Gongsun Da 公孫達

During the Ganlu era,[1] Gongsun Da of Renchen died in office at Chen Prefecture. When they were about to prepare him for burial, his sons, together with the prefectural clerks, numbering several dozen people, were approaching the funeral scene when his five-year-old son began to speak in tongues, sounding just like his father. He scolded the people gathered for only weeping, and then called out to all his sons as a further warning. His sons and the rest were unable to control their grief, so he comforted and encouraged them:

The fortune of the four seasons,

Still has beginning and end.

Human life may be cut short,

Who can avoid this fate?

If the tongue makes a thousand words,

All should accord with the hidden meaning.

His sons questioned him again: “Nothing is known of any who have died. The intelligence of Your Excellency is a unique exception. Are there deities and spirits?” He replied: “The matter of spirits and deities is beyond your knowledge.” He then requested paper and brush, and he wrote. Having filled the page with meaningful poetry, he tossed it to the ground and died.

From Lieyizhuan.

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, 316.2499:

公孫達

任城公孫達。甘露中。陳郡卒官。將斂。兒及郡吏數十人臨喪。達五歲兒。忽作靈語。音聲如父。呵衆人哭止。因呼諸子。以次教誡。兒等悲哀不能自勝。及慰勉之曰。四時之運。猶有始終。人修短殊。誰不致此。語千餘言。皆合文章。兒又問曰。人亡皆無所知。唯大人聰明殊特。有神靈耶。答曰。鬼神之事。非爾所知也。因索紙筆作書。辭義滿紙。投地遂絕。出列異傳

[1] The Ganlu 甘露 era could refer to either 53-50 BCE, 254-59 CE, 265-66 CE, or 359-64 CE.

A Guangling Clerk 廣陵吏人

A clerk from Guangling, surnamed Zhao, was sleeping alone in a chamber through the summer heat. Around midnight, he suddenly saw a tall person in a yellow robe enter via the door, followed by seven much smaller people, also wearing yellow. The stranger muttered to himself: “Looked everywhere without result, and now here, eh?” He shouted at him to get up, and said: “This can now be carried out.” One of the yellow-robed people stepped forwards and said: “This life is not yet finished, and we cannot just take it away. It would be better to make a record of this.” The taller person then reached inside his robe and brought out a seal. They made a seal impression on his left arm and departed. When dawn came he inspected it. The seal stuck closely to his skin, and its characters were like the ancient seal script. The lower character was shi 識 ‘knowledge’, the right looked like xian 仙 ‘immortal’, the left like ji 記 ‘record’, but the one above that could not be read. It is not known how Zhao ended up.

From Jishenlu.

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), viii, 353.2800:

廣陵吏人

廣陵吏姓趙。當暑。獨寢一室。中夜。忽見大黃衣人自門而入。從小黃衣七人。謂己曰。處處尋不得。乃在此耶。叱起之。曰。可以行矣。一黃衣前曰。天年未盡。未可遽行。宜有以記之可也。大人即探懷。出一印。印其左臂而去。及明視之。印文著肉。字若古篆。識其下。右若仙字。左若記字。其上不可識。趙後不知所終。出稽神錄

Chen Deyu 陳德遇

In a xinhai year, the collaborator official to the Jiangnan Treasury Chen Jurang, courtesy name Deyu, spent nights in the treasury. His wife remained at home. At the beginning of the fifth watch (around 3am), she suddenly dreamed that two clerks, carrying documents in their hands, emerged from their gate and entered, asking whether that was the household of Chen Deyu. She said: “Indeed.” “Where is Deyu?” “At the treasury.” The clerks were about to depart, but his wife followed and called to them: “My husband’s courtesy name is Deyu, that’s all. There is an official of the Treasury of Court Vestments named Chen Deyu, and his house is nearby at Dongqu.” The two clerks looked at one another and exclaimed: “There have been some errors!” They then left. Soon after, Deyu arose one morning and went to the toilet. He remarked to himself that he had become ill, and went back to bed. Some time after that he died. The two men both lived to the west of the administrative centre.

From Jishenlu.

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), viii, 353.2800:

陳德遇

辛亥歲。江南偽右藏庫官陳居讓字德遇。直宿庫中。其妻在家。五更初。忽夢二吏。手把文書。自門而入。問此陳德遇家耶。曰。然。德遇何在。曰。在庫中。吏將去。妻追呼之曰。家夫〈夫原作父。據明鈔本、許本改。〉字德遇耳。有主衣庫官陳德遇者。家近在東曲。二吏相視而嘻曰。幾誤矣。遂去。邇日。德遇晨起如廁。自云有疾。還臥。良久遂卒。二人並居治城之西。出稽神錄

Huang Yanrang 黃延讓

The Jiankang clerk Huang Yanrang once held a drinking party at home. When night fell his guests dispersed. He was not very drunk, but suddenly felt his body start to float, and flew away, unable to stop himself. After travelling for what was likely more than ten li, he reached a large mansion. All was still and nobody was around. Before the house was a small building. Within this building was a bed; Yanrang was extremely tired, so lay down upon it. When he awoke, he was lying among grasses before Jiangshan, beyond the Zhongcheng moat. Due to his distracted state he fell ill, and it was more than a year before he recovered.

From Jishenlu.

