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The wandering soul of the old monk entered into his body.

After a few days, he felt a sudden urge to go out for a stroll, to the delight of his family. The moment he stepped out of his room, his stewards thronged around him, with ledgers and accounts to be checked, but he told them he was still not feeling well and sent them all away.

'Do you know the village of Changqing, in Shandong Province?' he asked one of the household, who replied that he did.

'I feel so cooped up and bored here,' he said. 'I should like to go to Changqing and take a look around. Have my things made ready at once.'

They all protested that he was only just on the mend and that such a long journey seemed inadvisable. But he refused to heed their advice and set off the very next day, arriving at Changqing to find everything exactly as he remembered it. He made his way straight to the monastery, without needing to ask the way. When the junior monks (his erstwhile disciples) saw this young nobleman arrive, they greeted him respectfully.

'Where is your Master?' he asked them.

'He was transformed some time ago,' they replied.

He asked to see where they had buried him, and they took him to an isolated grave-site, the tomb itself some three feet high, the soil around it still bare, the grass having not yet had time to grow back. The monks were still trying to fathom the purpose of the 'young nobleman's visit, when he sent for his horse and set off home again, instructing them as he left, 'Your Master was a monk of virtue. Guard with care whatever relics you have of his, let no harm come to them.'

They promised to do as he said, and he went on his way.

On his return home, from that day onwards he sat in a bemused state, refusing to take the slightest part in family affairs. Several months went by like this, until finally one day he upped and left again, heading straight back to Changqing and his old monastery.

'I am your Master,' he announced to his former disciples.

This time they all thought he was raving, and looked at one another and laughed. But then he started telling them of how his soul had found a new body, and recounted in precise detail a number of events in his life as a monk, all of which tallied exactly with what they knew of their Master. They were obliged to believe him. He slept once more in his old bed, and they waited on him as they had done before.

The young nobleman's family came several times, with a great cortege of carriages and horses, and pleaded with him to go home with them, but he turned a deaf ear to their entreaties.

More than a year later, his wife sent a household steward with rich gifts of gold and silk, all of which he refused, except for a single plain cotton robe, which he kept for his own use. From time to time his friends from Henan Province would call on him if they were in the neighbourhood. They found a man of quiet dignity and sincerity, barely thirty years old but with the wisdom of a man fifty years his senior.

16.

THE SNAKE-CHARMER.

A certain man of Dongjun district made a living as a snake-charmer. He raised and trained two green snakes, the larger of which he called Big Green, and the smaller, Little Green. Little Green was his favourite. He had a red dot on the front of his head and was very quick to learn, writhing and coiling exactly in tune with his master's wishes.

After a year Big Green died, and the snake-charmer, although he meant to find a replacement, somehow never got round to doing so. Once, after spending the night in a temple in the hills, he awoke at dawn and opened his basket to find that Little Green had disappeared. He was utterly distraught, and went calling and searching everywhere in the half-light, without finding any trace of the snake.

Previously on his travels, whenever he came to a bosk or a stretch of dense undergrowth, he used to set Little Green free to roam as he pleased and the snake invariably returned of his own accord. So this time the snake-charmer hoped that he would do the same, and sat down to wait. But when the sun had climbed high in the sky and there was still no sign of the snake, he gave up hope and went disconsolately on his way.

He had walked only a little way from the temple when he heard a low rustling sound coming from a nearby thicket. He stood stock-still, gazing intently into the thicket, and out came Little Green. The snake-charmer was as overjoyed to see him as a man stumbling by chance upon some priceless gem. He continued on his way, and a little while later, when he put down his carrying pole and stopped to rest at a turn in the road, the snake stopped with him. When the snake-charmer looked back, he saw an even smaller snake following Little Green.

'I thought I'd lost you!' he said, stroking Little Green. 'So this is your little companion?'

He took out some food for them both. The smaller one made no attempt to escape, but coiled himself up and refused the food. Little Green fed him from his own mouth, with great solicitude. The second time the snake-charmer offered him something to eat, he took it, and when the meal was over, he followed Little Green into his basket.

The snake-charmer trained the newcomer, who mastered the tricks as perfectly as Little Green had done. He called him Baby Green, and went all round the country with his new act, making a great deal of money.

In general snake-charmers are obliged to change their snakes when they reach two feet in length. They simply become too heavy to handle. Little Green was different, because he was so exceptionally tame. But nonetheless, two or three years later, when he had grown to three feet and filled the entire basket, the snake-charmer finally decided it was time to let him go.

One fine day, he went out to the hills east of Zi County, gave Little Green something special to eat, then blessed him and set him free. The snake headed off but soon returned and began circling his basket. The snake-charmer pushed him away.

'Off you go! Sooner or later even the finest party has to end. Go and find yourself a hiding place down in the valley. Maybe one day you will turn into a magic dragon. Surely you don't want to stay cooped up in this basket all your life?'

Little Green wriggled away again, and the snake-charmer followed him with his eyes as he disappeared from view. But before too long he was back again, and this time when the snake-charmer pushed him away he flatly refused to leave and nudged the basket with his head. Baby Green was inside and becoming more and more fidgety and restless. Suddenly the truth dawned on the snake-charmer: Little Green wanted to say goodbye. He opened the basket and out shot Baby Green and wrapped himself around Little Green. Their tongues flickered as if they were talking to one another. Then they both went Caption

Baby Green wrapped himself around Little Green.

wriggling off. The snake-charmer feared that Baby Green would never return, but after a while he came back all on his own, crawled sadly into his basket and lay down.

The snake-charmer never found another snake as perfect as Little Green. With time Baby Green grew larger and larger and became too difficult to handle. The snake-charmer eventually acquired another snake, one that also proved quick to learn. But he was not the equal of Baby Green, who by this time had grown as thick as a child's arm.

