Chinese Fairy Tales and Fantasies Part 8

Ch'iang San-mang was overjoyed. "Now I'm sure that ghosts can be captured," he said. "If I could get one every night and turn it into a sheep, then the next morning I could bring it to the butcher's and supply myself with meat and drink for the day."

Every night thereafter he shouldered a club and, rope in hand, crept among the graves like a hunter stalking a rabbit. But he never came across anything. Places that everyone called haunted turned out to be barren, though once he even pretended to be in a drunken sleep to dare the ghosts to do their worst.

One evening he saw a few flares across the forest and rushed to the spot, but the lights dispersed like so many sparks before he arrived. After a month of this frustration, he gave up.

It would seem that the dead frighten men simply by exploiting their fear. Ch'iang San-mang was convinced that a ghost could be caught and tied up, and his fearlessness was enough to scare them off.

-Chi Yun Ai Tzu and the Temple Ghost Ai Tzu was traveling by water, and on his way he saw a temple. The temple was low and small, but it had a dignity that was impressive. In front of it ran a little ditch. As Ai Tzu watched, a man who was on foot reached the ditch but could not get across. So the man looked into the temple, grabbed a statue of the temple G.o.d, and placed it over the ditch. Then he stepped on the statue and went his way.

Another man came, saw the statue, and sighed, "Oh! for the holy image to be treated with such disrespect!" He righted the statue, rubbed it clean with his clothes, and set it reverently back in place. He bowed three times and went his way.

Moments later, Ai Tzu heard a little ghost in the temple speaking to the statue. "My Lord, you reside here as a G.o.d. You enjoy the offerings and rites of the villagers. Now this brute has insulted you; shouldn't you bring disaster down on him to teach him a lesson?"

"If there are to be any disasters," the temple G.o.d answered, "they will descend upon the second man."

"The first man walked on you; what greater insult is there?" said the small ghost. "Yet you will not ruin him. The second man showed respect for you, my Lord, and yet you want to ruin him. Why?"

"The first man," said the temple G.o.d, "no longer has faith, and I can no longer ruin him."

"True it is," said Ai Tzu, "that the G.o.ds fear the wicked."

-Attributed to Su s.h.i.+h Escaping Ghosts Legend has it that many spooks and apparitions have plagued pa.s.sersby near High Top Bridge in Hangchow. Once a solitary traveler was caught by a rainstorm there. Suddenly, convinced that the traveler was a ghost, another man under an umbrella charged toward him and forced the traveler off the bridge and into the water. Then the man fled until, seeing a light in the bathhouse east of the bridge, he hurried in for shelter.

Afterward the traveler arrived, also drenched. Panting, he said, "A ghost carrying an umbrella forced me into the river, and I nearly drowned." "I saw the same ghost!" the first man said. Eyeing one another, the two slowly realized their mistake.

On another night of storm and drizzle, a man who had no lamp was crossing the bridge when he heard the sound of clogs behind him. Turning, he saw a large head on a body some two feet tall. He stopped to gape; the head also stopped. When he went on, the head went on. When he ran, the head ran. Panicking, the man flew to the bathhouse and pushed open the door. But before he could close it again, the head entered.

Faint from terror, the man lifted candle and saw a boy wearing a pot against the rain. Because he was afraid of ghosts, the child had followed the man for protection.

-Lang Ying Test of Conviction s.h.i.+h Hsu, an important general in Kiangsi, was a man skilled in logical reasoning. One of his students also held rational views and had always expressed the conviction that ghosts do not exist.

One day the student had an unexpected visitor, who was dressed in black clothes with white lapels. Their conversation touched on many subjects and eventually turned to ghosts about which the student and the stranger held contrary opinions. After a day of arguing, the visitor, having been bested, said, "Good sir, you are more than clever with words, but your reasoning is not perfect. For I myself am a ghost! Now how can you argue that there are none?"

"Why have you come?" asked the student.

"I have been a.s.signed to take you. Your time expires tomorrow at dinner time."

When the student pleaded in distress, the ghost said, "Do you know anyone who resembles you?"

"Yes, in s.h.i.+h Hsu's command there's an officer who resembles me."

The ghost and the student went together to visit the officer. They sat down opposite him. Then the ghost took an iron pick about a foot long, set the point on the top of the officer's head, and began to pound it with a hammer.

