dusk – Zhiguai Translations

The Xiao of Geshan 閣山𤡔

In the xinmao year of the Gandao era (1171 CE), no rain fell in Raozhou for a very long time, and the rivers’ flow was blocked. Three fishermen of Geshan Route went empty-handed to the Fan River to catch fish. Two went ahead, but one of them felt his two thighs suddenly turn cold as ice, feeling a slight trace of saliva, and, terrified lest there be the lair of a xiao beneath him, scrambled out urgently.[1] One person alone did not see this and, having told his family he would provide for them, stayed to return at dusk. Two days later, his corpse floated some five li distant, with a fist-sized hole below the left thigh, the whole body entirely white, that being due to a xiao having curled around it and sucked his blood. In shape the xiao is just like an eel, eight or nine chi in length (c.2.7m), and is a kind of flood dragon. Among the Geshan populace, one Li Shi once caught one of these.

Hong Mai, Yi Jian Zhi, ii, 丙17.509

閣山𤡔

亁道辛卯歲，饒州久不雨，江流皆澁。閣山道漁者三人，空手入番江捕魚。二人先出，其一覺兩股忽冷如冰，微有涎沫，懼𤡔穴其下，故急出。獨一人不見，告其家守之，至暮而還。後二日，尸浮於五里外，左股下一穴如拳大，舉體皆白，蓋為𤡔所繞而吮其血也。𤡔狀全與鰻鱺魚同，長至八九尺，亦蛟類也。閣山民李十嘗捕得之。

Hong Mai 洪邁, He Zhuo 何卓 (ed.), Yi Jian Zhi 夷堅志 (Record of Yi Jian) 4 vols (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1981)

[1] The character xiao 𤡔 is treated by the MOE dictionary of character variants as a variation on xiao 梟 ‘owl’, but this story clearly indicates a rather interesting and different aquatic nature for the creature in question. See http://dict2.variants.moe.edu.tw/yitia/fra/fra01951.htm.

An Unscrupulous Officer of the Way 法官不戒

Zhang Shengyuan, known as the ‘Sender of Thunder’, diligently followed the Way of Thunder, possessing exceptional power and efficacy; the populace all treated him as a transcendent. He resided in Lingdao Hall. One evening, when he was walking in the mountains, he defiled a village woman. When he returned at dusk, he lit a lamp, but there came the sound of a mouth eating and chewing, and suddenly dead fell to the ground. When the thunder spirits are like this, how can those scholars who follow the Way be disrespectful?

Anon., Huhai xinwen yijian xuzhi, 後1.166 (Tale 289):

法官不戒

張聲遠，名雷發，奉行雷法，甚有靈驗，衆皆神之。寓廬陵道堂。一晚山行，污一村婦。暮歸，堂中焚炷，但口中作吃吃之聲，忽仆地竟死。雷將之靈如此，行法之士忽慢可乎？

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).

Li Ji’s Daughter 李勣女

In the first year Zhenguan (627 CE), Li Ji’s (594-669 CE)[1] beloved daughter died, and she was buried at Bei Mang, with a servant’s cottage built next to the tomb. One day, the daughter suddenly appeared to the servant and said: “I did not die in the first place, but was rather stolen away by the spirit of a great tree. Now, the spirit having left on a pilgrimage to Xiyue, I have therefore managed to run away. I knew that you were here, so I came. I have already been parted from my parents, and returning from this would be humiliating, so I cannot go back. If you hide me, I can reward you with great wealth.” The servant was flabbergasted, but eventually agreed, and built another room for her. The girl sometimes left at dawn to return at dusk, sometimes left at nightfall to return at dawn, her every step like the wind. A month later, she suddenly brought ten jin of gold (about 5 kg) as a gift, and the servant accepted it. When he went to sell it, however, the family who had lost it seized the servant to report the matter. The governor of Luoyang was determined to get to the bottom of the matter, so the servant told the full story. When they followed him to seize her, the girl had already gone, and the remaining gold had all turned into yellow rock. (Taken from the Sunxianglu).

