AT Ling-yang there lived a man named Chu Erh-tan, whose literary
designation was Hsiao-ming. He was a fine manly fellow, but an
egregious dunce, though he tried hard to learn. One day he was taking
wine with a number of fellow-students, when one of them said to him,
by way of a joke, "People credit you with plenty of pluck. Now,
if you will go in the middle of the night to the Chamber of Horrors,
and bring back the Infernal Judge from the left-hand porch, we'll all
stand you a dinner." For at Ling-yang there was a representation
of the Ten Courts of Purgatory, with the Gods and devils carved in
wood, and almost life-like in appearance; and in the eastern
vestibule there was a full-length image of the Judge with a green
face, and a red beard, and a hideous expression in his features.
Sometimes sounds of examination under the whip were heard to issue
during the night from both porches, and persons who went in found
their hair standing on end from fear; so the other young men thought
it would be a capital test for Mr. Chu. Thereupon Chu smiled; and
rising from his seat went straight off to the temple; and before many
minutes had elapsed they heard him shouting outside, "His
Excellency has arrived!" At this they all got up, and in came
Chu with the image on his back, which he proceeded to deposit on the
table, and then poured out a triple libation in its honour. His
comrades who were watching what he did, felt ill at ease, and did not
like to resume their seats; so they begged him to carry the Judge
back again. But he first poured some wine upon the ground, in-voking
the image as follows: "I am only a fool-hardy, illiterate
fellow: I pray Your Excellency excuse me. My house is close by, and
whenever Your Excellency feels so disposed I shall be glad to take a
cup of wine with you in a friendly way." He then carried the
Judge back, and the next day his friends gave him the promised
dinner, from which he went home half-tipsy in the evening. But not
feeling that he had had enough, he brightened up his lamp, and helped
himself to another cup of wine, when suddenly the bamboo curtain was
drawn aside, and in walked the Judge. Mr. Chu got up and said, "Oh,
dear! Your Excellency has come to cut off my head for my rudeness the
other night." The Judge parted his thick beard, and smiling,
replied, "Nothing of the kind. You kindly invited me last night
to visit you; and as I have leisure this evening, here I am."
Chu was delighted at this, and made his guest sit down, while he
himself wiped the cups and lighted a fire. "It's warm weather,"
said the Judge; "let's drink the wine cold." Chu obeyed,
and putting the bottle on the table, went out to tell his servants to
get some supper. His wife was much alarmed when she heard who was
there, and begged him not to go back; but he only waited until the
things were ready, and then returned with them. They drank out of
each other's cups, and by-and-by Chu asked the name of his guest "
My name is Lu," replied the Judge; "I have no other names."
They then conversed on literary subjects, one capping the other's
quotation as echo responds to sound. The Judge then asked Chu if he
understood composition; to which he answered that he could just tell
good from bad; whereupon the former repeated a little infernal poetry
which was not very different from that of mortals. He was a deep
drinker, and took off ten goblets at a draught; but Chu who had been
at it all day, soon got dead drunk and fell fast asleep with his head
on the table. When he waked up the candle had burnt out and day was
beginning to break, his guest having already departed; and from this
time the Judge was in the habit of dropping in pretty often, until a
close friendship sprang up between them. Sometimes the latter would
pass the night at the house, and Chu would show him his essays, all
of which the Judge scored and underlined as being good for nothing.
One night Chu got tipsy and went to bed first, leaving the Judge
drinking by himself. In his drunken sleep he seemed to feel a pain in
his stomach, and waking up he saw that the Judge, who was standing by
the side of the bed, had opened him, and was carefully arranging his
inside. "What harm have I done you?" cried Chu, "that
you should thus seek to destroy me?" "Don't be afraid,"
replied the Judge, laughing, "I am only providing you with a
more intelligent heart." He then quietly put frack Chu's
viscera, and closed up the opening, securing it with a bandage tied
tightly round his waist. There was no blood on the bed, and all Chu
felt was a slight numbness in his inside. Here he observed the Judge
place a piece of flesh upon the table, and asked him what it was.
