He ordered all the windows of the main hall of the temple to be completely blacked out with rugs and quilts, and the suspects to be led, still bare to the waist, into the pitch-dark hall. As they went in they were told to wash their hands in a basin of water, and then they were tied up facing the wall and told not to move, so that the god could 'write something' on the back of the guilty man. After a while, the Judge ordered them to be untied and brought out again into the open. He examined them all.

'That man,' he declared, pointing to Big Mao, 'is the true murderer!'

What the Judge had done was this: first he had given instructions for the wall to be smeared with lime, then for the basin in the darkened hall, in which they had washed their hands, to be filled with a solution of soot. The guilty man among them, fearful of being 'written on by the god', had turned around in the dark and pressed his back up against the wall, thereby smearing lime on it. When he emerged into the light untied, he had tried to cover his back with his hands, leaving sooty marks all over it. That was how the Judge confirmed his suspicions of Big Mao, who was now subjected to the harshest torture and confessed to everything.

The final written judgement was as follows: 'Su Jie: this man, like Deng Tu the famous lecher of old, is a debauched individual whose weakness, like that of Pencheng Guo, all but led to his own death. He knew this woman Madame Wang when they were both young and innocent, and as a grown man refused to abandon their illicit liaison. A chance piece of information about the young girl Rouge tempted him to make a new conquest, and he scaled the wall, like Jiang Zhongzi the bold paramour in the Songs, posing as a second Liu Chen in love, and thereby luring her into opening her door. What a shameful deed, for a gentleman and a scholar thus to plot against the chastity of an innocent girl! Fortunately he took pity on her illness and restrained himself at the last moment which bespoke some residual virtue of the sort one might hope to find in a member of the educated class. But then to steal her slipper as a pledge was that not a vile deed! He flitted from her courtyard back to his old flame, and even as his account of his adventure was being overheard by a passing ne'er-do-well, he noticed the disappearance of the slipper. This man has been caught in a double imposture. His is a case of doubly mistaken identity! First he himself masqueraded as young Li Qiusun, in order to pass himself off as the girl's suitor; and then, once the original murder suspect, Li Qiusun himself, had been ruled out, he, Su, was mistakenly presumed by all to have been guilty of the father's murder. This Heaven-inflicted punishment for his own misdeeds nearly cost him his life. His behaviour has brought disgrace on his fellow scholars and gentlemen. But nonetheless it would be wrong to convict him of a crime done by another, and his punishment should be commuted, in view of what he has already suffered. He is to be demoted to the rank of commoner, and given a chance to make a fresh start in a new and humbler life.

'As for the man known as Big Mao: he is an unscrupulous rogue, the worst kind of street thug. Having been rebuffed by Madame Wang, his former neighbour, he was incapable of renouncing his lustful desires. He eavesdropped on her meeting with her lover, and to his joy learned of an opportunity to seduce a fair maiden in the neighbourhood, something beyond his wildest expectations. But Heaven willed it otherwise. He mistook her father's room for hers, and his amorous adventure came to a tragic ending. Cornered by the old man, who was carrying a knife, he struck in desperation and took the man's life. This was no lover, no romantic philanderer, this was a monster pure and simple. He should be instantly decapitated, to appease the righteous wrath of the law-abiding public.

'Then we come to the girl Rouge: she had reached the marrying age but was still unbetrothed. A girl with her good looks would surely have obtained a handsome husband. But her infatuation with this one man brought her no end of trouble. First one scoundrel then another came after her, each posing as the man she loved, each trying to dupe her. How narrow was her escape! Who would ever have thought that her passion would become the engine of her misfortune, and lead to the violent death of her own father? Thanks to her courage, she has been able despite everything to preserve her chastity. Therefore marriage with the object of her affections is still possible, indeed to be commended, in spite of all that has transpired. Her wish should be fulfilled, the lovers should be united, in commendation of this girl's brave defence of her chastity against all odds. Let the County Magistrate act as matchmaker.'

