begging – Zhiguai Translations

Du Sheng 杜生

During the Tang Xiantian era (712-13 CE), Du Sheng of Xuzhou was a skilled diviner. He reported on people who had abandoned their posts, and these was all verified, as if he were a deity. There was someone who had lost a slave and came to Du to ask about them. Sheng told him: “You only need to search along the post-road. On the way you’ll meet a courier bearing a good whip. Kowtow and beg for it. If they don’t hand it over, say with feeling that Du Sheng told you to ask for it. You will then certainly find them.” He did as he had been instructed, and did indeed encounter a courier, begging for the whip as Du Sheng had said. The envoy found this strange, and said: “I don’t grudge you the whip, but without it how could I urge on my horse? You should snap off a branch from the left side of the road to exchange, then I will hand you the whip.” When he went to break one, he spotted the lost slave hidden beneath a tree, and captured them. When asked about the matter, the slave said: “While fleeing along the road, I caught sight of the gentleman in the distance, so concealed myself here.”

When another person who had lost a slave visited Du Sheng, Sheng told them: “Return, taking five hundred cash, and wait with it on the public road. When you see an envoy bearing sparrowhawks pass by, ask to buy one. You will certainly regain the slave.” He did as instructed and waited. Presently there was an envoy with sparrowhawks, so he made his request and asked to buy one. The envoy thought this strange but cut one free to hand over. Just as he was about to take hold of it, the hawk suddenly took wing and escaped. When he went to fetch it, the slave was indeed found hiding beneath, and was captured. There who were reported on by him were numerous, but there is no space to tell of them here. From Jiwen.

Li Fang 李昉, et al., Taiping guangji 太平廣記 (Extensive Gleanings from the Era of Great Harmony), 10 vols (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1961), ii, 77.484:

杜生

唐先天中。許州杜生善卜筮。言走失官祿。皆驗如神。有亡奴者。造杜問之。生曰。汝但尋驛路歸。道逢驛使有好鞭者。叩頭乞之。彼若不與。以情告云。杜生教乞。如是必得。如其言。果遇驛使。以杜生語告乞鞭。其使異之曰。鞭吾不惜。然無以撾馬。汝可道左折一枝見代。予與汝鞭。遂往折之。乃見亡奴伏於樹下。擒之。問其故。奴曰。適循道走。遙見郎。故潛于斯。復有亡奴者見杜生。生曰。歸取五百錢。於官道候之。見進鷂子使過。求買其一。必得奴矣。如言候之。俄有鷂子使至。告以情。求市其一。使者異之。以副鷂子與焉。將至手。鷂忽飛集于灌莽。乃往取。奴果伏在其下。遂執之。言人祿位中者至多。茲不縷述。出紀聞

A Fuyang Native 富陽人

At the beginning of the Song Yuanjia era (424-53 CE), a native of Fuyang surnamed Wang set up a crab-catching weir in an empty ditch. At dawn he went to look at it, and saw the end of a wooden casket, more than two chi (60cm) long, which had split the trap. The crabs had all escaped. He mended the weir, removing the casket and placing it on the bank. When he went to check on it the next day, he found the casket back in the weir, which was ruined in the same way. Wang mended the weir once more. When he went to look again, what he saw was the same as when he had started. Wang suspected that this piece of wood was a supernatural entity. He therefore put it in his crabbing basket, tied this to his carrying pole and returned. He said to himself: “When I get back I should chop this up and burn it.” Three li short of the house he heard a sudden movement, and turned his head to find that the wood had transformed into a thing with a human face, monkey body, one hand and one single foot. Addressing Wang, it said: “By nature I am very fond of crabs, so I entered the water and destroyed your crabbing weir. We have both already suffered greatly, and I hope the gentleman can forgive me, opening the basket and letting me out. I am a mountain spirit, and we should help one another; I could spread your weir wide and wait for your crabs.” Wang replied: “You bully and abuse people, but that changes now. Your crimes require a death sentence.” The thing turned and stamped, begging to be released, and asked over and over what Wang’s given and family names might be. Wang turned his head but refused to answer. As they came closer to the house, the thing said: “So you won’t release me, and you won’t tell me your name. There’s nothing for it but to await execution.” When Wang arrived at home, he kindled a fire and burned the thing. Afterwards all was still and there was no more strangeness.

Local customs call such things ‘mountain elves’,[1] and report that, if they know a person’s family and given names, they can cause harm to that person. They thus ask with great persistence, in order to cause injury and to free themselves.

