kitchen – Zhiguai Translations

Lightning Strikes The Unfilial 雷擊不孝

In Wugongkou, in Wen, there were two criminal youths intending to make trouble. As each still had a mother, they plotted together that each would kill the other’s parent, and they could then stage an uprising. The chief plotter [20] was one Chen Wusi, who was then apprenticed in a restaurant as a cook, but not yet being allowed to prepare food, was stationed at the rear of the kitchen. A shepherd boy, called Wang Zheng, suddenly saw a person, a full zhang (3.3m) in height, enter the gate bearing a brocade-wrapped document. Everything went hazy for a while. It then came back out grasping the youth. There was the sound of a thunderclap. Wusi’s kerchief was pierced through, a hole visible deep into the crown of his head. He leaned against the wall and died.

Anon, Huhai xinwen yijian xuzhi, 前1.19-20 (Tale 34):

雷擊不孝

溫之吳公口有二惡少，謀欲生事，尚各有母，欲假手於同謀者互殺其母，而後舉事。其主謀 [20] 者陳五四者，正在練店內烹飪，尚未得食，立於竈後。有牧童王正，忽見有丈身之人攜錦皮簿書入門，恍惚間，先攜小童出門外，霹靂一聲，五四頭巾穿破，頭頂上一竅穿透，靠壁而死。

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)

The Way Kills A Spider Demon 法誅蛛怪

In a household belonging to Jianning fu there was a married second daughter, who returned to the household for the new spring, and went to stroll with her younger sister in the flower garden to the side of the house. As they entered the garden gate there was a spider, deep red in colour, which descended onto her arm and could not be flicked away. The girl thought it a demon, and though desperate could not get rid of it. Returning, she fell ill and died. At the beginning of spring the following year, her younger sister walked again in that place to remember the dead and the past, and had not even finished speaking when the same thing descended onto her arm. The girl rushed back, also feeling the illness starting to develop, and told her mother: “Elder sister saw this last year and then died; now I have seen it again and fear that I will not be spared. This is a demon; I have heard that Huang Jinzhuang performs the Way with great efficacy. We should hurry and send people to ask for a talisman and curing water.” Her mother did as she said. Gentleman Huang sent out a talisman with instructions to burn it in the stove. Soon after, thick clouds arose on all sides, thunder and rain descending all at once, the neighbours saw a mountainside appear in the air before the gate, and saw a scarlet woman struck as if by a lightning spirit, over and over again. Before long, there was a single great thunderclap, and they saw the woman fall out of the sky and into the valley. Soon after the rain stopped, and, going to look, they saw the corpse of a woman laid out there. The demonic effects then ceased.

Anon., Huhai xinwen yijian xuzhi, 後1.164 (Tale 285):

法誅蛛怪

建寧府人家有二女適人，因春首歸家，（「家」，明抄本作「寧」。）與其妹同遊屋側花園。方入園門，有一蜘蛛，真紅色，墮其臂，拂之不去。女以為怪，意殊不釋，歸感疾而死。次年春初，其妹再遊其地，因感舊事，言未竟，此物復墮其臂。其女急回，亦感病，語其母曰：「姊去年見此而死，今我又復見之，恐不可免。此是一怪，聞黃金莊行法甚靈，可急遣人問討符水。」母如其言。黃公為遣將發符，令以符於竈中燒化。須臾，陰雲四起，雷雨交作，鄰人但見門前之山旁空中，見有一真紅婦人為雷神所擊，往來數四。須臾，霹靂一聲，見此婦人自空中跌下坑谷。須臾雨霽，往視，見一婦人橫尸在焉。其怪方絕。

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).

Punishing A Python Through The Law 法誅蟒精

The Qiongzhou Daoist Zhang Biyun (lit. ‘Jade Cloud Zhang’) performed the Thunder Rites. He was famous across Sichuan, supernatural beings resenting and fearing him. At that time the ‘Disciple of Heshan’ Wei Wenweng (Wei Liaoweng 魏了翁?[1]) was governing Xuzhou, and his wife fell ill, the sickness persisting for a long time without recovery, so he dispatched a runner with a letter describing it, sending it to Biyun. Biyun thus wrote out two talismans and gave them to the runner, praying and saying: “Burn these within the hall, and through this a thing within your kitchen will be cremated.” The runner returned and reported to Wenweng, burning it as instructed. Several days later, they found the chambers filled with a foul smell, and suddenly noticed beneath a shelf [164] a giant python, five or six zhang in length (c.17-20m), and already quite dead. His household then understood that this was a python demon, and his wife’s illness was then cured.

