Part 8 (1/2)
Ch'iang San-mang was overjoyed. ”Now I'm sure that ghosts can be captured,” he said. ”If I could get one every night and turn it into a sheep, then the next morning I could bring it to the butcher's and supply myself with meat and drink for the day.”
Every night thereafter he shouldered a club and, rope in hand, crept among the graves like a hunter stalking a rabbit. But he never came across anything. Places that everyone called haunted turned out to be barren, though once he even pretended to be in a drunken sleep to dare the ghosts to do their worst.
One evening he saw a few flares across the forest and rushed to the spot, but the lights dispersed like so many sparks before he arrived. After a month of this frustration, he gave up.
It would seem that the dead frighten men simply by exploiting their fear. Ch'iang San-mang was convinced that a ghost could be caught and tied up, and his fearlessness was enough to scare them off.
-Chi Yun Ai Tzu and the Temple Ghost Ai Tzu was traveling by water, and on his way he saw a temple. The temple was low and small, but it had a dignity that was impressive. In front of it ran a little ditch. As Ai Tzu watched, a man who was on foot reached the ditch but could not get across. So the man looked into the temple, grabbed a statue of the temple G.o.d, and placed it over the ditch. Then he stepped on the statue and went his way.
Another man came, saw the statue, and sighed, ”Oh! for the holy image to be treated with such disrespect!” He righted the statue, rubbed it clean with his clothes, and set it reverently back in place. He bowed three times and went his way.
Moments later, Ai Tzu heard a little ghost in the temple speaking to the statue. ”My Lord, you reside here as a G.o.d. You enjoy the offerings and rites of the villagers. Now this brute has insulted you; shouldn't you bring disaster down on him to teach him a lesson?”
”If there are to be any disasters,” the temple G.o.d answered, ”they will descend upon the second man.”
”The first man walked on you; what greater insult is there?” said the small ghost. ”Yet you will not ruin him. The second man showed respect for you, my Lord, and yet you want to ruin him. Why?”
”The first man,” said the temple G.o.d, ”no longer has faith, and I can no longer ruin him.”
”True it is,” said Ai Tzu, ”that the G.o.ds fear the wicked.”
-Attributed to Su s.h.i.+h Escaping Ghosts Legend has it that many spooks and apparitions have plagued pa.s.sersby near High Top Bridge in Hangchow. Once a solitary traveler was caught by a rainstorm there. Suddenly, convinced that the traveler was a ghost, another man under an umbrella charged toward him and forced the traveler off the bridge and into the water. Then the man fled until, seeing a light in the bathhouse east of the bridge, he hurried in for shelter.
Afterward the traveler arrived, also drenched. Panting, he said, ”A ghost carrying an umbrella forced me into the river, and I nearly drowned.” ”I saw the same ghost!” the first man said. Eyeing one another, the two slowly realized their mistake.
On another night of storm and drizzle, a man who had no lamp was crossing the bridge when he heard the sound of clogs behind him. Turning, he saw a large head on a body some two feet tall. He stopped to gape; the head also stopped. When he went on, the head went on. When he ran, the head ran. Panicking, the man flew to the bathhouse and pushed open the door. But before he could close it again, the head entered.
Faint from terror, the man lifted candle and saw a boy wearing a pot against the rain. Because he was afraid of ghosts, the child had followed the man for protection.
-Lang Ying Test of Conviction s.h.i.+h Hsu, an important general in Kiangsi, was a man skilled in logical reasoning. One of his students also held rational views and had always expressed the conviction that ghosts do not exist.
One day the student had an unexpected visitor, who was dressed in black clothes with white lapels. Their conversation touched on many subjects and eventually turned to ghosts about which the student and the stranger held contrary opinions. After a day of arguing, the visitor, having been bested, said, ”Good sir, you are more than clever with words, but your reasoning is not perfect. For I myself am a ghost! Now how can you argue that there are none?”
”Why have you come?” asked the student.
”I have been a.s.signed to take you. Your time expires tomorrow at dinner time.”
When the student pleaded in distress, the ghost said, ”Do you know anyone who resembles you?”
”Yes, in s.h.i.+h Hsu's command there's an officer who resembles me.”
The ghost and the student went together to visit the officer. They sat down opposite him. Then the ghost took an iron pick about a foot long, set the point on the top of the officer's head, and began to pound it with a hammer.