From Shuyiji.

Li Fang 李昉, et al., Taiping guangji 太平廣記 (Extensive Gleanings from the Era of Great Harmony), 10 vols (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1961), vii, 323.2560:

富陽人

宋元嘉初。富陽人姓王。于窮瀆中作蟹籪。旦往視。見一材頭。長二尺許。在籪裂開。蟹出都盡。乃修治籪。出材岸上。明往看之。見材復在籪中。敗如前。王又治籪。再往視。所見如初。王疑此材妖異。乃取納蟹籠中。繫擔頭歸。云。至家當破燃之。未之家三里。聞中倅動。轉顧。見向材頭變成一物。人面猴身。一手一足。語王曰。我性嗜蟹。此寔入水破若蟹籪。相負已多。望君見恕。開籠出我。我是山神。當相佑助。使全籪大待蟹。王曰。汝犯暴人。前後非一。罪自應死。此物轉頓。請乞放。又頻問君姓名為何。王回顧不應答。去家轉近。物曰。既不放我。又不告我姓名。當復何計。但應就死耳。王至家。熾火焚之。後寂無復異。土俗謂之山魈。云。知人姓名。則能中傷人。所以勤問。正欲害人自免。出述異記

[1] This term is shanxiao 山魈.

Yang Xinglian’s Wooden Puppet 楊行廉木偶

Yang Xinglian of Shu was meticulous and ingenious, and once carved wood into a monk, which extended its hand in the Yizhou market and begged for coins. When it its hands were filled with fifty coins, it would lean and pour them into a jar, saying the word “give alms”.

Li Rong 李冗, Du yi zhi, 獨異志 (Outstanding Fantastic Stories), 上1.7 (Tale 55):

楊行廉木偶

蜀人楊行廉精巧，嘗刻木為僧，於益州市引手乞錢。錢滿五十於手，則自傾寫下瓶，口言「布施」字。

Li Rong 李冗, Du yi zhi, 獨異志 (Outstanding Fantastic Stories) in Du yi zhi, Xuanshi Zhi 獨異志，宣室志 (Outstanding Fantastic Stories, Stories from the Chamber of Dissemination), edited by Zhang Yongqin 张永钦 and Hou Zhiming 侯志明 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1983)

The Commander of Huaixi 淮西軍將

At the end of the Yuanhe period (806-20 CE), there was a commander of Huaixi, who was sent to Bianzhou, and stopped at a courier station on the way. Late at night, when he was reaching deep sleep, he suddenly awoke to find something pressing heavily onto him. The general, well-trained and strong, leapt up in alarm and began to wrestle with it, after which the unidentified thing withdrew, and the general succeeded in wresting a leather bag from its hand. The ghost begged and implored with great bitterness from the darkness, so the commander addressed it: “If you tell me what it is, I will give it back.” The spirit said, after a long time, “This is a bag of surplus qi.” The commander then picked up a brick and struck out with it, at which the voice was silenced. The bag held several sheng (these are about a litre each), its contents were deep red in colour, and looked like lotus-root fibres; when carried in daylight it cast no shadow.

Taken from Youyang zazu.

Li Fang 李昉, et al., Taiping guangji 太平廣記 (Extensive Gleanings from the Era of Great Harmony), 10 vols (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1961), vii, 345.2733:

淮西軍將

元和末，有淮西軍將，使於汴州，止驛中。夜久，眠將熟，忽覺一物壓己，軍將素健，驚起，與之角力，其物遂退，因奪得手中革囊。鬼闇中哀祈甚苦，軍將謂曰：「汝語我物名，我當相還。」鬼良久曰：「此蓄氣袋耳。」軍將乃舉甓擊之，語遂絕。其囊可盛數升，絳色，如藕絲，攜於日中無影。出《酉陽雜俎》

