clerks – Zhiguai Translations

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)

Zhao Yun Causes Catastrophe Through Drink 趙雲因酒德禍

*Translation edited with help from Ofer Waldman – many thanks, Ofer!*

At the beginning of the Tang Zhenyuan era (785-805 CE), there was a Zhao Yun of Tianshui, who travelled widely in Fuzhi, passing through Zhongbu County. The officials were holding a feast, and the clerks had apprehended a prisoner, but his crime was not very serious, so the officials wanted to release him. Yun was drunk, and therefore urged them to increase his penalty, resulting in twenty strokes of the cane. Some months later, Yun crossed the border, leaving by the Luzi Pass, and met a person on the road, who invited him to talk. When night fell, they drew Yun down a smaller path to his residence, several li from the road. They then ordered him wine and poured drinks, later asking him: “Is the gentleman acquainted with us or not?” Yun said: “Never. Though this behaviour has in truth left the past quite murky.” They then said: “Some months ago. Because this section respects the gentleman, I suffered unjust punishment; I never had any quarrel with the gentleman, but at the gentleman’s urging I suffered heavy punishment.” Yun hurriedly arose and apologised to him. The other replied: “I have waited a long time for you. Who would have thought this chance would come to wipe clean your petty insult.” He then ordered his retinue to drag Yun into a chamber. In the room there was a great pit, more than three zhang in depth (i.e., over 10m deep), with only a few dozen dou of wine dregs stored inside. Stripping off his clothes, they shoved Yun in. Growing hungry, he fed himself with the grain, and when thirsty he drank the juices, clouding his mind from dawn to dusk. After about a month, they bound him and brought him out, causing people to wrinkle their noses and foreheads and to twist their limbs. His hands and fingers, arms and legs had all aged, and, once exposed to the wind, he froze and even his voice changed. Thinking him quite humbled from his previous status, they had him perform menial duties at the Wuyan relay service. After several years, when his younger brother was serving as Censor, he left the capital to visit the prison at Mingzhou, where Yun succeeded in informing him of past events. [16] His younger brother reported the matter to the Investigating Censor Li Xian, who sent soldiers to search, seizing the bandit and extinguishing all of his faction. As their execution approached they still did not hide or blink, but said that: “Changing a person like that, from one end to another, would require several generations!”

Li Rong 李冗, Du yi zhi 獨異志 (Outstanding Fantastic Stories), 上1.15-16 (Tale 82):

趙雲因酒德禍

唐元和初，有天水趙雲，客遊鄜畤，過中部縣。縣寮有讌，吏擒一囚至，其罪不甚重，官寮願縱之。雲醉，因勸加於刑責，於是杖之二十。累月，雲出塞，行及蘆子關，道逢一人，邀之言款。日暮，延雲下道過其居，去路數里。於是命酒偶酌，既而問之曰：「君省相識否？」雲曰：「未嘗。此行實昧平昔。」乃曰：「前月。於是部值君，遭罹橫罪，與君素無讐隙，為君所勸，因被重刑。」雲遽起謝之。其人曰：「吾望子久矣，豈虞於此獲雪小恥。」乃命左右拽入一室。室有大坑，深三丈餘，中唯貯酒糟數十斛。剝去其衣，推雲於中。饑食其糟，渴飲其汁，旦夕昏昏。幾一月，乃縛出之，使人蹙頞鼻額、挼捩肢體，手指、肩髀，皆改於舊，提出風中，倐然凝定，至於聲亦改。以為賤隸，為烏延驛中雜役。累歲，會其弟為御史，出按靈州獄，雲以前事密疏示之。 [16] 其弟告於觀察使李銛。由是發卒討尋，盡得姦人，而覆滅其黨。臨刑亦無隱䁥，云前後如此變改人者，數代矣。

此條又見《廣記》卷二八六，題為《中部民》。

The tale is also found in Taiping Guangji, in a version that shows several small variations:

The Zhongbu Populace

At the beginning of the Tang Zhenyuan era (785-805 CE), there was a Zhao Yun of Tianshui, who travelled widely in Fuzhi, passing through Zhongbu County. The officials were holding a feast, and the clerks had apprehended a prisoner, but his crime was not very serious, so the officials wanted to release him. Yun was drunk, and therefore urged them to increase his penalty, resulting in a flogging. Some months later, Yun crossed the border, leaving by the Luzi Pass, and met a person on the road, joking with him and using kind words. When night fell, they drew Yun down a smaller path to his residence, several li from the road. They then ordered him wine and poured drinks, later asking him: “Is the gentleman acquainted with us or not?” Yun said: “Never. Though this behaviour has in truth left the past quite murky.” They spoke again: “On such and such a month and day. Because this section respects the gentleman, one suffered unjust punishment; I never had any quarrel with the gentleman, why would the gentleman urge them on, causing me to suffer heavy punishment?” Yun hurriedly arose and apologised to him. The other replied: “I have waited a long time for you. Who would have thought this chance would come to wipe clean your petty insult.” He then ordered his retinue to drag Yun into a chamber. In the room there was a great pit, more than three zhang in depth (i.e., over 10m deep), with only a few dozen dou of wine dregs stored inside. Stripping off his clothes, they shoved Yun in. Growing hungry, he fed himself with the grain, and when thirsty he drank the juices, and in this way clouded his mind for about a month. They then bound him and brought him out, causing people to wrinkle their noses and foreheads. His limbs twisted. His hands and fingers, arms and legs had all aged, and, once exposed to the wind, he froze and even his voice changed. Having humbled him from his previous status, and left him brooding, they had him perform menial duties at the Wuyan relay service. After several years, when his younger brother was serving as Censor, he left the capital to visit the prison at Mingzhou, where Yun succeeded in informing him of past events. [16] His younger brother reported the matter to the Investigating Censor Li Ming, who sent soldiers to search, capturing all of the evil plotters and extinguishing all of his faction. As their execution approached they still did not hide or blink, but said that: “Changing a person like that, from one end to another, would require several generations!” From Du Yi Zhi.

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), vi, 286.2279:

中部民

唐元和初。有天水趙雲。客遊鄜畤。過中部縣。縣僚有燕。吏擒一囚至。其罪不甚重。官僚願縱之。雲醉。因勸加於刑。於是杖之。累月。雲出塞。行及蘆子關。道逢一人。耍之言款。日暮。延雲下道過其居。去路數里。於是命酒偶酌。既而問曰。君省相識否。雲曰。未嘗此行。實昧平昔。復曰：「前某月日。於是部值君。某遭罹橫罪。與君素無讐隙。奈何為君所勸，因被重刑。雲遽起謝之。其人曰。吾望子久矣。豈虞於此獲雪小耻。乃命左右。拽入一室。室有大坑。深三丈餘。坑中唯貯酒糟數十斛。剝去其衣。推雲於中。飢食其糟。渴飲其汁。於是昏昏幾一月。乃縛出之。使人蹙頞鼻額。挼捩肢體。其手指肩髀。皆改舊形。提出風中。倐然凝定。至於聲亦改。遂以賤隸蓄之。為烏延驛中雜役。累歲。會其弟為御史。出按靈州獄。雲以前事密疏示之。其弟言於觀察使李銘。由是發卒討尋。盡得奸宄。乃覆滅其黨。臨刑亦無隱䁥。云前後如此變改人者，數代矣。出獨異志

Han Huang’s Clear Judgement 韓滉明察

Han Huang, Duke Jin (727-87 CE) was garrisoning Zhexi, his orders followed far and wide. At that time, Chen Shaoyou was military governor for Huainan, and when, in governing the populace, he had a case he was unable to straighten out, he went to call on Duke Jin, who would always resolve it. The revenue from Zheyou was sent across the river in a boat, but this was sunk by raging waves. When the boatman recruited people to dredge it up, they couldn’t find two strings of coins, so the populace had to make up the numbers. Jin went in person to the crossing, led an inspection, and then made a demand of the river spirits, indicating the money and saying: “This is dry money; it is not for those in the water to take.” He asked the clerk, and the clerk replied in confirmation. He again spoke to the shame of the matter. Suddenly the two strings of coins bobbed up on the wavetops, so he then plucked them out.