Thus the trial came to an end, and Judge Shi became famous for his wise judgement. It was thanks to his probing investigation that Rouge came to discover young Li's innocence. As soon as she knew the truth, she kept looking at the young man in the tribunal with shame and remorse, her eyes wet with tears. She seemed to have words to say to comfort him but was too shy to utter them. Young Li for his part was touched by her evident sympathy, and, as the case dragged on, he began to have feelings of affection towards her. He could not help but be deterred, however, by the fact of her humble birth, and by her local notoriety as a result of this shocking court case. He was at first fearful that he might become a laughing stock if he were to take her as his wife, and pondered the dilemma night and day, unable to make up his mind. Judge Shi's final judgement, however, enabled him to set aside his doubts. The County Magistrate took the matter in hand, sent off the betrothal gifts to Rouge on Li's behalf, and the festive sound of flutes and drums were soon to be heard all along the road.

98.

THE SOUTHERN WUTONG-SPIRIT.

The southern Wutong-spirit is somewhat like the northern fox-spirit. But whereas the northern fox's evil force may be exorcized in a hundred different ways, the Wutong of the Yangtze Valley region is much more vicious and intractable. It possesses and ravishes the beautiful wives of innocent citizens at will, wreaking havoc in the hearts of all. Whole families live in fear and trembling of this powerful and pernicious spirit.

There was a pawnbroker of the southern region of Wu named Zhao Hong, who had a beautiful wife called Yan. One night, a strapping great fellow burst into her room, swinging his sword around him, and her maids and old serving-women fled in terror. Yan herself tried to escape, but the intruder barred her way.

'Do not be afraid,' he said. 'I am a Wutong-spirit. They call me Fourth Brother. I love you; I mean you no harm.'

He took her by the waist, lifting her up as one would an infant. Then he deposited her on the bed, stripped off her skirt and sash and made love to her. His mighty member was more than she could endure and she sank into a trance-like state, groaning and pleading with him to desist. Out of pity for her he did not penetrate her fully, but descended from the couch saying, 'In five days I will return.'

And with these words he left.

The woman's husband was on a business trip, and a maidservant hurried that same night to bring him news of this terrible visitation. He recognized it at once as the doing of a Wutong, and went straight home without asking any further questions. At dawn the following day, when he saw how listless his wife was, how loth she was to rise from her bed, he felt a deep sense of shame at what had happened to her. He gave his household instructions not to breathe a word of the incident. Three or four days later his wife seemed more herself again, but she lived in constant dread of the forthcoming Wutong visit. Meanwhile her maids and serving-women no longer dared to sleep in her apartments, but had all moved out to another part of the house, leaving their mistress alone by her candle, grimly awaiting her fate.

It was not long before the spirit returned, accompanied this time by two other men, fine-looking youths, and a pageboy who laid out sweetmeats and wines. The spirit invited Yan to drink with him, but she bashfully lowered her head, and even when he pressed her she refused, consumed with fearful anticipation that their love-making that night would be the end of her. The three men carried on drinking, pledging each other with many a toast till well past midnight, when the spirit's two young companions rose to leave.

'You, sir, have an assignment tonight with this fair lady. On some other occasion you must invite us to drink with you again.'

They referred to him as Fourth Brother Wutong, and to themselves as Second and Fifth Brothers Wutong. With these words they took their leave.

Fourth Brother Wutong now carried her into the curtained bedstead, and although she pleaded for mercy, he had his way with her again and did not leave until she had begun to bleed heavily and had lost consciousness.

When she finally came to, she lay breathing fitfully on her couch, burning with shame. She resolved to take her own life, but each time she slipped her neck through the noose, the cord always snapped however often she tried, it was always the same. This means of escape was thus denied her.

Fortunately for her, the spirit left an interval between his visits. To be precise, he always allowed her just sufficient time to recover before her next ordeal. This continued for two or three months, at the end of which time the entire household was at its wits' end.