An Immortal Treats Reversed Hands 仙醫反掌

In the market of Huofu, in Wanzai County, there was a beggar surnamed Guo, whose left hand and both feet were all twisted upwards. This only allowed him to scrape along the ground leaning on a staff held in his right hand, so people called him ‘Scrape Guo’. His mother was elderly and suffered from arthritis; his younger brother suffered in the same way. Scrape went out to beg on the first and fifteenth day of each month. The people of the market all felt sympathy for him and treated him generously, so he was able to support both mother and brother, gathering a month’s worth of provisions, and he went on like this for eighteen years without resentment. In the winter of the second year Yuanzhen (1296), he encountered a Daoist who, seeing his extreme poverty, and his voluntary support for mother and younger brother, he then took five balls of medicine and gave them to Scrape, saying: “If you take my medicine, your long-standing trouble will immediately be resolved.” Scrape took them as instructed, and his hand and feet were then as normal. Not having expected such healing of his illness, he no longer had a reason for his begging, and people were no longer generous to him. Just as he found himself in dire need, he again encountered the same Daoist. Scrape thanked him, and entreated him, saying: “When I received the kind grant of medicine, I happened to forget that my mother is ill; not having shared it with her, my mother now remains [146] ill.” The Daoist gave him five more medicine balls; his mother took two balls, and it was as if her illness had vanished. He still had three balls, and this came to the attention of a wealthy person living near the village who suffered from the same condition. The rich person spoke to Scrape: “It is said you have three pellets of a wonder drug; I will buy these from you for one ingot’s worth of paper money.” Scrape replied that he did not want to accept money, but did want to relieve his condition, and, if he could supply the needs of their three mouths for life, he would happily give him the medicine. Afterwards, when the effect had been demonstrated, the wealthy person kept his word and supported them.

It can only be that Scrape Guo’s single-minded filial piety led him to encounter this immortal and benefit from boundless good fortune. Why, if a beggar can devote himself in this way, others should certainly examine their own conduct.

Anon., Huhai xinwen yijian xuzhi, 後1.145-46 (Tale 255):

仙醫反掌

萬載縣獲賦市，有丐者姓郭，左手及兩足皆反掌於上，止得右手拄地擦行，人遂名以「郭擦」。母老病風，弟病亦然。擦每月朔望出丐，一市人皆憐而惠之，遂得養母及弟，僅得一月之食，如此者十八年無怨。元貞二年冬，遇一道人，見其貧苦，又甘心養母與弟，遂與藥五丸與擦，云：「汝服吾藥，宿疾頓可。」擦如教服之，手足隨即如常。不料疾愈，無可託辭以丐，而人亦無惠之者。方窘急間，又遇元道人。擦謝之，且祈之云：「向蒙惠藥，偶忘母疾，未曾分與，今母尚 [146] 病。」道人再以五丸與之，其母服兩丸，其疾如失。尚餘三丸，適為里近富人所知，其病亦同，富人與擦云：「聞汝有妙藥三丸，以鈔一錠與汝回贖。」擦應言不願受鈔，願病安，三口乞終身供給，遂以藥授之。後果效，富人守信供給之，得非郭擦一念孝悌，獲遇神仙以受無窮之福。吁！丐者而處心如此，人亦可以自反矣。

Yuan Haowen 元好問, Chang Zhenguo 常振國 (ed), Xu Yijian zhi 續夷堅志 (Continued Records of the Listener), and Anon., Jin Xin 金心 (ed.), Huhai xinwen yijian xuzhi 湖海新聞夷堅續志 (Continuation of Records of the Listener with New Items from the Lakes and Seas) (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1986).

Immortals Treat Sicknesses Of The Feet 仙醫足疾

The Imperial Student Xu Quan was from Wuzhou. One day, leaving his home village and hurrying by water towards Hangzhou, he rode a rice boat, seated each day atop the rice sacks with his feet folded beneath him, and nobody realized that an illness affected his feet. It happened that, one day, the boat leaked, so the boatman asked him to step onto the shore, in order to stop up the hole. When, the job being finished, he was invited back on board, the water had risen under heavy rain, and everyone bared their feet to step aboard. His fellow passengers noticed that his toes were all as short as a little toe, and asked him about it. He replied: “When I left my mother’s womb, my toes all pointed backwards. After two years had passed, it happened that a Daoist came along and insisted on looking at me, so the wet-nurse wrapped me up and took me out to show him. The Daoist ordered her to cook up a young lamb, and use the lambskin to wrap my feet overnight. The next day at dawn they were unwrapped, and it turned out that my toes all pointed forwards. On examination they were all this size and length.” He subsequently passed the imperial examinations.

