Zhang Lu’s Daughter 張魯女

The daughter of Zhang Lu* was once washing clothes at the foot of a mountain when she was enveloped by a fine white mist, and due to this became pregnant. Due to the shame of this she took her own life. Close to death, she told her maid: “Once I am dead you should cut open my belly and look [inside] [3402] it.” When the maid followed her instructions she found a pair of dragon children, which were taken to the Han River. They then buried the daughter on the mountain, after which dragons appeared several times and left footprints before her tomb.

From Daojiazaji.

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), ix, 418.3401-2:

張魯女

張魯之女。曾浣衣於山下。有白霧濛身。因而孕焉。恥之自裁。將死。謂其婢曰。我死後。可破腹視 ［3402］之。婢如其言。得龍子一雙。遂送於漢水。既而女殯於山。後數有龍至。其墓前成蹊。

出道家雜記

*Zhang Lu 張魯 (d. 216 CE), a Daoist Master of the Eastern Han era. See http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Han/personszhanglu.html. 

Miss Zheng 鄭氏女

In Tongzhou there lived the reclusive scholar Wang, who possessed the arts of the Way. During the Huichang era (841-47 CE), the governor, a Mr Zheng, had a young daughter, on whom he doted greatly, but who since childhood had suffered many illnesses, as if her state of mind was unbalanced. Mr Zheng therefore asked the retired scholar about it. The scholar told him: “This girl is not ill, but the living cloud-soul has not yet returned to her body.” Mr Zheng asked him further about the matter, and the scholar replied: “Magistrate so-and-so of such-and-such county is this girl’s former incarnation. He ought to die in a few years. As he has been virtuous in life he has been blessed by the underworld deities and received extra longevity. He is now over ninety years of age. On the day his passing is ordained, this girl will recover.” Mr Zheng urgently sent people to hurry over and call on him, and the Magistrate was indeed over ninety. After a month, the girl suddenly awoke as if from drunkenness, her illness quite cured. Mr Zheng again sent envoys to verify it, and indeed the magistrate, on the very day of the girl’s recovery from illness, had died without illness.

From Xuanshizhi.       

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, 358.2827:

鄭氏女

通州有王居士者。有道術。會昌中。刺史鄭君有幼女。甚念之。而自幼多疾。若神魂不足者。鄭君因請居士。居士曰。此女非疾。乃生魂未歸其身。鄭君訊其事。居士曰。某縣令某者。即此女前身也。當死數歲矣。以平生為善。以幽冥祐之。得過期。今年九十餘矣。令歿之日。此女當愈。鄭君急發人馳訪之。其令果九十餘矣。後月。其女忽若醉寤。疾愈。鄭君又使往驗。令果以女疾愈之日。無疾卒。出宣室志

Wang Zhi 王志

In the third year of the Tang Xianqing era (658 CE), Wang Zhi, from Qizhou, was appointed as a county magistrate in Yizhou. When his term expired he returned home. He had a beautiful daughter, who had died on her way to be married. Her coffin had been placed for several months in a monastery.  Within this monastery there was a student who slept in one of the rooms, and early one night he saw the girl come to him, beautiful and resplendently ornamented. She wanted to open her heart and enfold him; the student accepted her, and over a month they grew very close, the girl giving him a bronze mirror, a towel and a comb. When the magistrate wanted the student to leave, he and the girl shared a final secret farewell.

Her family had been searching without success for the gifts, and when the magistrate sent people to search the rooms, they were discovered in the student’s chambers. The magistrate sent his retinue to bind the student, believing that he had stolen them. The student appealed and explained that he had not only received those items, but had also been left an upper and lower robe by her. When the magistrate sent people to open the coffin and check, it turned out to lack these garments, and having seen this proof, treated this as settling the matter. Asking about him in the village, it was established that he was from Qizhou, had followed his parents to a posting in the south, and, after his mother and father had died, he travelled the various prefectures to study and was due to return soon. The magistrate granted him robes and a horse, packing his things and returning together, where he treated him as a son-in-law and they felt great affection for one another.