Now, there was a man from the town of Kuaiji named Wan, a cousin of Zhao Hong's on his mother's side, a man of great courage and a superb marksman with the bow. He came to visit Zhao one day, and was accommodated in the inner apartments of the house (the usual guest quarters having been taken over by the terrorized members of the family). That night he lay awake longer than usual and, thinking that he heard the sound of a man moving about in the courtyard outside, looked out through his window. Sure enough, he saw a strange man entering the bedchamber of his host's wife. His suspicions immediately aroused, he armed himself with a knife and took up a position in the courtyard from which he had a clear view into the lady's room. He could see the stranger seated next to her, and refreshments spread on the low table beside them on the couch. Unable to contain his righteous wrath, Wan burst into the room and the stranger rose to his feet in alarm, feeling in haste for his sword. But before he could lay hands on it, Wan's knife had sliced its way through his skull, spilling his brains on to the floor. When Wan looked down, he saw that the man's corpse had already been transformed into that of a small horse, the size of a mule. Aghast, he questioned the lady, who told him the whole story of her possession, concluding, 'At any moment his spirit-companions will come for him! What then?'

Wan gestured to her to be silent, extinguished her candle, and lay in wait in the dark, with bow and arrows at the ready. In a little while, four or five men duly alighted from the sky. Wan let loose his first arrow, and the first lay dead. The others bellowed with rage, drew their swords and entered the room in search of the archer. Wan was hiding motionless behind the door, knife in hand, and the first to enter soon fell dead to the ground, his throat slit. Wan stood behind the door a while longer, and when there was no further sound he emerged and went to knock at his cousin Zhao's door and inform him of the night's events. Zhao was greatly alarmed at his tale, and the two of them returned to the scene, where they lit candles and saw the dead bodies of a horse and two pigs. The whole household rejoiced at this deliverance. Out of fear, however, that the surviving creatures might return to seek vengeance, they Caption

The man's corpse had been transformed into that of a small horse.

persuaded the valiant Wan to stay, serving him with broiled pork and stewed horse-meat, dishes whose freshness and unusual provenance rendered them all the more tasty.

After this, Wan's name became a local byword for courage. He stayed on for a little over a month in the Zhao household, and then, since the possessions seemed to have ceased, he went on his way. By now a certain timber merchant had urgent need of his presence.

This merchant had an unmarried daughter, and his household too had recently been favoured with an unexpected visit from a Wutong-spirit, in broad daylight. This particular spirit had taken the form of a burly fellow over twenty years old, who had come seeking the young girl's hand in marriage and offering the large sum of a hundred taels of silver. He had set the propitious day for the nuptials and had then gone on his way. That day was now at hand, and the entire household was in a state of utter consternation. The merchant, having heard of Wan's reputation in such matters, sent for him urgently, inventing some pressing excuse for fear that he might otherwise prevaricate. He sat Wan down to an elaborate banquet and presented his daughter, arrayed in all her finery, a beautiful girl of sixteen or seventeen. When she bowed before him, Wan was more than a little taken aback, and he rose awkwardly from his seat and returned her courtesy. The merchant pressed him to stay and told him the truth of his daughter's predicament. Wan was at first startled, but being a man who had always prided himself on his bravery, he resolved to stay and see the thing out.

The appointed day arrived and the merchant busied himself decorating the entrance to his house with gaily coloured bunting, while instructing Wan to take a seat inside. By midday the evil spirit still had not arrived, and the merchant was already rejoicing to himself that perhaps the spirit had already met with his death, when a creature resembling some strange sort of bird landed beneath the eaves and was instantly transformed into a richly dressed young man, who proceeded to enter the house. The instant he set eyes on Wan, however, he turned to flee. Wan went after him in hot pursuit. He saw a cloud of black vapour rising from the man's body and, striking out wildly, succeeded in chopping off one foot. The creature continued to flee, letting out a great howl, and the merchant's household saw lying on the ground a huge claw the size of a human hand, part of a strange bird the like of which they had not seen before. They followed the bloody trail left by the wounded bird down to the river. The merchant was overjoyed at the routing of the spirit and, learning that Wan was single, that same evening he gave him his own daughter in marriage, putting at their disposal the very nuptial bed that had been prepared for the Wutong-spirit.

From then on, anyone having trouble with visitors from the Wutong world would invite Wan to spend the night. He stayed on in the timber merchant's home for over a year, and then left with his wife. And thereafter, the sole surviving Wutong-spirit of the Wu region never dared to cause any substantial harm.

99.

SUNSET.

A certain gentleman of Suzhou by the name of Jin earned a living as a tutor in the Huai River region, lodging in the garden of a well-to-do local official, where a few rooms were put at his disposal, set amidst a profusion of shrubs and flowers.