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, 327.2601:

李勣女

貞觀元年，李勣愛女卒，葬北邙，使家僮廬於墓側。一日，女子忽詣家僮曰：「我本不死，被大樹之神竊我。今值其神出朝西嶽，故得便奔出。知爾在此，是以來。我已離父母，復有此辱恥，不可歸。幸爾匿我，我能以致富報爾。」家僮駭愕，良久乃許，遂別置一室。其女或朝出暮至，或夜出曉來，行步如風。一月後，忽携黃金十斤以賜，家僮受之。出賣數兩，乃民家所失，主者執家僮以告。洛陽令推窮其由，家僮具述此事，及追取，此女已失，其餘金盡化為黃石焉。（出《孫相錄》，陳校本作出《瀟湘錄》）

[1] This seems likely to be Li Shiji 李世勣 (594-669), courtesy name Maogong 懋功, posthumously known as Duke Zhenwu of Ying 英貞武公. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Shiji.

Apes Invite A Physician 猿請醫士

A physician of Shangzhou had taken up his case and was offering treatment on the road. One day, as dusk turned to night, he was seized by several people and taken away so fast they almost flew. The physician yelled out for help, but the villagers who gathered could not wrest him away. His captors having stopped in a narrow defile among crags, the physician touched them and found they were all covered in fur. After several more li, they reached a stone chamber, where he saw an elderly ape laid out on a stone bed and attended by numerous women, all of whom were quite beautiful in appearance. One of the women spoke to the physician: “The general suffers stomach pains.” The physician diagnosed dyspepsia, so gave him a dose of food-dispersing medicine to take. The elderly ape was then able to rise to a sitting position, and instructed the woman to give him a kerchief, and ordered several people to escort him back.

On reaching his home he looked inside the kerchief, and its contents were all silver and gold. The next day he took these to sell, but someone recognised them as their family property, and wanted to go straight to the authorities. The physician told them of their origin, returning all of the property, and the matter was then resolved. It happened that another night several people again requested that he go with them, and then he saw the old ape wore an ashamed expression. The woman gave him another kerchief, saying that these objects had been obtained rather further away, and he could sell them without hindrance. The physician returned with these, and subsequently became very wealthy.

Anon., Huhai xinwen yijian xuzhi, 後2.254 (Tale 458):

猿請醫士

商州醫者負篋行醫，一日昏黑，為數人擒去如飛。醫者大呼求援，鄉人羣聚而不可奪。所擒之人，懸崖絕險，醫者捫其身皆毛。行數里到石室中，見一老猿卧於石榻之上，侍立數婦人，皆有姿色。一婦人謂醫曰：「將軍腹痛。」醫者覺其傷食，遂以消食藥一服與之以服。老猿即能起坐，且囑婦人以一帕與之，令數人送其回歸。抵家視之，盡黃白也。次日持賣，有人認為其家之物，欲置之官，醫者直述其由，盡以其物還之，其事方釋。忽一夕，數人又來請其去，見老猿有愧色，其婦人又與一帕，且謂得之頗遠，賣之無妨。醫者持歸，遂至大富。

A Spirit Treats A Bone In The Throat 神醫骨鯁

Wang Youliang of Poyang, while eating a spicy pig’s trotter, accidentally swallowed a finger-sized bone which stuck in his throat and for several days could not be gulped down. Despite spitting and salivating being painful, he could take a little drink and soup, but his family were extremely worried about him. At dusk, when he was beginning to doze, he saw a scarlet-robed figure approach and tell him: “It is said you suffer from a bone. I have medicine, which is simply the finest southern pengsha.”[1] Awaking, he requested a small piece, held it in his mouth until it dissolved, and then on eating, was able to swallow freely as before. This can be seen as an example of spirits granting their secrets in the aid of others.

Anon., Huhai xinwen yijian xuzhi, 後2.226 (Tale 403):

神醫骨鯁

鄱陽汪友良因食辣蹄，誤吞骨如指大，鯁於喉間，累日不下，雖咳唾亦痛，但略通湯飲，家人絕憂之。於昏睡次，睹一朱衣來告曰：「聞汝苦骨，吾有一藥，唯南鵬砂最妙。」覺而索砂一小塊，淨洗含化，纔食頃，脫然如失。此殆神明陰授以方濟人云。

[1] Pengsha 鵬砂 refers to borax, or sodium tetraborate.