"I feel some pain in my head," said the officer. Soon the pain became severe, and within an hour the officer was dead.

-Kan Pao Drinking Companions A fisherman named Hsu made his home outside the north gate of Tzu, a towns.h.i.+p in present-day Shantung. Every night he took along some wine to the riverside to drink while he fished. And each time, he poured a little offering on the ground "so that the spirits of those who have drowned in the river may have some wine too." When other fishermen had caught nothing, Hsu usually went home with a basketful.

One evening as Hsu was tippling by himself, a young man approached him and paced back and forth. Hsu offered him a drink and grandly shared his winejar. It was a disappointing night, however, for he failed to catch a single fish. "Let me go downstream and drive them up for you," said the young man, who rose and departed in a manner that seemed to be airborne. He returned shortly and said, "A number of fish will be arriving." And indeed, Hsu could hear a chorus of splas.h.i.+ng as the approaching fish struck at insects. He took up his net and got several, each a foot long.

Delighted, Hsu thanked the young man and started home. Then he turned to offer his benefactor some fish, but the young man declined, saying, "I have often enjoyed your delicious brew. For my trifling a.s.sistance it's not worth speaking of reciprocity. In fact, if you wouldn't refuse my company, I'd like to make a custom of it."

"We have spent only an evening together," answered Hsu. "What do you mean by 'often enjoyed? But it would be a pleasure if you kept visiting me, though I'm afraid I don't have anything to repay your kindness." Then he asked the young man his name.

"I am a w.a.n.g," was the reply, "but have no given name. You could call me 'Liu-lang,' or 'Sixth-born,' when we meet." And thus they parted.

Next day Hsu sold his fish and bought more wine. In the evening the young man was already there when Hsu arrived at the riverbank, so they had the pleasure of drinking together again. And again after several rounds the young man suddenly whisked away to drive the fish for Hsu.

Things went on agreeably like this for half a year when out of the blue Liu-lang announced to Hsu, "Ever since I had the honor of your acquaintance, we have been closer than closest kin. But the day of parting has come." His voice was filled with sadness.

Hsu was surprised and asked why. The young man started to speak and then stopped several times until he said at last, "Close as we are, the reason may shock you. But now that we are to part, there's no harm in telling you the plain truth: I'm a ghost, one with a weakness for wine. I died by drowning when I was drunk, and I have been here for several years. The reason you always caught more fish than anyone else is that I was secretly driving them toward you in thanks for your libations. But tomorrow my term of karma ends, and a replacement for me will be coming. I'm to be reborn into another life on earth. This evening is all that remains for us to share, and it is hard not to feel sad."

Hsu was frightened at first, but they had been close friends for so long that his fear abated. He sighed deeply over the news, poured a drink, and said, "Liu-lang, drink this up and don't despair. If our ways must part, that's reason enough for regret; but if your karmic lot is fulfilled and your term of suffering relieved, that's cause for congratulation, not sorrow." And together they shared a deep swig of wine. "Who will replace you?" asked Hsu.

"You'll see from the riverbank. At high noon a woman will drown as she crosses the river. That will be the one!" As the roosters in the hamlet called forth the dawn, the two drinkers parted, shedding tears.

The next day Hsu watched expectantly from the edge of the river. A woman came carrying a baby in her arms. As she reached the river, she fell. She tossed the child to sh.o.r.e, then began crying and flailing her hands and feet. She surfaced and sank several times until she pulled herself out, streaming water. Then she rested a little while, took her child in her arms, and left.

When the woman was sinking, Hsu could not bear it and wished he could rush to her rescue. He held back only because he remembered that she was to replace Liu-lang. But when the woman got herself out he began to doubt what Liu-lang had told him.

At dusk Hsu went fis.h.i.+ng in the usual spot. Again his friend came and said to him, "Now we are together again and need not speak of parting for the time being." When Hsu asked why, Liu-lang replied, "The woman had already taken my place, but I had pity for the child in her arms. Two should not be lost for one, and so I spared them. When I will be replaced is not known, and so it seems that the brotherhood between us shall continue."

Hsu sighed with deep feeling. "Such a humane heart should be seen by the Highest in Heaven." And so they had the pleasure of each other's company as before.