[144] Duya Guiyuan was from Jinhua. At the beginning of the Song Shaoxi era (1190-94), he arrived at Longquan at Guacang, passing his days in singing praises, and, because he suffered from arthritis and both feet were stiff and spasming, he tottered along on wooden clogs, begging in the market. On the seventeenth night of the eighth month in the guichou year of the Chunyou era,[1] he was squatting by Magistrate Zhang’s back gate. It was already the third watch (11pm to 1am), and the moonlight was as bright as day. He saw a person, wearing a dark soft hat, black ribbon and white scholar’s robe, who descended from on high and, stepping forward slightly, addressed Yagui: “Why would you be here so deep in the night?” He said: “Due to illness and fatigue I cannot go anywhere.” The person selected various weeds from the roadside, rubbed them and broke them apart, then mixed them with ditchwater into a kind of pellet, which he gave to him, saying: “You should eat this.” Yagui realised that this was no ordinary person, and swallowed it without suspicion. The person then said: “Come back tomorrow night and meet me here.” They then departed. Yagui felt a stirring within his belly, becoming restless and unable to settle himself, dragging himself onto the Jichuan Bridge, leaning against the railing and dozing. After a long time he awoke and found he could stretch his feet a little, and trying to stand while holding the balustrade, his bones making chirping sounds like birdsong, he found himself able to walk. The next night he waited for the other person, but they didn’t come back. Yagui travelled around talking to people, but never found his whereabouts.

Anon., Huhai xinwen yijian xuzhi, 後1.143-44 (Tale 252):

仙醫足疾

徐上舍洤，婺州人。一日，自鄉泛舟趨杭，乘米舟，每日坐於米袋之上，惟疊足坐，人亦不知其有疾也。忽一日，舟漏，梢子請上岸，將塞舟。事畢請入時，水潦稍漲，皆跣足而入，同舟人見其足大小指皆短，從容問之，彼曰：「自出母胎，一足指皆向後。越二年，忽有道人來，必欲見，乳母抱出示之。道人命烹一小羊，用羊皮裹其足，一宿，次早掀開，則其指皆向前，但視足指有大小長短耳。」後亦登第。

[144] 杜亞歸元，金華人。宋紹熙初，到括蒼龍泉歌唱度日，因病風，兩足拘攣，木屐曳行，丐於市。淳祐癸丑八月十七夜，蹲於張通判後門，已三鼓矣，月明如晝，見一人青巾皁絛白襴衫，自最高軒下，行至其前少許，謂亞歸曰：「夜深何故在此？」曰：「病倦，去不得也。」其人於路旁采雜草，挼碎，掬溝之污水若彈然，授之曰：「汝可食此。」亞歸亦意其不凡人也，餌之不疑。其人曰：「明夜再來會我于此。」遂去。亞歸覺腹中攪戚不能自安，曳行至濟川橋上，倚柱假寐。良久，方覺其一足略能伸，試扶欄起立，骨磔磔然有聲，自此能行。次夜候之，其人不復來矣。亞歸遍以語人，後不知所在。

[1] This is 11 September 1253, but the Chunyou era (1241-53) had already finished some months before, on 30 January 1253.

An Immortal Treats A Hunchback 仙醫曲背

Monk Li of Xichuan had a disciple whose back was so bent that they could not look upwards, and because the medicine market had closed, saw a Daoist, who said: “If the scholar has money, I beg two or three hundred cash for wine.” The scholar said: “I am poor and lack money, but there is some weak wine in my residence; will you have a drink with me?” The Daoist accepted happily and accompanied him. When the wine was half finished, the Daoist said: “Why is your back curved?” The scholar said: “Unfortunately I happened to suffer this illness; there is nothing to be done about it.” The Daoist therefore took out thirty grains of medicine, saying: “In the coming days, at the fifth watch (3-5am) face east, take these with freshly drawn water, and do not become alarmed if you feel a slight pain.” The scholar did as instructed and, having taken the medicine, felt an extreme and unbearable dryness, turning and thrashing on his bed and regretting it bitterly. Nevertheless, every time he stretched himself he felt slightly more comfortable, and by the next day his back was quite straight.

Anon., Huhai xinwen yijian xuzhi, 後1.143 (Tale 251):

仙醫曲背

西川李和尚，有門人背傴不能仰視，因藥市罷，見一道士，云：「秀才有錢，丐一二百文為酒資。」書生謂：「貧無錢，所居有薄釀，同一醉可乎？」道士欣然便往。酒半，道士問：「何故背傴？」書生言：「不幸遇此疾，無如之何。」道士因出藥三十粒，云：「來日五更面東，新汲水下，覺微痛不足怪。」書生如教，既服藥，燥甚不可勝，展轉牀上，亦甚悔之。然每一伸縮，漸覺舒快，比明身已直矣。