Late at night, when his pageboy and servants had dispersed, he was in the habit of pacing up and down in his study, a lonely, irresolute figure, his mood frequently one of profound melancholy. On one such night, towards the end of the third watch, there came a sudden tap at his door. He inquired who it was, and was surprised to hear by way of reply the words 'Can you give me a light?'

The voice resembled that of one of his pageboys. But when he opened the door to let him in, he saw before him a beautiful girl of sixteen, attended by a maidservant. Jin felt as if he had been bewitched, and began asking her all manner of questions.

'You seem such a fine, cultured young man,' she replied. 'I felt sorry for you, all on your own, so I have put aside my scruples and come to help you pass the lonely hours of the night. Please don't ask me too many questions about myself, or I might not want to come at all, and you might not want me to either.'

Jin had a feeling this might be the daughter of a neighbouring family, someone who had run away from home, and, fearful of committing some culpable indecency, he politely declined the girl's proposal. But the next minute she flashed him a soulful glance and he was undone, no longer master of himself. The maidservant at her side understood the situation.

'I'd best be going now, Miss Sunset.'

The girl nodded faintly. 'Off with you then,' she chided her gently. 'And fewer references to the evening sky, if you please!'

The maid departed, and the girl turned to Jin with a smile. 'Since there was no one here other than you, I brought my maid with me. I little thought she would betray my name!'

'You seem so slender and so frail I fear some ill will come of this...'

'I have long known my own mind. I will not be the cause of your ruin or disgrace, of that I can assure you. Do not be afraid.'

They sat down on his bed and she loosened her gown. He saw a bracelet on her wrist, made of jewelled beads strung on gold filigree thread and set with two large pearls. When the lamps were extinguished, the light emanating from the bracelet illuminated the whole room. Jin was more and more bewildered by this strange girl, unable to imagine who she could possibly be or where she might have come from. They made love, and afterwards the maidservant returned and knocked at the window. The girl arose and, using her bracelet to light her way, set off through the shrubbery. From then on she visited Jin every night. Whenever she left him he would try to trail her secretly, but she knew this and covered the light from her bracelet, leaving him stranded in the dense darkness of the shrubs where he could see no further than his hand and was obliged to turn back.

One day, he was travelling in the region to the north of the Huai River when the tie securing his bamboo hat broke and the hat blew away in the wind, leaving him bare-headed on his horse, clutching his saddle. He eventually reached the river and was preparing to cross it on a ferry when, lo and behold, his hat came fluttering down in the wind, only to go bobbing away on the waves. Much bemused, he set off across the river, and just as he reached the other side a strong gust of wind sent the hat whirling up into the air again, after which it descended slowly into his outstretched hand. And to Jin's amazement he saw that the tie was mended. When he returned home to his studio in the garden, he recounted his experience on the river to his strange lady-friend Sunset, during one of her visits. She said nothing, but from the way she smiled he had an idea it was her doing.

'If you are a spirit of some kind,' he said to her earnestly, 'then please tell me. I would be so much easier in my mind if I knew the truth.'

'You have found a devoted companion to cheer you in your solitude,' replied the girl. 'Is that not enough in itself? The things I do, I do out of love. Do you want to kill our love with your questions and never set eyes on me again?'

Jin said not another word.

Prior to all of this, back in the city of Suzhou, Jin had taken on the responsibility for the upbringing of his sister's daughter. When this niece of his came of age and was married, she was possessed by a Wutong-spirit. Jin was most troubled on her behalf, though he mentioned the matter to no one. Now that he had been intimate with Sunset for such a long while, he could keep it a secret from her no longer.

'My father can drive out spirits like that,' she told him when he confided in her. 'But I can hardly go to my father with a private affair of my lover's!'

He pleaded with her to find a way, and she pondered the matter a while.

'There is no real difficulty in dealing with this. But I would have to go myself. And those spirits you mention are base slaves belonging to my family. It would be a terrible disgrace for me to touch such a foul thing like that!'

Jin entreated her again and again, and she finally assured him that she would somehow solve the problem.

The following night she came to him and said, 'I have sent my maidservant to the South to do this for you. But I am afraid she may be too weak to kill it.'