”I feel some pain in my head,” said the officer. Soon the pain became severe, and within an hour the officer was dead.
-Kan Pao Drinking Companions A fisherman named Hsu made his home outside the north gate of Tzu, a towns.h.i.+p in present-day Shantung. Every night he took along some wine to the riverside to drink while he fished. And each time, he poured a little offering on the ground ”so that the spirits of those who have drowned in the river may have some wine too.” When other fishermen had caught nothing, Hsu usually went home with a basketful.
One evening as Hsu was tippling by himself, a young man approached him and paced back and forth. Hsu offered him a drink and grandly shared his winejar. It was a disappointing night, however, for he failed to catch a single fish. ”Let me go downstream and drive them up for you,” said the young man, who rose and departed in a manner that seemed to be airborne. He returned shortly and said, ”A number of fish will be arriving.” And indeed, Hsu could hear a chorus of splas.h.i.+ng as the approaching fish struck at insects. He took up his net and got several, each a foot long.
Delighted, Hsu thanked the young man and started home. Then he turned to offer his benefactor some fish, but the young man declined, saying, ”I have often enjoyed your delicious brew. For my trifling a.s.sistance it's not worth speaking of reciprocity. In fact, if you wouldn't refuse my company, I'd like to make a custom of it.”
”We have spent only an evening together,” answered Hsu. ”What do you mean by 'often enjoyed? But it would be a pleasure if you kept visiting me, though I'm afraid I don't have anything to repay your kindness.” Then he asked the young man his name.
”I am a w.a.n.g,” was the reply, ”but have no given name. You could call me 'Liu-lang,' or 'Sixth-born,' when we meet.” And thus they parted.
Next day Hsu sold his fish and bought more wine. In the evening the young man was already there when Hsu arrived at the riverbank, so they had the pleasure of drinking together again. And again after several rounds the young man suddenly whisked away to drive the fish for Hsu.
Things went on agreeably like this for half a year when out of the blue Liu-lang announced to Hsu, ”Ever since I had the honor of your acquaintance, we have been closer than closest kin. But the day of parting has come.” His voice was filled with sadness.
Hsu was surprised and asked why. The young man started to speak and then stopped several times until he said at last, ”Close as we are, the reason may shock you. But now that we are to part, there's no harm in telling you the plain truth: I'm a ghost, one with a weakness for wine. I died by drowning when I was drunk, and I have been here for several years. The reason you always caught more fish than anyone else is that I was secretly driving them toward you in thanks for your libations. But tomorrow my term of karma ends, and a replacement for me will be coming. I'm to be reborn into another life on earth. This evening is all that remains for us to share, and it is hard not to feel sad.”
Hsu was frightened at first, but they had been close friends for so long that his fear abated. He sighed deeply over the news, poured a drink, and said, ”Liu-lang, drink this up and don't despair. If our ways must part, that's reason enough for regret; but if your karmic lot is fulfilled and your term of suffering relieved, that's cause for congratulation, not sorrow.” And together they shared a deep swig of wine. ”Who will replace you?” asked Hsu.
”You'll see from the riverbank. At high noon a woman will drown as she crosses the river. That will be the one!” As the roosters in the hamlet called forth the dawn, the two drinkers parted, shedding tears.
The next day Hsu watched expectantly from the edge of the river. A woman came carrying a baby in her arms. As she reached the river, she fell. She tossed the child to sh.o.r.e, then began crying and flailing her hands and feet. She surfaced and sank several times until she pulled herself out, streaming water. Then she rested a little while, took her child in her arms, and left.
When the woman was sinking, Hsu could not bear it and wished he could rush to her rescue. He held back only because he remembered that she was to replace Liu-lang. But when the woman got herself out he began to doubt what Liu-lang had told him.
At dusk Hsu went fis.h.i.+ng in the usual spot. Again his friend came and said to him, ”Now we are together again and need not speak of parting for the time being.” When Hsu asked why, Liu-lang replied, ”The woman had already taken my place, but I had pity for the child in her arms. Two should not be lost for one, and so I spared them. When I will be replaced is not known, and so it seems that the brotherhood between us shall continue.”
Hsu sighed with deep feeling. ”Such a humane heart should be seen by the Highest in Heaven.” And so they had the pleasure of each other's company as before.
