly and obtained the hairpin.
(GXSGC, #53. 367; TPYL, 688. 3071a & 936. 4160b)
27. EXCHANGING HEADS AND FACES
Jia Bizhi of Hedong was called Yier in his childhood.3 Both of these names have been checked against his family genealogy. During the Yixi reign period (405–418), he was an adjutant in the government office of Langye.4
One night he dreamed of a man who had an acned face with whiskers, a big nose, and upward-looking eyes. The man asked him, “I admire your appearance, and I want to exchange my head with you. Is this acceptable?”
Bi replied, “Each person has his own head and face. How could one tolerate such an outrage?”
The following night he had the same dream again, and he was disgusted with it. Thus he promised to exchange heads in his dream.
When he got up the next morning, he himself did not realize what had happened. However, people all ran away and hid in surprise, saying, “Where did this man come from?”
Being frightened, the Prince of Langye sent someone to summon the man to have a look. When Bi arrived, the Prince of Langye saw him at a distance, stood up, and went back to the inner court.
Bi did not realize anything abnormal until he found a mirror and looked at himself. Then he returned home. All the members of his family went inside the room in a panic, and women ran away to hide themselves, saying, “Where did this strange man come from?” Bi sat down, spent quite a while telling his family his story, and sent someone to inquire at the prefecture; they then believed him.
Later, he was able to cry with half a face while the other half smiled. His two legs, hands, and mouth each could hold a pen and write at the same time. The meanings of the words were all good. This was truly marvelous. Otherwise, the rest of his life remained the same as before.
(GXSGC, #140. 393–94; YWLJ, 17. 312; TPYL, 364. 1676b;
TPGJ, 276. 2183 & 360. 2852)
28. PREGNANCY IN A DREAM
At the beginning of the Xianhe reign period (326–334) of Jin, Xu Jing had a long trip. He dreamed of sleeping with his wife and she was pregnant. The next year when he returned home, his wife gave birth to a baby as expected. What had happened later was just like what he said.
(GXSGC, #85. 377; TPGJ, 276. 2182)
29. REPORTING DEATH THROUGH A DREAM
Qin Jia (ca. 130–ca. 170) of Longxi Commandery,5 styled Shihui, was a talented handsome man.6 His wife, Xu Shu, was also noted for her talent and beauty.
During the reign of Emperor Huan (147–167), Jia went to the city of Luo as an official under a ministry, and Shu returned to her mother’s home. While lying in bed during the day, Shu started to cry; the tears covered her face.
Surprised, her elder sister-in-law asked her for the reason. She replied, “I have just seen Jia [in a dream], and he said himself that he died of an illness in a hotel in Jinxiang. Neither of the two attendants have left. One is keeping vigil beside the coffin while the other is sending a letter to our home. He will arrive at noon.”
All of the family were terrified. When the letter arrived later, everything was like what had been told in the dream.
(GXSGC, #42. 363; TPYL, 400. 1850a)
30. DRY CHOLERA
Zhang Jia of a certain commandery previously had kinship with Cai Mo (281–356), the Minister of Education [of Jin], and he lodged in Cai Mo’s home.7 After a short trip of a few nights’ duration, he did not return on time.
While Mo was sleeping during the day, he dreamed of Jia, who said to him, “During my short trip, I was suddenly infected with a disease. I suffered from abdominal bloating and was unable to vomit or discharge. After I died, the host put me in a coffin and sent me to the grave.”
Facing him, Mo wept in grief.
Jia said further, “My illness is called dry cholera, which of course can be cured. But no one knows the remedy; therefore it caused my death.”
Mo asked, “How is it cured?”
Jia replied, “Get a spider, break its legs alive, and swallow it. Then one will be healed.”
After Mo awoke, he sent someone to the place Jia had traveled and examined it, and found that he was really dead. He asked the host and found out that the illness and the time all matched the dream.
Later, there were people who were infected with dry cholera; Mo tried the prescription, and thereupon the illness was cured.
(GXSGC, #78. 374–75; TPYL, 743. 3296a, 948. 4208a; TPGJ, 276. 2181)
31. THE TEMPLE OF DENG AI
The Temple of Deng Ai (197–264) 8 was in Jingkou,9 and onto its ruin a thatched hut was built. Sima Tian (265–420), the General Pacifying the North of the Jin,10 dreamed of an old man who said to him, “I am Mr. Deng. My house fell down and was ruined. Would you please repair it for me?” Later, Tian visited the place. He knew it was the Temple of Deng Ai, and therefore he built a tile-roofed house there for the old man.
During the Long’an reign period (397–402), one day a man had an affair with a girl on the seat of the spirit memorial tablet. A snake came, crawled around them four times, and then left. The family of the girl ran after and found it. They prayed with wine and meat at the temple; thus, the impending trouble was removed.
(GXSGC, #60. 369; TPGJ, 318. 2521)
32. A MAN FROM EARTHENWARE
A scholar, surnamed Wang, sat in his studio. A man sent a visiting card to meet him, which read “Shu Zhenzhong.”11 After the man had visited and left, Wang suspected that he was not human.
Having searched for the meaning of the name on the visiting slip, he read, “He is a man in the earthenware west of my house.”
He asked people to dig there and they truly found a bronze statue more than a foot tall in the earthenware.
(GXSGC, #182. 405; TPYL, 606. 2728a–b)
33. AN ILLUSION
In the region of Yangzi River and Huai River,12 there was a woman who was by nature greedy and indulged in fantasy day and night. Once, she got drunk. The next morning when she got up, she saw two little boys behind the house who were extremely fresh and clean, like the young officials in the palace. Therefore the woman intended to embrace them in her arms. But suddenly they became brooms. The woman fetched them and put them on the fire.