The next night, they had just fallen asleep when the maidservant knocked at the door. Jin rose at once and let her in.

'Well, what happened?' asked Sunset.

'I wasn't able to catch it,' she replied. 'But I did manage to cut off its thing.'

Sunset laughed at this and asked for a more detailed account.

'At first I thought I'd find the spirit at Mr Jin's family home.

Caption

'I have sent my maidservant to do this for you.'

But I soon discovered my mistake, and went to the house of the young girl's husband. The lights were all lit and there she was, sitting beneath a lamp, leaning on the table as if she'd fallen asleep. I gathered her into a jar, soul and all, and put a stopper on it. In a little while the Wutong-spirit came into the room, but he went straight out again, saying, "I sense a stranger in here!" He had a good look around and, seeing no one, came back in. All this time I was lying in the bed, pretending to be the lady fast asleep. He lifted the quilt and climbed in next to me, then suddenly he cried out "I sense the aura of a weapon here!" I hadn't wanted to dirty my hand by touching such a foul thing, but I knew I didn't have a moment to lose, so I grabbed hold of his member and hacked it off there and then. The creature howled and fled, and I got out of bed and opened the jar. The girl seemed to wake up, so I left.'

Jin thanked her warmly for what she had done, and the maid left with her mistress.

For over a fortnight, Sunset did not return, and Jin feared he would never see her again. Then suddenly she appeared, one day towards the end of the year, when he had already given up his post as tutor and was preparing to leave. He greeted her joyfully.

'You have been away for so long, I thought I must have offended you in some way. Are we never to be together again?'

'The end of the year is an auspicious time,' she replied, 'and it would be wrong of me to part from you without a word of explanation. I heard that you were going home, and have come to say goodbye.'

Jin begged her to let him go with her.

'You do not understand what a difficult thing it is that you propose! No, we must say farewell, and I cannot bear to keep the truth from you any longer. I am the daughter of the Golden Dragon King. You and I were predestined to love one another. That was why I came to you. I did wrong to send my maidservant on that errand to the South, and now word of her exploit has spread far and wide. My people know that for your sake I caused the Wutong-spirit to be castrated. When my father heard about it, he considered it such a great disgrace and was so angry that he wanted to have me put to death. Fortunately for me, my maid took the blame upon herself, and father's anger was somewhat appeased. My maid was given a hundred blows of the bamboo, and now everywhere I go I have to be chaperoned by an old nurse. This time I managed to slip away on some pretext. Alas, I have no time to say all that is in my heart!'

As she made this farewell, Jin held her in his arms and wept.

'Do not be sad,' she said. 'Thirty years from now we will meet again.'

'But I am already thirty years old,' he replied. 'Thirty years from now I shall be a white-haired old man, too old for a beautiful woman like you.'

'Not so,' she replied. 'In the Dragon King's Palace we have no such thing as white-haired old men. And besides, long life has nothing to do with physical appearance. If you wish to retain your youthful looks, that is an easy matter.'

She wrote down a prescription on the margin of one of his books, and departed.

Jin went back to his home town of Suzhou, and his niece told him she had had a strange experience.

'The other night I had a most peculiar dream. Someone shut me up in a jar, and when I woke up there was blood all over my bed and coverlet. Ever since then that horrible creature I told you about has gone away.'

'I prayed for you to the River God,' said Jin.

Now he knew for sure that what Sunset had told him was true.

When he reached the age of sixty, he still had the appearance of a young man of thirty. One day, he was crossing a river when in the distance he saw a lotus leaf floating towards him on the water, as large as a mat. A beautiful lady was sitting on it, and as the leaf floated closer, he recognized the lady as Sunset, the companion of his youth. He tried to jump on to the leaf, but leaf and girl shrank and shrank until they were no bigger than a copper coin, and then they vanished.

The events of this story, and those of the previous one about the pawnbroker Zhao Hong, all took place during the Ming dynasty. I do not know which of the two stories came first in time. If this story about Sunset came after the heroic exploits of Mr Wan, then clearly, thanks to her maidservant's valiant efforts, the sole surviving Wutong-spirit in the southern region of Wu was reduced to half a Wutong, and was thus no longer a serious threat to womankind.

I00.