From Fayuanzhulin.

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, 328.2608:

王志

唐顯慶三年。岐州人王志。任益州縣令。考滿還鄉。有女美。未嫁道亡。停縣州寺中累月。寺中先有學生。停一房。夜初見此女來。粧飾華麗。欲伸繾綣。學生納之。相知經月。此女贈生一銅鏡。巾櫛各一。令欲上道。女與生密共辭別。家人求此物不得。令遺巡房求索。于生房得之。令遺左右縛此生。以為私盜。學生訴其事。非唯得此物。兼留上下二衣。令遺人開棺檢之。果無此衣。既見此徵。于是釋之。問其鄉里。乃岐州人。因從父南任。父母俱亡。遊諸州學問。不久當還。令給衣馬。裝束同歸。以為女夫。憐愛甚重。出法苑珠林

Cui Ziwu 崔子武

The Qi-era Cui Ziwu lodged in Zhao Prefecture during his childhood, at the home of his maternal grandfather Li Xian, governor of Yangzhou. One night he dreamed of a girl, extremely beautiful in carriage and looks, who told him that she was the daughter of the Yunlong Prince, and wished to share illicit love with young Cui. Ziwu was delighted by this. He pulled at her gown, causing a small tear to appear in the seam on the front. Before dawn she said farewell, tied her robe and left. The following day, he went to visit the Shancizhong temple. To one side was a painting of a woman, in looks and form just like that of the one he had seen in his dream, a rent still visible in the laced front of her gown. From then on Ziwu communicated with her in his dreams, becoming vague and eventually falling ill. Later he encountered a physician, who forbade this, after which the matter ceased.

From Sanguodianlüe.

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, 327.2592:

崔子武

齊崔子武幼時。宿于外祖揚州刺史趙郡李憲家。夜夢一女子。姿色甚麗。自謂雲龍王女。願與崔郎私好。子武悅之。牽其衣裾。微有裂綻。未曉告辭。結帶而別。至明。往山祠中觀之。傍有畫女。容狀即夢中見者。裂裾結帶猶在。子武自是通夢。恍惚成疾。後逢醫禁之。乃絕。出三國典略

Wang Wenming 王文明

[2584] Wang Wenming was serving as Magistrate of Jiang’an towards the end of the Song Taishi era (465-71 CE). His wife had been ill for a long time, and their daughter was outside preparing congee for her mother when, just as it was nearly ready, it transformed and became blood. She poured it away and made more, but this too changed in the same way. Her mother soon died, after which, while the children were weeping before her spirit tablet, their mother suddenly appeared, lying atop the bier as if she still lived. All of the children called out in sorrow, at which she immediately vanished. Previously, Wenming had coveted a maid who served under his wife, who was then pregnant and about to give birth.[1] On the day of his wife’s funeral, he sent the maid to look after the house, while everyone else went to see the tomb site. Just as the workers began to open the ground, the wife entered the house and beat the maid. After this his daughters all prepared their father’s food. They killed a chicken, but, after its blood had stopped running, the fowl suddenly leaped up, flew high and called out for a long time. Wenming died soon after, and each of the male relatives who succeeded him was soon buried by his successor.

---

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, 325.2583-84:

王文明

[2584] 王文明。宋太始末江安令。妻久病。女于外為母作粥。將熟。變而為血。棄之更作。復如初。母尋亡。其後兒女在靈前哭。忽見其母臥靈牀上。如平生。諸兒號戚。奄然而滅。文明先愛其妻所使婢。姙身將產。葬其妻日。使婢守屋。餘人悉詣墓所。部伍始發。妻便入戶打婢。其後諸女為父辦食。殺雞。割洗已竟。雞忽跳起。軒道長鳴。文明尋卒。諸男相續喪亡。出述異記

[1] This sentence revised and improved on the advice of Ofer Waldman (personal communication, 24 May 2021).  