When Little Green first went off to live in the hills, the only people who saw him were the local woodcutters. The years went by and he continued to grow until he was almost the length of a man and as thick as a rice bowl. Then he started coming out and attacking travellers, who warned one another about this dangerous serpent, with the result that soon no one dared enter his territory. One day, the snake-charmer was passing through the area and a snake shot out at him fast as the wind. He fled in terror, but the snake kept coming after him. When the snake-charmer looked back and saw that he was almost upon him, in that same moment he recognized the red dot on the front of his head.

'Little Green! Little Green!' he cried, setting down his carrying pole. At once the snake stopped, lifted his head and gazed at the man for a long while, then wrapped himself around him, as he used to when they worked together. The snake-charmer knew that the snake meant him no harm, but Little Green was now so big and heavy that he brought the man to the ground. Hearing his cry of entreaty, the snake loosened his grip, then nudged the basket with his head, and the snake-charmer, knowing immediately this time what it was he wanted, opened the basket and let out Baby Green.

The two snakes twined around each other and clung together like a toffee twist, before finally separating. The snake-charmer gave Baby Green his blessing: 'I have been wanting to let you go for a long time. Now you have your old friend to keep you company.'

To Little Green he said, 'You brought him to me, you can take him away. One word: you can find food in plenty in the hills. Do not harm wayfarers. You will only make Heaven angry.'

The two snakes lowered their heads as if bowing in recognition of his wise admonition, then lifted their heads again and set off, the older one in front, the younger following, and wherever they went the branches of the trees parted to let them through. The snake-charmer watched them until he could see them no longer, then he continued on his way. From that day, travellers in that area went unmolested. As for the snakes, no one knows what became of them.

17.

THE WOUNDED PYTHON.

There were two brothers Hu, of Hu Village, both of them woodcutters, who went deep into a remote valley and there encountered a large python. The elder of the two brothers was walking in front, and the python started to swallow him. At first the younger brother was about to flee in terror, then the sight of his older brother taken in the snake's mouth threw him into such a fit of wild rage that he swung his woodcutter's axe and brought it down on the python's head, inflicting a severe injury. The snake continued nonetheless to swallow down its prey. The elder brother's head had already disappeared, but his shoulders were stuck in the snake's mouth. In desperation the younger brother seized the elder brother's feet and began tugging at them with all his might; he wrestled fiercely with the great snake and finally succeeded in dragging his brother free. The python went slithering away in great pain.

When he looked more closely at his brother, he saw that his nose and ears had already gone and he was barely breathing. He set off with him on his shoulders, and finally reached home having stopped ten times to rest along the way.

The wounded brother was tended for six months and eventually recovered. To this day his face still bears the scars of that terrible experience. Where others have a nose and ears, he has nothing.

Ah! To think that there are, in the peasant community, brothers as devoted as that!

A certain person has commented, 'The python did not harm the man any further because he was so touched by the younger brother's virtue and bravery.'

I believe this was the truth of the matter.

Caption

The elder brother's shoulders were stuck in the snake's mouth.

18.

THE FORNICATING DOG.

There was a merchant of Qingzhou who was much away on business, often for as long as an entire year. He had a white dog at home, and during her husband's absences his wife encouraged the dog to have sexual relations with her. The dog became quite accustomed to this.

One day, the merchant had just returned home and was in bed with his wife when suddenly the dog burst into the room, climbed up on to the bed and bit his master to death.

When the neighbours came to know of this, they were most indignant and reported the matter to the local Magistrate, who interrogated the woman under torture, and when she still refused to confess had her thrown into the county jail. He gave orders for the dog to be brought on a leash, and then summoned the woman into the tribunal. The moment the dog saw her he rushed forward, tore off her clothes with his teeth and leaped on top of her, adopting a posture that was unmistakably sexual. The woman could no longer deny the charge brought against her. The Magistrate sent them both, woman and dog, under guard to the higher court in the provincial capital.

On their way there, local inhabitants wishing to see them in the act of coupling bribed the escort, who dragged them out and forced them to perform in public. Wherever they stopped, this act attracted a crowd of several hundreds, and the yamen guards made a small fortune out of it.

Subsequently both woman and dog were sentenced to Lingering Death.

How many things are possible, in the immense universe of Heaven and Earth! This woman is certainly not the only creature with a human visage to have coupled with an animal.

19.

THE GOD OF HAIL.

Wang Yuncang, a gentleman of Shandong, was posted to the southern region of Hunan Province anciently known as Chu. En route he proposed to climb the famous Dragon and Tiger Peak and call upon the Taoist Heavenly Patriarch, who was resident there. He reached the lake, and just as he was boarding a boat, a man came rowing towards him in a little skiff, calling out to the boatman to introduce them. Even as Wang was sizing up the man's elegant and somewhat imposing appearance, he produced from his gown one of the Heavenly Patriarch's calling cards.

'My Master has learned of your imminent arrival and has sent me ahead to welcome you.'

Wang was astonished at their foreknowledge of his proposed visit, which only increased his sense of reverence towards the Taoist Patriarch and fortified his determination to wait upon him. He finally arrived at his destination, to find the Heavenly Patriarch surrounded by his retinue of strangely robed attendants, their hair and beards dressed in an antique manner. The Patriarch received him most cordially and treated him to a fine banquet. The man from the skiff also waited on him and, after a little while, Wang inquired who he was.

'He is a fellow countryman of yours,' replied the Heavenly Patriarch. 'Do you not know him?'

Wang begged to be enlightened.

'This is Li Zuoche, he whom men call the God of Hail.'

Wang's face fell in sheer astonishment.

'He has just informed me,' continued the Heavenly Patriarch, 'of a new rain-and-hail commission. He will soon have to take his leave of us.'

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