Li Rong 李冗, Du yi zhi, 獨異志 (Outstanding Fantastic Stories), 上1.9 (Tale 63):

韓滉明察

韓晉公滉鎮浙西，威令大行。時陳少游為淮南節度，理民有寃不得伸者，往詣晉公，必據而平之。浙右進錢，船渡江，為驚濤所溺。篙工募人漉出，二緡不得，衆以錢填其數。滉自至津，部視之，乃責江神，因指其錢曰：「此錢乾，非水中得之者。」問吏，吏具實對。復挩詞詬。俄然二緡浮出波上，遂以取之。

A Copper Coffin Descends From Heaven 天降銅棺

Zou Su, the Wine Supervisor for Zhengzou, was just and impartial in office, and respected by people for that. In Zhengzhou one day, as the sun reached noon, wind and hail descended from the heavens, mist and cloud arose from all four sides around the north gate, and a black miasma spun out of it and arose vertically, meeting the heavens without dissipating. A lidless copper coffin descended from the sky, and music came loud and clear out of the empty air. At that time all of Zhengzhou’s junior clerks below the rank of prefect, generals and officers, scholars and commoners, monks and Daoists all changed their clothes and tried to get into the coffin. It being narrow outside and wide within, however, none were able to enter. Winding his wine supervisor’s kerchief as he arrived, Su was asked by the crowd to enter the coffin, and he had not the slightest difficulty. A moment later, a copper lid descended, circled by multi-coloured clouds, and it was all then lifted among the beautiful sound of immortals and the voices of cranes, amid auspicious clouds of heavenly fragrance, and, in a cloud of enduring mist, the coffin gradually turned to the north and departed. He now serves as the judge over longevity in the distant north.

Anon., Huhai xinwen yijian xuzhi, 後1.150 (Tale 263):

天降銅棺

鄭州監酒鄒宿，為官公正無私，人所推敬。一日，鄭州日方午，天降風雹，煙雲四起於北門，黑霧盤旋直上，衝天不散，降下無蓋銅棺一具，但聞空中音樂嘹喨。時鄭州自守倅以下官吏、將校、士庶、僧道，盡易衣服，欲入銅棺。而外狹內寬，皆莫能入。續監酒巾裹而來，衆請之入棺，亦無少（「少」，明刻本作「所」。）礙。少焉，復降銅蓋，綵雲繚繞，擎舉而上，仙韶鶴唳，瑞氣天香，靄靄不散，其棺冉冉向北而去。今為北極司壽限判官。

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).

Two Immortals Hidden In Bamboo 二仙隱竹

It was winter, on the second day of the eleventh month of the second year of the Zhiping era (2 December, 1065), when Huang Tingjian (1045-1105)[1] wrote Meiting Ji as a monk of the Jing Hall. Reading ‘Youguai Lu’, we find:

The clerk Lu Yanchang had a great bamboo that towered into the clouds; it was probably three chi (about 1m) in circumference. When he cut it open, he found within it two elderly immortals facing one another, who said: “After a life of deep roots and unswerving uprightness, it is a pity when the owner chops it down.” After speaking, they mounted the clouds and departed. Tingjian remarked: “This is exactly like the business of the ancients and the immortals in the tangerine garden.”[2]

Anon., Huhai xinwen yijian xuzhi, 後1.132 (Tale 231):

二仙隱竹

黃庭堅，治平二年冬十一月初二日為鏡堂僧作《梅亭記》。閱《幽怪錄》云：鄜延長吏有大竹淩雲，可三尺圍，伐剖之，見內有二仙翁相對，云：「平生深根勁節，惜為主人所伐。」言畢，乘雲而去。庭堅曰：「此與昔人橘園叟之事無異。」

