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Zong Dingbo, a young man in Nanyang, met a ghost one
night while walking along the road. "Who is it?" he asked.
"A ghost," answered the ghost. "Who are you?" "I am a
ghost, too," Zong lied. "Where are you going?" the ghost
asked. "I am going to Wanshi," Zong answered. "I am also
going there," the ghost said. So they went a few li together.
"It is very tiresome to walk like this," said the ghost. "Why
do we not carry each other on our backs by turns?" "That is
an excellent idea," Zong agreed. First the ghost carried Zong
for & few li. "You are so heavy!" it said. "Are you really a
ghost?" Zong said, "I died quite recently, so I am heavy."
Then it was his turn to carry the ghost, which was almost
weightless. They went on like this, each carrying the other
several times. Zong said, "Since I have just died, I do not
know what a ghost fears." "A ghost fears nothing but to be
spat at," the ghost told him.
They came to a river. Zong asked the ghost to cross it
first. He listened and found that the ghost made no noise at
all. When he waded the river, he splashed and made a lot of
noise. "Why did you make so much noise?" the ghost asked.
"I have not yet learned to cross a river quietly, since I am a
new ghost," Zong answered, adding, "Please bear with me
about that."
They were approaching Wanshi when Zong put the ghost
on his shoulder and held it fast with his hands. The ghost
demanded in a loud voice to be let off, but Zong turned a deaf
ear to it. He walked straight to the centre of the town. When
he put the ghost down on the ground, it had turned itself into
a goat. He sold it and spat at it for fear that it might change
people said at the time, "Zong Dingbo earned fifteen hundred
coins by selling a ghost."
from Cao Pi's Lie yi zhuan (Strange Stories)
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Mr. Tan, a scholar in the Han Dynasty, was single at
forty. He often read the Book of Songs, which invariably
stirred his feelings. At midnight one day a girl appeared
before him. She was no more than fifteen or sixteen, her
clothes were resplendent, and her beauty staggering. She
asked him to marry her, saying, "I am different from other
women. Please do not put any light close to me, but after
three years you can do that." And they became husband and
wife. Then a son was born. When the child was two years old,
Tan was tempted by curiosity and looked at her one night by
the light of a candle while she was asleep. What he saw was a
woman with human flesh above the waist but only a skeleton
below it. At this moment the woman woke up. "You have
failed me," she said. "Otherwise, I would soon revive. Why
couldn't you have waited for another year instead of exposing
me to the light now?" Tan apologized for what he had done,
tears running down his cheeks. "We cannot but part for
ever," she said. "But I shall try to provide for my son. Come
with me and I shall give you something in case you are too
poor to support yourself and him." So Tan followed her as
she entered a magnificent, sumptuously furnished house.
There she gave him a gown decorated with pearls and said,
"With this you will always live a decent life." Then she tore
off a part of his sleeve as a keepsake and disappeared.
Later Mr. Tan went to the market with the gown, which
was bought by someone for a Mr. Wang of Suiyang. Tan got
a large sum of money for it. When Wang saw it, he recognized
it, saying, "This used to be my daughter's gown. The man
who sold it must be a grave-digger." On his order, Tan was
seized and interrogated. Tan told his story in detail, but Wang
found it hardly believable. He went to her grave to check and
found it intact. When it was opened, part of Tan's sleeve was
seen inside the coffin. Wang then had Tan's son brought to
him and found the boy took after his daughter. Now that he
believed Tan had told the truth, he sent for him, returned the
gown to him, and made him a legitimate son-in-law. Later the
old man recommended Tan's son to an important post in the
court.
from Cao Pi's Lie yi zhuan (Strange Stories)
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In the Han Dynasty in Qiancheng lived a man by the
name of Dong Yong. His mother died when he was a child.
While living with his father, he worked hard in the fields.
Each time they went out, he would put his old father on a
small cart and follow it on foot. When his father died, he was
willing to sell himself into slavery for a little money for the
funeral. Knowing that he was a virtuous man, his master gave
him ten thousand coins and allowed him to go home.
Dong was in mourning for three years. When it was over,
he decided to return to his master to work as a slave. On his
way he met a woman who said to him, "I am willing to marry
you." So they went together to his master. "I have given you
money," the master said to him. "Thanks to your generous
help," Dong said, "I was able to bury my father. Although I
am a man of low birth, I know I ought to work for you to
repay your kindness." Then the master asked, "What is your
wife good at?" "She can weave," Dong answered. "If yOu
insist on doing something for me," said the master. "please
ask your wife to weave a hundred bolts of fine silk for me."
Dong's wife set to work in the master's house. Ten days later
the hundred bolts were ready.