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), viii, 353.2799:

黃延讓

建康吏黃延讓嘗飲酒於親家。迨夜而散。不甚醉。恍然而身浮。飄飄而行。不能自制。行可十數里。至一大宅。寂然無人。堂前有一小房。房中有牀。延讓困甚。因寢牀上。及寤。乃在蔣山前草間。踰重城複塹矣。因恍惚得疾。歲餘乃愈。出稽神錄

Huangfu Mei 皇甫枚

During the Guangqi era (885-87 CE), when Xizong (r. 872-88 CE) was in Liangzhou, in autumn, the ninth month, Huangfu Mei was in temporary accommodation awaiting transfer. In the tenth month, he arrived to the west of Gaoping County from Xiangzhou. 40 li southwest of the county. He was climbing a hill and passing a small brook when the sunlight seemed to become watery, mist and cloud dimming the light, the sun beginning to set and the wind rising. Muddled by numerous forks and turns, he found himself on a long ridge. Below him he caught sight of a thatched cottage, hedges of hibiscus scattered around it, and noisy voices from within. He craned his neck to look, and after a little a village woman emerged to the north of the west wing, wearing yellow robes of antique design, with unkempt hair and battered sandals. He called out to her repeatedly, but she did not turn towards him, instead bowing her head and returning inside. He then followed the slope down to the southeast, but when he reached the residence the gate was entirely crossed and wound about with kudzu vines. Thorns and brambles stretched across the courtyard, showing not the slightest sign of human passage, as if it had lain for a year or two. Mei hesitated, and stood, astonished, for a long time. He climbed the slope once more and looked out. From there he could see the government road, with people passing along it. He thus whipped his donkey towards it, and met a courier clerk of the county surnamed Duan. He told Duan all about it and lodged with Duan that night.

From Sanshuixiaodu.

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), viii, 353.2792:

皇甫枚

光啟中。僖宗在梁州。秋九月。皇甫枚將赴調行在。與所親裴宜城者偕行。十月。自相州西抵高平縣。縣西南四十里。登山越玉溪。其日行旅稍稀。煙雲晝晦。日昃風勁。惑於多歧。上一長坂。下視有茅屋數間。槿籬疏散。其中有喧語聲。乃延望之。少頃。有村婦出自西廂之北。著黃故衣。蓬頭敗屨。連呼之不顧。但俛首而復入。乃循坂東南下。得及其居。至則荊扉橫葛。縈帶其上。茨棘羅生於其庭。略無人蹤。如涉一二年者矣。枚與裴生。愕立久之。復登坂長望。見官道有人行。乃策蹇驢赴之。至則郵吏將往端氏縣者也。乃與俱焉。是夜宿端氏。出三水小牘

Fang Qianli 房千里

Outside the south gate of Chunzhou stood a residence for nether world officials. When Fang Qianli was dismissed from office he sought treatment in that prefecture, and the governor assigned him to the residence. In the eastern wing there was an inner chamber. A servant was once snoozing there, when suddenly a red-robed man, of very imposing build, came straight up before him. The servant fled in panic, and informed Qianli. After one or two nights, this happened again. Qianli did not believe him, but no longer sent him to the room. After several months had passed, he moved to the Brook Pavilion. He again entrusted the eastern chamber to clerks for their rest. In broad daylight, one of them saw a boy, draped in an ancient gauzy robe and hurrying towards him. It said: “You will not stay here long.” The clerk fled the house in panic. All of this was related to the subordinate officials. An elderly general, Lu Jianzong, said: “During the Yuanhe era (806-20 CE), they punished Master Li. His travels having been brought to an end he was banished to this prefecture, and instructed to commit suicide right here.” The clerk’s report did not omit any of this.

From Touhuangzalu.

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), viii, 351.2780

房千里

春州南門外有仙署館。館中有盧公亭。房千里貶官。尋醫于斯（斯原作新。據明鈔本改。）州。太守館之於是。東廂有內室。僕夫假寐。忽有朱衣人。甚魁偉。直來其前。僕輩驚走。告千里。既一二夕。又然。千里不信。然不復置于室內。後累月。徒居溪亭。復有假掾吏寄與東室。晝日。見一男子披紗裳。屣履而來。曰。若無久駐此。掾驚出戶。俱以狀白於僚吏。有老牙門將陸建宗曰。元和中。誅李師道。其從事陸行儉流于是州。賜死於是。掾所白之狀。（狀原作將。據明抄本改。）果省不謬。出投荒雜錄

Guo Pu’s Multifaceted Wisdom 郭璞多智

The horse on which the Eastern Jin Marshal Zhao Gu was riding died suddenly, and the general let out a melancholy sigh. A guest arrived, and the clerks did not dare to inform him. Guo Pu[1] came to his gate, and announced: “I can save this horse.” The general thus summoned him for an audience. Pu ordered that thirty people should all hold long poles, and go east for thirty li, reaching a grave mound and a forest attached to an altar to the god of the land. They then dispersed and beat the area, at which they captured an ape-like beast, which they then carried back. When it came before the horse, the beast sniffed at it, and the horse arose as if to leap up. To this day macaques are placed in stables, for this very reason.

Li Rong 李冗, Du yi zhi, 獨異志 (Outstanding Fantastic Stories), 上1.18 (Tale 87):

郭璞多智

東晉大將軍趙固所乘馬暴卒，將軍悲惋。客至，吏不敢通。郭璞造門，語曰：「余能活此馬。」將軍遽召見。璞令三十人悉持長竿，東行三十里，遇丘陵社林，即散擊，俄頃擒一獸如猿。持歸。至馬前，獸以鼻吸馬，馬起躍如。至今以獮猴置馬厩，此其義也。

[1] On the polymath Guo Pu 郭璞 (276-324 CE), see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guo_Pu.

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)