Several days later, however, Liu-lang came to say goodbye again. Hsu thought he had found another replacement, but Liu-lang said, "No, my compa.s.sionate thought for the drowning woman actually reached to heaven, and I have been rewarded with a position as local deity in Wu towns.h.i.+p of Chauyuan county. I a.s.sume office tomorrow. Please remember our friends.h.i.+p and visit me; don't worry about the length or difficulty of the journey."

"What a comfort to have someone as upright as you for a deity," said Hsu, offering his congratulations. "But no road connects men and G.o.ds. Even if the distance did not daunt me, how could I manage to go?"

"Simply go; don't think about it," replied the young man. After repeating the invitation, he left.

Hsu went home to put his things in order and set out at once, though his wife mocked him. "You're going hundreds of miles? Even if this place exists, I don't think you can hold a conversation with a clay idol!" she sneered. Hsu paid no attention. He started off and eventually arrived in Chauyuan county, where he learned that there really was a Wu towns.h.i.+p. On his way there he stopped at a hostel and asked for directions to the temple. The host said with an air of pleasant surprise, "By any chance is our guest's surname Hsu?"

"Yes, how did you know?"

The host left abruptly without making a reply. Presently a mixed throng approached and circled Hsu like a wall; men carried their babies, women peeped around their doors. The crowd announced to an amazed Hsu, "Several nights ago we had a dream in which our deity said that a friend named Hsu would be coming and that we should help him out with his traveling expenses. We have been respectfully awaiting you." Marveling at this reception, Hsu went to sacrifice at the temple.

"Since we parted," he prayed, "my thoughts have dwelled on you night and day. I have come far to keep our agreement, and I am both favored and deeply moved by the sign you gave the local people. But I am embarra.s.sed to have come without a fitting gift. All I brought was a flask of wine. If it is acceptable, let us drink as we used to on the riverbank." His prayer done, Hsu burned paper money. Shortly he saw a wind arise behind the shrine. The smoke swirled around for a time and then disappeared.

That night Liu-lang, looking altogether different now that he was capped and garbed in finery, entered Hsu's dreams. Expressing his appreciation, Liu-lang said, "For you to come so far to see me moves me to tears, but I am unable to meet you directly because I hold such a trivial position. It saddens me to be so near to the living and yet so far. The people here have some meager presents for you as a token of our past a.s.sociation. Whenever you are to return home, I shall see you off myself."

Hsu remained in Wu towns.h.i.+p a few more days before preparing to leave. The people of Wu tried to keep him longer, making earnest appeals and inviting him to daylong feasts with different hosts. But Hsu was set on returning home. The people outdid themselves in generosity, and before the morning pa.s.sed his bags were filled with gifts. The grey-haired and the young gathered to see him out of the village. And a whirlwind followed him some three or four miles farther. Hsu bowed again and again. "Take care of yourself, Liu-lang," he said. "Don't bother coming so far. With your humane and loving heart, you can surely bring good fortune to this towns.h.i.+p without advice from old friends." The wind swirled around for a time and then was gone. The villagers, exclaiming in wonder at these events, also went to their homes.

When Hsu arrived back in his own village, his family's circ.u.mstances had improved so much that he did not return to fis.h.i.+ng. Later he saw people from Chauyuan county who told him that the deity was working miracles and had become widely known.

The Recorder of Things Strange says: To attain the heights of ambition without forgetting the friends one made when poor and lowly-that is what made w.a.n.g Liu-lang a G.o.d! Nowadays, when do the high and n.o.ble in their carriages recognize those still wearing a bamboo hat?

-P'u Sung-ling The Censor and the Tiger Li Cheng of Lunghsi in present-day Kansu was an imperial relation. As a youth he was learned and excelled in composition. At the age of twenty he had become an esteemed and eminent scholar and was awarded a stipend by the governor.

In the spring of the tenth year of the reign of T'ien Pao (A.D. 751) Li Cheng was one of the successful candidates under the a.s.sistant prime minister, Yang Mo, and advanced to the highest degree. Some years later he was a.s.signed to fill the vacant office of chief constable in Chiangnan.