A Clay Mendicant Buys Chestnuts 泥行者買栗

The Sizhou Buddha of Longquan’s Wugou Hall was very powerful. Every day at dusk there was a mendicant who would take up the begging bowl and monk’s staff, walking and singing in the town, saying that the sects had become one text; nobody knew to which monastery he belonged. One night it happened that, at chestnut roasting store at the end of the Jichuan Bridge, a single lamp still burned, and the mendicant held up his bold and bought chestnuts. Following him on tiptoe, he was seen returning to the Buddhist temple, at which those people said: “The temple has only one monk; where did this mendicant come from?” The next day they went to look, and saw that there were several chestnuts in the alms bowl held by the carved wood mendicant, and then they understood. This secret being revealed, he never again went out.

Anon., Huhai xinwen yijian xuzhi, 後2.225 (Tale 401):

泥行者買栗

龍泉無垢院泗州佛甚靈，每黃昏時，有行者將鉢盂錫杖，行歌於市，曰家化一文，人莫知其為何寺之行者。忽一夜，濟川橋頭有炒栗鋪賣，孤燈猶存，行者持鉢買栗。躡其後追之，見歸無垢，其人曰：「院只一僧，安有此行者？」次早往觀，見木乂行者鉢盂中有栗數枚，方知之。此機一泄，不復出矣。

A Household God Brings Property 家神送物

The family of Zhang Shuiyuan, of Yongfeng Stone Well in Xinzhou, served their household god with great reverence. The [lacuna] household god was an ancestor. The [lacuna] household had very little property, and later, due to the exhaustion of their property, the family prayed from dawn to dusk, hoping for assistance from the nether world. One day, when dusk was approaching, an old woman was seen walking straight in, carrying a bamboo box which she placed on a table in the ancestral hall. The family rushed out to meet her, but she was nowhere to be seen. When they looked at the portrait of a female ancestor in the ancestral hall, however, there was a close resemblance; the family were astonished and confused, and hesitated to look at the box. After a night had passed they finally opened and examined it, and all the contents were items of silver and gold. The Zhangs sold this and managed their property, and from this initial wealth became an important lineage. The old woman was their ancestress.

Among these ancestral spirits there are none who do not watch over their descendants from the nether world, cherishing people who live in ignorance, instead revering and praying to lascivious demons from dawn to dusk, calling them deities and divinities. When other people pray for their ancestors, this can be called auspicious and prosperous. If one pays no heed to one’s ancestors, failing to observe the seasonal offerings, not revering the tombs, even when there are descendants, how does this differ to the extinction of a lineage? If people can shift their reverence from lascivious demons to respectful service of their ancestors, it would not only be the Zhangs who receive protection and reward, and the deities of heaven and earth too would extend their generosity and protection.

Anon., Huhai xinwen yijian xuzhi, 後2.219 (Tale 389):

家神送物

信州永豐石井張稅院者，家事家神甚謹。[ ]家神者，祖先也。[ ]薄有貲產，後因破蕩，家人朝夕禱之，以冀陰相。一日將暮，忽見一嫗攜一小竹合子直入，置家堂中几案上，急出迎之，亦不見矣。但瞻家堂中所畫先世祖婆者如之，家人疑異，留不啟視。經宿啟視，皆黃白之物。張鬻之治產，（「產」，明刻本作「生」。）因此貲產甲於〔一〕（據明刻本補。）族。蓋嫗者，祖婆也。夫祖宗英靈毋有不陰相子孫，惜人未之知，但朝夕奉祀淫鬼，指為神明。為他人祀祖宗，謂可徼福，反以本生祖宗置之度外，歲時不祭，墳墓不登，雖有子孫，絕嗣何異？儻能移祀淫鬼之心敬事祖宗，非惟如張氏之獲報，而天地神明亦加垂佑焉。