Wang Huaizhi 王懷之

In the twentieth year of the Yuanjia era (443 CE), Wang Huaizhi’s mother passed away. When the burial was finished, he suddenly caught sight of an old woman up a [lacuna] tree, her head bearing a great amount of hair, her body clothed in white luo top and skirt, her feet not standing on any branches but rather standing upright in the empty air. He returned home and told this story, after which his daughter suddenly fell ill, her face changing to mirror that of the spirit in the treetop. He therefore gave her fragrant musk, and she soon returned to normal. Successive generations have said that fragrant musk dispels evil, and this demonstrates that.

From Yiyuan.

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, 325.2582:

王懷之

王懷之。元嘉二十年。丁母憂。葬畢。忽見[□]樹上有嫗。頭戴大髮。身服白𧟌裙。足不踐柯。亭然虛立。還家敘述。其女遂得暴疾。面仍變作向樹杪鬼狀。乃與麝香服之。尋如常。世云。麝香辟惡。此其驗也。出異苑

Shen Yizhi 申翼之

---

Sheng Dao’er of Guangling died in the fourteenth year of the [Eastern Han] Yuanjia era (159 CE), entrusting his orphaned daughter to his wife’s younger brother Shen Yizhi. When the mourning period was over, Yizhi married her off to a Yan Qixi of Beiqing, a poor household, squandering her betrothal gifts until they were all gone. Dao’er suddenly spoke within the bedroom, saying angrily: “When my laboured breaths were exhausted, I entrusted all I had to you. How could you forget righteousness in greedy pursuit of profit, and marry her off to commoners?” Yi was greatly ashamed.[1]

From Soushenji.

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, 325.2582:

申翼之

廣陵盛道兒。元嘉十四年亡。託孤女于婦弟申翼之。服闋。翼之以其女嫁北卿嚴齊息。寒門也。豐其禮賂始成。道兒忽室中怒曰。吾喘唾乏氣。舉門戶以相託。如何昧利忘義。結婚微族。翼大惶愧。出搜神記

---

[1] The TPGJ reports transmission of this tale from the Soushenji, but as far as I can tell it is only to be found in Soushen houji 搜神後記, at juan 6. See https://ctext.org/wiki.pl?if=gb&res=184634&searchu=%E7%94%B3%E7%BF%BC%E4%B9%8B.  

Cui Maobo 崔茂伯

The daughter of Cui Maobo married one Pei Zu’er. Her husband’s home was more than five hundred li distant, and after several years had passed she had still not arrived there. During the eighth month, she died suddenly. Pei was not yet aware of this when, as darkness was about to fall, the woman appeared at Pei’s gate, clapping her hands and requesting entry. Carrying a gold jar a little over two sheng (2 litres) in size, she came to his bed and stood before it. Pei told her to sit, and asked where she had come from. The woman told him: “I am the daughter of Cui, Magistrate of Qinghe. While still young I learned of the gentleman’s betrothal to me. Unfortunately I passed away, so our happy union was not to be. Although our wedding feast will never take place, we are already united in purpose, and I therefore came to inform the gentleman.” She then presented Pei with the gold vessel as a parting gift.

After she had departed, Pei informed his father of the matter. His father wanted to send a message to confirm this, but Pei said: “Betrothed to the Cuis as a child, we should not now react like this. I should go there in person.” His father permitted this. When Pei arrived, the woman had indeed been buried, so they exchanged condolences, and Pei described the whole affair, bringing out the jar to show Maobo. This had been placed with the woman in her grave, so they all went to visit the tomb. More than ten li before they arrived, Pei saw the woman again, and she spoke to him. Those around him all heard her voice, but were unable to see her form. Pei yearned to be united with her, and soon fell ill and died. They were buried together.