By nature Li Cheng was an indolent man, and arrogant because of his talents. He could not adjust to his low position as chief constable and felt frustrated and depressed. Whenever he met with his colleagues, he said after a few drinks, "How could the likes of you be in a cla.s.s with me?" His a.s.sociates resented this bitterly.

In time he resigned his office and secluded himself at home for nearly a year. Then, pressed by the necessity of earning a living, he packed his bags and went to the southeast to seek office from the local administrators. He had a considerable reputation in that area, and many people gathered to study under him and enjoy his talented company. A year or more later as he was packing to leave, they weighed him down with generous presents.

Li was traveling home with his gifts when he stopped at a lodge in Jufen. There he was stricken with fever and lost his senses. He made his servant miserable and whipped him unmercifully. After ten days the illness worsened, and Li ran raging into the night. No one knew where he had gone, though his servant waited and tried to find him. But in another month's time when Li Cheng still did not return, the servant disappeared with his master's horse and possessions.

The following year the scholar Yuan Ts'an of Ch'en prefecture was on his way to the southernmost province of Kuangtung with an imperial commission to serve as supervisory censor. He and his escort came by stagecoach to the territory of Shangyu in Honan province. As he was about to set out the next morning, the man in charge of the post station told him, "There's a tiger on the road ahead-a ferocious man-eater. No one goes through except in broad daylight. It's still too early. Stay a bit longer; you must not go ahead."

"But I am the emperor's representative," cried Ts'an angrily. "We are many on horseback, and no beast of mountain or marsh can do me harm." And he ordered the carriage forward. He had hardly gone a quarter of a mile when a tiger charged from the brush. Ts'an was terrified. Then the tiger dove for cover and spoke in a human voice, "How strange! I nearly killed my old friend!"

From the thicket Ts'an recognized the voice of Li Cheng! The two men had taken their degrees together and had been close friends, but their ways had parted years ago. Now, hearing Li Cheng's voice, Ts'an was both frightened and amazed and could not understand what was happening. Finally he asked, "Who are you? Can you be my friend Li Cheng of Lunghsi?"

The tiger moaned several times, then said to Ts'an, "I am Li Cheng. Kindly stay a few moments and have a word with me."

Ts'an got off his horse and addressed the bushes: "Dear Li Cheng, how did you come to this?"

"Since we parted long ago," said the tiger, "I have had no news of you. How have you been, and where are you bound for now? Just before, I saw two of your officers riding ahead. The courier was leading them and holding your seal of office. Can it be that you are an imperial censor on a tour of duty?"

"Recently I was fortunate to take my place as a censor. I have been sent on a mission to Kuangtung."

"You have established yourself through your literary achievements," said the tiger, "and your entering the ranks at court is truly a great fulfillment. But even greater is the integrity of the position of imperial censor, who bears the responsibility of examining the conduct of all the officials! His Majesty has exercised discretion in selecting an outstanding man like you. And it is a heartfelt satisfaction to me that you have attained this position. I greatly congratulate you."

"In times gone by," replied Ts'an, "you and I achieved recognition the same year and formed a friends.h.i.+p closer than the common sort. But time has raced past, while our voices have been unheard and our faces unseen by one another. My heart and eyes have been denied their hopes of seeing your excellent example. Who would have imagined that today I would hear you speak with such remembrance of our old friends.h.i.+p! But why are you hiding yourself instead of coming out to meet me? That's not how it should be between old friends!"

"I am no longer human," replied the tiger from the thicket. "How can I present myself to you?" Ts'an asked how such a thing could have happened, and the tiger said, "I had visited the southeast and last year was on my way home. I stopped at Jufen, where I suddenly fell ill and went mad. I raced into the hills and soon found myself walking on all fours. I could feel my heart grow ruthless, my strength enormous. My limbs had long hair on them. When I saw men in full dress on the road or rus.h.i.+ng about with their burdens, when I saw birds aloft or animals afoot, I wanted to devour them! When I reached the south of Hanyin, I suffered the pangs of hunger. A plump man crossed my path, so I seized him and gobbled him up to the last sc.r.a.p. That has become my practice ever since. Although I was an arrogant man, I still remember my family and my friends. But having violated holy sanctions, having turned suddenly into a wild beast, I have been ashamed to face anyone. Alas, you and I were awarded our degrees the same year, and we have always been close. Today you hold an imperial commission and bring honor to your parents and your friends. But I have to hide myself in the forest and abandon the world of men forever. I leap up and sigh vainly at the sky; I lower my eyes to the ground and weep. Ruined and unfit to serve-such is my fate." The tiger cried and moaned, unable to master its feelings. "If you have turned into another species, why are you still able to speak?" asked Ts'an. "It is my form that has changed," said the tiger. "My heart and mind have human understanding. But I am rude and impetuous, filled with fears and hatreds, and unable to do what is expected of a friend and host. All I ask is that you remember me and pardon my inexcusable conduct. When you return from your tour in Kuangtung, if we should meet again I shall surely forget our lifelong friends.h.i.+p and regard you as another meal in my trap. Be on your guard; don't let me commit such a crime and earn the scorn of my fellow scholars."