[1] On Huang Tingjian, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huang_Tingjian

[2] This refers to tale 230, ‘Four Immortals Play Chess’ 四仙弈棋, found here: https://huhaixinwen.wordpress.com/2018/08/02/four-immortals-play-chess-%E5%9B%9B%E4%BB%99%E5%BC%88%E6%A3%8B/

Tie Guai Appears In A Dream 鐵拐託夢

Zhang Jushi was a clerk in the Song capital, and his taboo name was Daochun. His wife, née Ma, left the household (for religion), and founded an Academy Assisting The True Way in Huzhou City. Firmly dedicated to the Way, she lived on Fangzi Alley, off Xiuwen Lane, and opened the Pharmacy to Academy Assisting The True Way, in the gengchen year of the Zhiyuan era (1280), and often provided meals to Buddhist and Daoist monks. One day, having first distributed 100 tickets for vegetarian meals, when the day came these were taken as evidence for those attending the food provision. As the time approached, however, the tickets collected amounted only to ninety-nine, so they were missing one. Jushi paid without asking, and therefore provided ninety-nine percent of the meals, but this left him feeling less than entirely satisfied. The next night, he dreamed that a Daoist came to report to him: “The ticket is with me, Guai.”[1] On awaking and reflecting on this, he realised that there hadn’t been a ticket made out to Master Guai, so went urgently and found a boat to the Daoist temple from the pavilion over the well. Knocking at the temple gate and looking, he indeed daw that (the statue of) Guai bore a meal slip, and inscribed upon it were four sentences:

Going especially to receive a meal

I saw that I was not dealt with.

Returning empty-bellied,

My meal-ticket tied to my staff.

He thus understood that immortals also attend worldly alms feasts.

Anon., Huhai xinwen yijian xuzhi, 後1.131 (Tale 229):

鐵拐託夢

張居士，宋朝都吏也，諱道純。妻馬氏，俱出家，創輔真道院於湖州市。好道甚堅，住修文坊扇子巷，開輔真道院藥局，至元庚辰，常齋僧道。一日，先散俵子一百個，至日憑此赴齋。臨期，收俵子只九十九個，不見一個。居士付之不問，徑支齋九十九分，此心終不滿。次夜，夢一道人來告，曰：「俵子在我拐上。」覺而細思，其日並無策拐者，想是道院鐵拐先生，亟於井亭下覓舟往道院。扣門觀之，果見拐上有俵子，題得四句云：「特來赴齋，見我不采。空腹且歸，俵縛我拐。」因知仙亦赴凡齋矣。

[1] This is Li Tieguai 鐵拐李 (“Iron Crutch Li”), a daoist immortal. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Tieguai.

A Stone Turtle is Able to Walk 石龜能行

By the side of the Chuzhou government office was an ancient stone stele, recording someone’s good governance, even their courtesy name having been rubbed away over the years. Beneath the stele was a stone turtle, which emerged to roam about every night. The government clerks marvelled at this, making offerings to it in search of blessings and fortune, and it never failed to provide results. Due to this prayers to it never ceased for a single day, and it was named ‘Great King Transcendant Turtle’. Eventually a new prefectural chief took over, and, believing it to be a demon, not only would not make offerings, but even had it thrown in the river. The residence was then without calm or peace, but the clerks and populace lifted it back out and made offerings, thus restoring their good fortune. They later encountered a supernatural being who recognised that the turtle was indeed a demon, and smashed it, after which the uncanny events ceased.

Anon., Huhai xinwen yijian xuzhi, 後2.264 (Tale 478):

石龜能行

處州設廳側有一石古碑，亦不知紀載何人善政，字亦漫滅。碑之下有石龜，每夜出遊。官吏奇之，祭以邀福，無不驗者。由是禱祈無寧日，名之曰靈龜大王。續有太守來，以為怪，非惟不祭，且投之水。居不遑安，吏民再扶起而祭之，因此獲福。後遇異人，知其為怪，碎之，而怪方息。