When she came out, she said to Dong, "I am a weaver in
Heaven. The Emperor of Heaven ordered me to help you pay
your debt because he was moved by your filial piety." After
saying these words she flew into the sky and vanished.
from Gan Bao's
Sou shen ji (Stories of Immortals)
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Gangjiang and Moye, who were husband and wife and
lived in the state of Chu, were obliged to forge swords for the
king. Three years had passed before they could finally produce
them. Annoyed, the king intended to kill Ganjiang. The
couple made two swords, one male, the other female. Just
then Moye, the wife, was about to give birth to a child. The
husband said to her,"Since it has taken me three long years
to make the swords, the king must be angry. It is certain that
he will put me to death when I go and present the swords to
him. If the child turns out to be a boy, tell him this as soon as
he is grown up, `Go out of the house, look at the southern
mountains and search for the place where a pine tree is
growing on a rock. Try to find one of the swords on its
back.'" After he had said this, Ganjiang left for the palace
with the female sword. The king became furious when he saw
only one sword, and ordered it to be examined. When he was
told that there were actually two swords, one male and the
other female, and that the one he saw was female, while the
male one was not there, the king flew into a rage and had
Ganjiang beheaded at once.
Moye named her son Chibi. When he grew up, he asked
her, "Where is my father?" "Your father once had to forget
two swords for the king," Moye replied, "and it took him
three years to finish them. The king killed him in a fury.
Before he left home, your father asked me to give you this
message, 'Go out of the house, look at the southern moun
tains and search for the place where a pine tree is growing on
a rock. Try to find one of the swords on its back.'" So the boy
ran out of the house and looked south, but he saw no
mountain at all. Then his eyes fell on a stone plinth in front of
the house, with a pine pillar on its top. Chibi hurried to
cleave the pillar from behind. Sure enough, there was the male
sword. From that time on, Chibi planned day and night to
avenge his father.
The king had a dream one night, in which he saw a boy,
whose eyebrows were one foot apart from each other, swearing to take vengeance for his father's death. The king offered
a reward of one-thousand taels of gold for the capture of the
young lad. Chibi heard the news and had to take to the mountains. On his way he went singing sad songs, when a stranger
came up and asked, "Why are you so sad, young man?" "I
am the son of Ganjiang and Moye," replied the boy.
"Because the king killed my father, I'm determined to take
revenge." At this, the stranger said, "People say that the king
has set a price of one-thousand taels of gold on your head. If
you could give me your head and the sword, I would take
revenge for you." "Good!" said the boy. He cut off his own
head and handed it, together with the sword, to the stranger.
But his body stood where it was until the man vowed, "I will
not let you down!"
The king was pleased when he saw the boy's head. "Since
this is a brave man's head," said the man, "it should be
boiled in a cauldron to prevent further trouble." This the king
did. Three days and three nights went by, but the head
remained intact. And it was bobbing on the water, the eyes
burning with anger. "The head will not decompose," the
stranger said to the king, "would you just come over and take
a close look. Then it will surely go." The king came. As soon
as he bent forward, the stranger swung his sword and
chopped off the king's head, which dropped into the cauldron. This done, the man killed himself, his head also falling
into the broth. In no time, the three heads became mashed
and were no longer recognizable. Later, the broth, with what
was left of the heads, was divided into three parts and buried
in three graves, which came to be called "the Graves of Three
Kings." Today they can still be found in Yichun County
north of Runan.
from Gan Bao's
Sou shen ji (Stories of Immortals)
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Di Xi, who lived in Zhongshan, could make a liquor one
cup of which was enough to get one drunk for a thousand
days. There lived in the same prefecture a man called Liu
Xuanshi, who, being a heavy drinker, went to Di to ask for it.
"This brew is not yet ready," said Di. "I dare not give any to
you." "Just one cup, please," Liu insisted, "though it is not
yet ready." Because he said this, Di could not help giving him
a cup, which he finished. "Wonderful!" he said. "Do give me
some more." But Di said, "Please return home now and come
on another day. The one cup you have drunk will make you
sleep for a thousand days." So Liu left, the colour of his face
having somewhat changed. As soon as he reached home, he
apparently died of intoxication. His family believed he was
dead, cried and buried him.
Three years later, Di said to himself, "It is time Liu woke
up. I had better go and ask about him." He went to Liu's
home and asked, "Is Mr. Liu in?" Surprised, Liu's people
said, "He died a long time ago. The mourning for him is
already over." It was now Di's turn to be surprised. "The
liquor I made was so strong that he would sleep for a thousand days after drinking a cup of it," he said. "He ought to
wake up today." He urged them to open the grave and break
the coffin to have a look. There was the smell of sweat on the
grave. When it was opened, they saw Liu opening his eyes and
mouth and heard him drawling, "How happy it is to be
drunk!" Then he asked Di, "What did you brew to make me
so drunk that I've woken up only today, How high is the sun
now?" All those around the grave laughed. The smell of
liquor from Liu's mouth got into their nostrils and put them
all into a drunken sleep for three months.
Gan Bao
Sou shen ji (Stories of Immortals)
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