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, 324.2574:

崔茂伯

崔茂伯女。結婚裴祖兒。婚家相去五百餘里。數歲不通。八月中。崔女暴亡。裴未知也。日將暮。女詣裴門。拊掌求前。提金罌。受二升許。到牀前而立。裴令坐。問所由。女曰。我是清河崔府君女。少聞大人以我配君。不幸喪亡。大義不遂。雖同牢未顯。然斷金已著。所以故來報君耳。便別以金罌贈裴。女去後。裴以事啟父。父欲遣信參之。裴曰。少結崔氏姻。而今感應如此。必當自往也。父許焉。裴至。女果喪。因相弔唁。裴具述情事。出罌示茂伯。先以此罌送女入瘞。既見罌。遂與裴俱造女墓。未至十餘里。裴復見女在墓言語。旁人悉聞聲。不見其形。裴懷內結。遂發病死。因以合葬。

Yao Yuanqi 姚元起

Yao Yuanqi, of Henei, lived close to a mountain forest. His family all went into the countryside to raise their crops, and his seven-year-old daughter was left alone to mind the house. She gradually became thin and emaciated. When her parents asked her about this, the girl told them: “There’s often this man. More than a zhang (c.3.3m) tall, he has four faces, each face having the seven apertures.[1] He calls himself Marshal of the High Heavens, and swallows me whenever he comes, so I come out through his lower end. This has happened several times. He told me: ‘Be sure never to speak of me. If you talk about me you will spend a long time in my belly.’” The family locked their doors and sighed in horrified astonishment. They then moved away to avoid him.

From Lingguizhi.

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, 320.2534:

姚元起

河內姚元起。居近山林。舉家恒入野耕種。唯有七歲女守屋。而漸覺瘦。父母問女。女云。常有一人。長丈餘而有四面。面皆有七孔。自號高天大將軍。來輒見吞。逕出下部。如此數過。云。慎勿道我。道我。當長留腹中。闔門駭惋。遂移避。出靈鬼志

---

[1] I.e., two eyes, two nostrils, two ears and a mouth.

Chen Su 陳素

In the first year of the Jin Shengping era (357 CE), the family of Chen Su, of Shan County, were wealthy. After a decade of marriage to his wife, he still lacked a son, so wished to take a concubine. His wife prayed to the ancestral hall’s deities and suddenly became pregnant. The same happened to the wife of their neighbour, a commoner. She therefore bribed the neighbour’s wife, saying: “If I give birth to a boy, that would be the will of heaven. If it is a girl, and yours is a boy, we should swap.” This was quickly agreed between them. The neighbour’s wife had a boy, and three days later Su’s wife bore a daughter. The exchange was quickly made. Su was absolutely delighted with his son. They had raised the child for thirteen years when, during prayers, an elderly housemaid who often saw spirits spoke up and said: “I see the gentleman’s ancestors; they’re coming to the gate and then stopping. But I also see a crowd of commoners who have come and seated themselves to eat our offerings.” The father was extremely alarmed and amazed, and then welcomed the spirits as they arrived. He prayed that they might become temporarily visible, and they told him they were all relatives. Su then went inside and questioned his wife. Terrified, she told him about the swap. The boy was returned to his original family, and their daughter taken back.

From Youminglu.

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, 319.2527:

陳素

晉昇平元年。剡縣陳素家富。娶婦十年無兒。夫欲娶妾。婦禱祠神明。突然有身。鄰家小人婦亦同有。因貨鄰婦云。我生若男。天願也。若是女。汝是男者。當交易之。便共將許。鄰人生男。此婦後三日生女。便交取之。素忻喜。養至十三。當祠祀。家有老婢。素見鬼。云。見府君家先人。來到門首便住。但見一羣小人。來座所食噉此祭。父甚疑怪。便迎見鬼人至。祠時轉令看。言語皆同。素便入問婦。婦懼。且說言此事。還男本家。喚女歸。出幽明錄