The tiger added, "You and I are as one. May I entrust something to you?"

"I would never refuse my old friend," replied Ts'an. "Please explain fully, for I am eager to help you."

"Had you not agreed," the tiger said, "I would not have dared to mention it. When I was at the inn, I fell ill and went mad. After I entered the mountains, my servant made off with my horse and baggage. My family must still be in my old village. Would they ever imagine what befell me? When you come back from the south, please send a message to them saying only that I have died-nothing of what happened today. I am in your debt if you will do this."

The tiger added, "In this world I have no property. My son is still too young to make a living for himself. You have a high position at court, and you have always set an example of morality and loyalty to friends. Nothing surpa.s.ses the friends.h.i.+p we had. I hope you will keep in mind how helpless my son is and see to his needs now and then, lest he perish by the roadside. What a blessing this would be!"

When he was done speaking, the tiger began to cry. Ts'an also cried and said, "We share our joys and our sorrows. Your son is as my own. I will do my utmost to comply with your grave charge. Have no worry for his welfare."

"In former times," the tiger said, "I wrote a few dozen pieces which have never circulated, and the drafts are scattered and lost. If you could transcribe them for me, while I would never dream of their being noted publicly, they may contain something useful to pa.s.s on to my descendants."

Ts'an called for a servant to bring writing materials and wrote as the tiger recited. It came to nearly twenty chapters. The style was lofty, the meaning profound. Ts'an sighed over and over as he read the text.

"These tell of the things I tried to do, the man I tried to be," said the tiger. "I have no right to expect that my words will mean anything to future generations. But you are on a mission and have a schedule to meet; if you dally here too long, the courier will fret over missing the next stage. So now our ways part for good. The sorrow this causes me cannot be described."

After a prolonged goodbye, Ts'an left. The first thing he did when he returned from the south was to dispatch a letter to Li Cheng's son with some money for the funeral. In a month's time the son came to the capital and called at Ts'an's residence to ask for his father's coffin. Having no choice, the imperial censor told him all. Later Ts'an shared his official salary with Li's wife and son to spare them any hards.h.i.+p. Eventually Ts'an rose to become vice minister of war.

-Chang Tu Underworld Justice Hsi Lien of Tungan, a county in Hunan province, was a gullible, artless man and that is how he had a falling-out with the Yangs, a rich family in the same hamlet. Old Yang had died a few years before, and now Hsi Lien was at death's door. "Old Yang has bribed agents of the underworld to beat me," he cried. Hsi Lien's body became red and swollen. He moaned once and was no more.

Hsi Fang-p'ing, his son, could not eat for grief. "Father was a plain and simple man," he said, "and not clever with words. Now he has suffered injustice at the hands of a vile ghost, and I'm going to take myself to that world below and plead his cause." Those were the last words Hsi Fang-p'ing spoke for many a day. He would stand, he would sit, but he seemed to have lost his mind, for his soul had already departed from his body.

As Hsi Fang-p'ing's spirit set out on the journey, he had no idea where he was headed. But he asked his way of travelers on the road, and they directed him to the city where his father was already in prison. Hsi went to the prison gates and saw his father lying under the eaves, a wreck of his former self. When the father lifted his eyes and saw his son, he wept pathetically. "All the jailors take bribes," he said. "They have been beating me day and night. My legs are like pulp."