Several days later, however, Liu-lang came to say goodbye again. Hsu thought he had found another replacement, but Liu-lang said, ”No, my compa.s.sionate thought for the drowning woman actually reached to heaven, and I have been rewarded with a position as local deity in Wu towns.h.i.+p of Chauyuan county. I a.s.sume office tomorrow. Please remember our friends.h.i.+p and visit me; don't worry about the length or difficulty of the journey.”
”What a comfort to have someone as upright as you for a deity,” said Hsu, offering his congratulations. ”But no road connects men and G.o.ds. Even if the distance did not daunt me, how could I manage to go?”
”Simply go; don't think about it,” replied the young man. After repeating the invitation, he left.
Hsu went home to put his things in order and set out at once, though his wife mocked him. ”You're going hundreds of miles? Even if this place exists, I don't think you can hold a conversation with a clay idol!” she sneered. Hsu paid no attention. He started off and eventually arrived in Chauyuan county, where he learned that there really was a Wu towns.h.i.+p. On his way there he stopped at a hostel and asked for directions to the temple. The host said with an air of pleasant surprise, ”By any chance is our guest's surname Hsu?”
”Yes, how did you know?”
The host left abruptly without making a reply. Presently a mixed throng approached and circled Hsu like a wall; men carried their babies, women peeped around their doors. The crowd announced to an amazed Hsu, ”Several nights ago we had a dream in which our deity said that a friend named Hsu would be coming and that we should help him out with his traveling expenses. We have been respectfully awaiting you.” Marveling at this reception, Hsu went to sacrifice at the temple.
”Since we parted,” he prayed, ”my thoughts have dwelled on you night and day. I have come far to keep our agreement, and I am both favored and deeply moved by the sign you gave the local people. But I am embarra.s.sed to have come without a fitting gift. All I brought was a flask of wine. If it is acceptable, let us drink as we used to on the riverbank.” His prayer done, Hsu burned paper money. Shortly he saw a wind arise behind the shrine. The smoke swirled around for a time and then disappeared.
That night Liu-lang, looking altogether different now that he was capped and garbed in finery, entered Hsu's dreams. Expressing his appreciation, Liu-lang said, ”For you to come so far to see me moves me to tears, but I am unable to meet you directly because I hold such a trivial position. It saddens me to be so near to the living and yet so far. The people here have some meager presents for you as a token of our past a.s.sociation. Whenever you are to return home, I shall see you off myself.”
Hsu remained in Wu towns.h.i.+p a few more days before preparing to leave. The people of Wu tried to keep him longer, making earnest appeals and inviting him to daylong feasts with different hosts. But Hsu was set on returning home. The people outdid themselves in generosity, and before the morning pa.s.sed his bags were filled with gifts. The grey-haired and the young gathered to see him out of the village. And a whirlwind followed him some three or four miles farther. Hsu bowed again and again. ”Take care of yourself, Liu-lang,” he said. ”Don't bother coming so far. With your humane and loving heart, you can surely bring good fortune to this towns.h.i.+p without advice from old friends.” The wind swirled around for a time and then was gone. The villagers, exclaiming in wonder at these events, also went to their homes.
When Hsu arrived back in his own village, his family's circ.u.mstances had improved so much that he did not return to fis.h.i.+ng. Later he saw people from Chauyuan county who told him that the deity was working miracles and had become widely known.
The Recorder of Things Strange says: To attain the heights of ambition without forgetting the friends one made when poor and lowly-that is what made w.a.n.g Liu-lang a G.o.d! Nowadays, when do the high and n.o.ble in their carriages recognize those still wearing a bamboo hat?
-P'u Sung-ling The Censor and the Tiger Li Cheng of Lunghsi in present-day Kansu was an imperial relation. As a youth he was learned and excelled in composition. At the age of twenty he had become an esteemed and eminent scholar and was awarded a stipend by the governor.
In the spring of the tenth year of the reign of T'ien Pao (A.D. 751) Li Cheng was one of the successful candidates under the a.s.sistant prime minister, Yang Mo, and advanced to the highest degree. Some years later he was a.s.signed to fill the vacant office of chief constable in Chiangnan.
By nature Li Cheng was an indolent man, and arrogant because of his talents. He could not adjust to his low position as chief constable and felt frustrated and depressed. Whenever he met with his colleagues, he said after a few drinks, ”How could the likes of you be in a cla.s.s with me?” His a.s.sociates resented this bitterly.