(GXSGC, #230. 419–20; TPGJ, 368. 2927)
34. ASHES OF THE EON FIRE
Emperor Wu (r. 140–87 BCE) of the Han dug the Kunming Lake. When they reached the extremely deep place, there was no longer earth, but all black ashes. No one of the emperor’s court knew what it was, so they inquired of Dongfang Shuo (154–93 BCE) about it.13
Shuo said, “I am stupid, not possessing enough knowledge to know it. You may ask the foreign monk from the west.” Since Dongfang Shuo did not know, the emperor felt it would be difficult to get the answer.
During the time of Emperor Ming (58–75) in the Later Han (25–220),14 a foreign monk came to Luoyang. Someone thought of Dongfang Shuo’s words and asked him. The foreigner replied, “The Buddhist sutra says, ‘When an eon in the heaven and earth is about to finish, then there is a disastrous fire. These are the remains of an eon (kalpa) fire.”
Thus people knew that Dongfang Shuo’s words were correct.
(GXSGC, #262. 433–34; Wenfang sipu, 5; SSJ, 13. 162)
35. FLYING CASH
Huang Xun, a native of Hailing,15 previously lived alone in poverty.
Once a gust blew scattering cash to his home. The flying cash bumped against his piles of fencing and landed all over the place; Xun picked up all of it.
Thereupon he became extremely wealthy, and his wealth grew to several dozen millions. Consequently, he became famous in the area north of the Yangzi River.
(GXSGC, #177. 403; TPYL, 836. 3735a, 472. 2166b)
36. FEI DAOSI
In the seventh year of the Yixi reign (405–418), Fei Daosi of Dongyang Commandery took a wife,16 and they loved each other. When the bride combed her hair, Daosi teasingly drew out her silver hairpin and placed it on the cabinet above the door frame.17
(GXSGC, #137. 393; BTSC, 136. 247b)
37. QIAN CHENG
During the reign period of Sun Quan (r. 222–252), Qian Cheng of Wuxing once lay down for a long daytime nap.18 While he was unconscious, both sides of his mouth oozed two liters of liquid.
His mother, in fear, called him to wake him. He said, “Just a moment ago I saw an old man who was feeding me with roasted tendon. It is a shame that I still had not finished eating when you woke me up.”
Cheng was originally weak and thin, but after this happened he became famous for his strength, with his official title reaching Commander of the Mobile Imperial Guards.19
(GXSGC, #55. 367; TPYL, 398. 1840)
38. ZHANG MAODU
When Zhang Maodu (ca. 376–ca. 442) of the Wu Commandery was the Governor of Yizhou,20 someone suddenly claimed that the court had sentenced Xu Xianzhi (364–426),21 Fu Liang (374–426),22 and Xie Hui (390–426) to death.23 Consequently, this news was widely spread.
Zhang questioned the man, “You rumor maker! On what basis did you say that?” The man replied, “In fact, there was no basis. I said that in a trance.” Zhang punished him with a whip, and the news stopped spreading.
Later, however, the news was proved to be correct.24
(GXSGC, #239. 422; KYZJ, 113. 775)
39. DISPELLING ACCUMULATED DISTRESS WITH WINE
Emperor Wu of the Han saw a creature that resembled an ox liver. After entering the earth, it stayed motionless. The emperor asked Dongfang Shuo about it. Shuo replied, “This is the air of accumulated distress. Only wine can dispel distress. Now if you pour wine onto it, it will disappear immediately.”
(GXSGC, #28. 358; BTSC, 148. 324a)
40. YANG HU SUFFERED FROM HEADACHES25
Yang Hu (221–278) suffered from headaches, and someone had him treated.26 Hu said, “On the third day after I was born, my head was facing the northern door. Feeling
the wind blow against me, I worried about it very much, but I could not speak. Since the origin of the illness is so long ago, it is impossible to cure.”
(LS, 11. 189a–b)
41. QIN MIN
To the south of the city of Xiangyang lived Qin Min.27 By nature he was extremely filial. After his parents died, he wailed with bloody tears for three years. Someone chanted the poem “Thick Tarragons” for him.28 Having heard of its meaning, everyone could not help but weep.
(GXSGC, #183. 405; TPYL, 616. 2770a)
42. A TURTLEDOVE ENTERS ONE’S ARMS
In Chang’an there was a man surnamed Zhang.29 During the day, when he was in his room, a turtledove entered, standing on the ground across from his bed. Zhang disliked it. He untied the belt of his shirt and made a vow to the gods, saying, “Turtledove! If you come to bring me calamity, perch on the dust receiver (screen) over the bed; if you come to bring me blessings, enter my arms.”
The turtledove flew up and down, but finally entered his arms. He stretched his hand to feel it, but could not touch it. However, he got a golden belt hook there, and he treasured it.
From then on, his sons and grandsons became prosperous.
(GXSGC, #35. 360; CXJ, 27. 646; TPYL, 811. 3604b)
43. CRESCENDOS OF MUSIC AFTER DEATH
Xie Chi, the Governor of Linchuan Commandery of the Jin,30 heard crescendos of music at night. His older brother Xie Zao said, “Night symbolizes the netherworld. The music is not worth thinking of now. It will appear in your afterlife.” When Xie Chi died, he was bestowed the position of Changshui Commandant, and the crescendos of music were added to the funeral.
Hidden and Visible Realms Page 9