Hsi cursed the jailors. "If my father has committed a crime, he should be tried according to the law of the realm," he said angrily. "How can you underworld demons take the law into your own hands?" Then he went out and prepared a written complaint. He appeared at the morning sessions held by the city G.o.d, voiced his grievance, and submitted the paper. Old Yang took fright and began pa.s.sing out gifts before presenting himself to answer the charges. The city G.o.d showed Hsi Fang-p'ing no consideration and held that his complaint was groundless. Furious but without recourse, Hsi traveled some ten leagues in the kingdom of the dead until he reached the governor's seat, where he complained formally about the favoritism shown by the city G.o.d and his underlings. The governor delayed judgment for half a month, then had Hsi beaten and ordered the city G.o.d to repeat the trial.

Hsi arrived at the city again and was placed in the stocks, where he fumed because he could not make his wrongs known. Fearing that Hsi would try to appeal further, the city G.o.d sent guards to escort him forcibly home to the world of the living. The guards excused themselves at the gates to the upper world, and Hsi did not go through. He sneaked back to the underworld to appeal to the king of the dead against the cruelty and greed of the governor and the city G.o.d.

The king at once took the two officials into custody to answer the charges. So the pair secretly sent their trusted henchmen to negotiate with Hsi, offering him one thousand pieces of silver if he would drop the case. Hsi rebuffed them. Several days later the keeper of the inn where Hsi was staying said to him, "You are too proud, my friend. The officials are seeking accommodation with you, but you are resisting them. I understand that each of them has offered gifts to the king, and I fear your cause is doomed." Hsi took this to be idle rumor.

But soon the court attendants came to summon him before the king of the dead, and the king was in a fury. He would not allow Hsi to make a deposition; instead he ordered twenty strokes for him.

"What's my offense?" cried Hsi, but the king seemed to hear nothing.

"I'm only getting what I deserve!" shouted Hsi. "After all, who told me to be poor? No one; so it must be my fault."

The King grew even angrier and ordered him placed on a bed of fire. Two ghosts seized Hsi and took him away to the east yard, where there was an iron bed frame with a fire burning under it. The surface of the bed glowed red hot. The ghosts stripped him bare and heaved him onto it, kneading him and rolling him back and forth. The pain was intense. His bones and flesh were charred black, and he wished for death. After two hours of this, the ghost said, "Enough!" Then they lifted him up and told him to come down and put on his clothes. Luckily he could walk, though he was lame.

Back at the hall of justice, the king of the dead said to him, "Will you still seek a new trial?"

"A great wrong has yet to be rectified," replied Hsi. "So long as heart and mind survive in me, it would be an insult to Your Majesty for me to withdraw. I demand the trial."

"What evidence will you present?" the king asked.

"Evidence of all that I have suffered."

In a pa.s.sion the king ordered his men to saw through Hsi Fang-p'ing's body. The two ghosts took him to a wooden pole eight feet high with two boards standing at the foot of the pole. The tops and bottoms of the boards were dark with bloodstains. The ghosts were about to tie him to the planks when a shout came from the hall for "someone named Hsi." The two ghosts marched him back. The king of the dead asked him, "Still brazen enough to call for a trial?"

"I demand a trial," was Hsi Fang-p'ing's answer.

The king ordered them to hurry him away and cut him open. The ghosts squeezed Hsi between the two boards and tied them to the pole. Then they began to saw. Hsi felt the top of his head slowly coming apart. Pain enveloped him, but he bore it without crying out. "Tough son of a gun," he heard a ghost comment. The saw grated as it reached Hsi's chest. "He's a devoted son, and pure in heart," he heard a ghost say. "Tilt the saw a bit so we don't damage the heart." Hsi felt the blade curving as it moved downwards. The pain doubled. His torso was divided. The boards were removed, and his two halves fell to the ground.

The ghosts ascended the hall of justice to report on their mission. They were commanded to reunite the body and present it. The ghosts pushed the halves together, rejoined Hsi, and dragged him along the street. He could feel the strain on the seam where he had been sawed, for it ached and threatened to split open again. He stumbled and fell before he could move a step. One of the ghosts took a silk ribbon from his waist and gave it to Hsi, saying, "In recognition of your filial piety." Hsi tied it on, and instantly his body felt vigorous and free of pain. He ascended the hall and prostrated himself.