Anon., Huhai xinwen yijian xuzhi, 後1.163-64 (Tale 284):

法誅蟒精

邛州道士張碧雲，行雷法，四川有名，鬼神望而畏之。時魏鶴山弟文翁知敘州，內人得病，纏緜不愈，差二承局持書與狀，去投碧雲。碧雲即書二符與承局，祝云：「堂內焚化，以一就竈中焚化。」承局歸告文翁，如其言焚之。數日後，但聞滿屋臭穢，忽於閣（「閣」原作「闔」，據明刻本改。）板 [164] 下見一巨蟒，長五六丈，已死。其家方知為祟者蟒也，夫人之病遂安。

[1] On Wei Liaoweng 魏了翁, see http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Song/personsweiliaoweng.html

An Elm Demon 榆木為怪

Lü Yijian, Duke Shen, served several times as a magistrate in Shu, but the name of his prefecture has been forgotten. The government office had long experienced a ghostly manifestation, named Great Aunt Yu, who was an elm spirit. In form she looked like an ancient and ugly woman, and she frequently emerged in the kitchen, encountered among a crowd of maids, who often saw her. The household, having seen her over a long period, did not think her strange. The Duke called out a question to her, at which she bowed low and said: “Your servant has long been resident in this hall, and though not human, I dare not cause misfortune.” The Duke then laid the matter aside and asked no more questions. She often predicted that he must later become very influential. One day she suddenly announced that she was pregnant, and the maids mocked her. She herself said that she would soon give birth, and then disappeared for over a month. Then, all of a sudden, her voice was heard, saying: “I have given birth; [264] please come and look. In the back garden, to the southwest of the elm tree, there’s another, and that’s my child.” They looked, and it was true.

Anon., Huhai xinwen yijian xuzhi, 後2.263-64 (Tale 477):

榆木為怪

呂申公夷簡常通判蜀中，忘其郡名。廨宇中素有鬼物，號俞老姑，乃榆木精，其狀一老醜婦，常出廚間與羣婢為偶，或時見之。家人見之久，亦不為怪。公呼問之，即下階拜（「階拜」原作「拜階」，據抄配本改。）云：「妾在於（抄配本無「於」字。）堂府日久，雖非人，然不敢為禍。」公亦置而不問。常謂公他日必大貴。一日忽懷妊，羣婢戲之。自言非久當產，遂月餘不見。忽出云：「已產矣， [264] 請視之，後園榆木西南生大贅乃是。」視之，果然。

A Well Spirit Shows Itself 井神現身

Wu Zhan lived near Jingxi, where there was a particularly clear and limpid spring on which the population relied. Zhan protected it with a bamboo fence, to keep out the dirt. One day, Wu was by the side of the spring when he caught a white snail and put it in an earthen jar. Whenever he came in from outside, he found food and drink already prepared in his kitchen, and he was shocked and astonished. One day he managed to peep in, and saw a woman emerge from the shell and take up a cooking knife. Wu hurried in towards her. She was unable to return to her shell, and told him truthfully: “I am a spring spirit. Because the gentleman respected and protected my source, and because it is known that the gentleman is a widower, I was commanded to prepare food for the gentleman. If the gentleman eats my food, he will attain the Way.” When her speech was finished she vanished.

Anon., Huhai xinwen yijian xuzhi, 後2.219 (Tale 388):

井神現身

吳湛居臨荊溪，有一泉極清澈，衆人賴之，湛為竹籬遮護，不令穢入。一日，吳於泉側得一白螺，歸置之甕中，每自外歸，則廚中飲食已辦，心大驚異。一日竊窺，乃一女子自螺中而出，手自操刀。吳急趨之，女子大窘，不容歸殼，實告吳曰：「吾乃泉神，以君敬護泉源，且知君鰥居，命〔吾〕（據明刻本補。）為君操饌。君食吾饌，當得道矣。」言訖不見。

A Spirit Steals Mantou 鬼偷饅頭

The Xiang household of Yongjia was occupied by a spirit; sometimes this thing, shaped like a person with disheveled hair, appeared and disappeared across their home, and called itself ‘Grand Duke’. The Xiangs thought this normal, and did not recognise its anomalous nature. Whatever they wanted, they had only to call to the Grand Duke in the kitchen, and that thing would then appear. When Xiang’s wife became pregnant, she wished to eat a plain meal of mantou steamed buns, and so called to the Grand Duke, and he appeared after the second watch (9-12pm) bearing a steamer layer of piping hot mantou, spreading warm vapour. Several days later, news spread that people at the Qichi ferry crossing were missing a steamer layer of mantou from a festival of offerings to earth and water. Later, Xiang’s wife gave birth to a child; it lacked eyebrows and eyes, but had a mouth and could suckle; first she wanted to drown it, but suddenly heard the Grand Duke speak out of thin air: “The child must not be drowned; feed it for the time being, and soon there will be reason for gratitude.” After more than two months had passed, Mrs Xiang was cuddling the baby on her bed, when the Grand Duke suddenly placed two silver tablets on the bed, seized the child and left; afterwards this strangeness stopped.

Anon, Huhai xinwen yijian xuzhi, 後2.236 (Tale 425):

鬼偷饅頭

永嘉項家為邪神所據，時有一物，人形而蓬首，出沒其家，自呼曰「大公」。項以為常，不為怪異。凡有所求，只於廚間呼大公，物則隨至。項妻有孕，想齋饅頭食，遂叫大公一聲，至二更餘，捧一層蒸饅頭而來，蒸氣尚暖。越數日，人傳七尺渡頭人家設水陸齋，失了饅頭一層。後項婦生一子如冬瓜狀，無眉目，但有口能乳，方欲溺之，忽聞大公空中作聲曰：「子不可溺，權以乳哺，當有以謝。」踰兩月，項婦方抱子在牀，忽大公置白金二笏於牀，奪抱此子而去，後其怪亦息。