There the king of the dead repeated his question. Afraid to incur further suffering, Hsi answered simply, "I shall not press the charges." The king immediately ordered him sent back to the world of the living. Escorts led him out the north gates, showed him the way home, and left. Hsi concluded that the officers of the dead were even more lawless than those in the world of the living. He could think of no way that he might reach the ear of the Highest, but he was determined to try.

It was widely held in the world that the G.o.d Erh Lang of Kuank'ou towns.h.i.+p in Szechuan was a relative of the Highest-of G.o.d in Heaven. Hsi Fang-p'ing decided that if he could appeal to Erh Lang, who was regarded as both astute and upright, a miracle was still possible. Glad to be free of the two escorts, Hsi turned and went south. But two men caught up with him and said, "The king guessed that you would not go home, and he was right." They bundled him back to the king of the dead.

Hsi expected the king to be angrier than ever and the consequences to be even worse. But the king's expression was not severe at all. "Your intentions are sincerely filial," he told Hsi. "I have already redressed the wrong your father suffered. By now he has been reborn into a family of wealth and status. You will not have to appeal any further. We're sending you home with one thousand pieces of silver and a guarantee that you will live to the age of one hundred years. Are you satisfied?"

The king recorded this in the registry of life and death and set his huge seal upon it. Hsi was invited to inspect the entry personally. He expressed his appreciation and withdrew. The two ghosts accompanied him, but when they reached the road they began to drive him along and curse him. "What a cunning villain you are! Making us dash all over the place until we're nearly dead! Any more trouble from you, and we'll throw you in the mill and grind you to bits."

Hsi opened his eyes wide and yelled at them, "What's this madness, you devils? You think I can endure being sawed in half but not the sting of your lashes? Let's go back to see the king. If he has ordered me home, you need not trouble yourselves to escort me." Hsi started running back the way they had come. This alarmed the ghosts, who spoke gently to him and persuaded him to resume his journey. As they went, Hsi purposely slowed his pace and rested often by the roadside, but the ghosts did not complain.

In about half a day they reached a hamlet. The ghosts sat down to rest in front of a house with a door that was slightly ajar. Hsi seated himself on the threshold, and the ghosts caught him un-awares and pushed him inside the door. When he had gotten control of himself, he discovered that he had been born again an infant. He cried in indignation, refused his mother's breast, and perished in three days.

Separated from his reincarnated body, Hsi Fang-p'ing's nebu-lous soul wavered. Yet he did not forget about Erh Lang, the G.o.d from Kuank'ou. Hsi's soul had moved a dozen miles along the road when it was surprised by an approaching cavalcade: banners and spears blocked the way. Ducking across the highway to avoid it, he ran into the bearers of the imperial regalia and was seized by the front hors.e.m.e.n. They bound him and brought him before a chariot, which held a magnificent young man. "Who are you?" he asked Hsi.

Since the young man seemed to be a great minister, Hsi related his woes in detail. He ordered Hsi freed and told him to follow the chariot. Presently they arrived at a place where a dozen officials greeted them by the side of the road. The minister questioned each of them, then pointed to Hsi and told one official, "Here is a man from the world below who wishes to lodge a complaint. The matter should be resolved quickly."

Only then did Hsi learn from the entourage that the G.o.d in the chariot was the Ninth Imperial Prince of Heaven and that he had a.s.signed Erh Lang to the case. Hsi examined Erh Lang closely. He was tall and slender and had a great beard, quite different from what the world of men pictured. After the Imperial Prince had gone, Hsi followed Erh Lang to a courthouse, where he found his father Lien, and Old Yang, together with the underlings from the kingdom of the dead.

Soon some prisoners came out of the cage-carts: the city G.o.d, the governor, and the king of the dead himself! They were interrogated then and there in each other's presence, and all Hsi Fang- p'ing's charges were confirmed. The three officials trembled in fear, cowering like rats. Erh Lang drew his pen and immediately pa.s.sed sentence, and the text was shown to all the parties: We find as follows: He who serves as king of the dead, undertaking an office of princely rank and enjoying the grace of the Highest, must have the probity and purity to lead all the officials in service, and must have no appet.i.te for corruption. But you have used the splendor and power of your office in a vainglorious display of status. With goatish stubbornness and wolfish avarice you have sullied your integrity before the Highest.