"Your heart," said the latter, "which wasn't at all
good at composition, the proper orifice being stuffed up. I have now
provided you with a better one, which I procured from Hades, and I am
keeping yours to put in its place." He then opened the door and
took his leave. In the morning Chu undid the bandage, and looked at
his waist, the wound on which had quite healed up, leaving only a red
seam. From that moment he became an apt scholar, and found his memory
much improved; so much so, that a few days afterwards he showed an
essay to the Judge for which he was very much commended. "However,"
said the latter, "your success will be limited to the master's
degree. You won't get beyond that." "When shall I take it?"
asked Chu. "This year," replied the Judge. And so it turned
out. Chu passed first on the list for the bachelor's degree, and then
among the first five for the master's degree. His old comrades, who
had been accustomed to make a laughing-stock of him, were now
astonished to find him a full blown M.A., and when they learned how
it had come about, they begged Chu to speak to the Judge on their
behalf. The Judge promised to assist them, and they made all ready to
receive him; but when in the evening he did come, they were so
frightened at his red beard and flashing eyes that their teeth
chattered in their heads, and one by one they stole away. Chu then
took the Judge home with him to have a cup together, and when the
wine had mounted well into his head, he said, "I am deeply
grateful to Your Excellency's former kindness in arranging my inside;
but there is still another favour I venture to ask which possibly may
be granted." The Judge asked him what it was; and Chu replied,
"If you can change a person's inside, you surely could also
change his face. Now my wife is not at all a bad figure, but she is
very ugly. I pray Your Excellency try the knife upon her." The
Judge laughed, and said he would do so, only it would be necessary to
give him a little time. Some days subsequently, the Judge knocked at
Chu's door towards the middle of the night; whereupon the latter
jumped up and invited him in. Lighting a candle, it was evident that
the Judge had something under his coat, and in answer to Chu's
inquiries, he said, "It's what you asked me for. I have had
great trouble in procuring it." He then produced the head of a
nice-looking young girl, and presented it to Chu, who found the blood
on the neck was still warm. "We must make haste," said the
Judge, "and take care not to wake the fowls or dogs." Chu
was afraid his wife's door might be bolted; but the Judge laid his
hand on it and it opened at once. Chu then led him to the bed where
his wife was lying asleep on her side; and the Judge, giving Chu the
head to hold, drew from his boot a steel blade shaped like the handle
of a spoon. He laid this across the lady's neck, which he cut through
as if it had been a melon, and the head fell over the back of the
pillow. Seizing the head he had brought with him, he now fitted it on
carefully and accurately, and pressing it down to make it stick,
bolstered the lady up with pillows placed on either side. When all
was finished, he bade Chu put his wife's old head away, and then took
his leave. Soon after Mrs. Chu waked up, and perceived a curious
sensation about her neck, and a scaly feeling about the jaws. Putting
her hand to her face, she found flakes of dry blood; and much
frightened called a maid-servant to bring water to wash it off. The
maid-servant was also greatly alarmed at the appearance of her face,
and proceeded to wash off the blood, which coloured a whole basin of
water; but when she saw her mistress's new face she was almost
frightened to death. Mrs. Chu took a mirror to look at herself, and
was staring at herself in utter astonishment, when her husband came
in and explained what had taken place. On examining her more closely,
Chu saw that she had a well-featured pleasant face, of a medium order
of beauty; and when he came to look at her neck, he found a red seam
all round, with the parts above and below of a different coloured
flesh. Now the daughter of an official named Wu was a very
nice-looking girl who, though nineteen years of age, had not yet been
married, two gentlemen who were engaged to her having died before the
day. At the Feast of Lanterns, this young lady happened to visit the
Chamber of Horrors, whence she was followed home by a burglar, who
that night broke into the house and killed her. Hearing a noise, her
mother told the servant to go and see what was the matter; and the
murder being thus discovered, every member of the family got up. They
placed the body in the hall, with the head alongside, and gave
themselves up to weeping and wailing the livelong night, Next
morning, when they removed the coverings, the corpse was there but
the head had disappeared. The waiting-maids were accordingly flogged
for neglect of duty, and consequent loss of the head, and Mr. Wu
brought the matter to the notice of the Prefect. This officer took
very energetic measures, but for three days no clue could be
obtained; and then the story of the changed head in the Chu family
gradually reached Mr. Wu's ears. Suspecting something, he sent an old
woman to make inquiries; and she at once recognised her late young
mistress's features, and went back and reported to her master.
Thereupon Mr. Wu, unable to make out why the body should have been
left, imagined that Chu had slain his daughter by magical arts, and
at once proceeded to the house to find out the truth of the matter;
but Chu told him that his wife's head had been changed in her sleep,
and that he knew nothing about it, adding that it was unjust to
accuse him of the murder. Mr. Wu refused to believe this, and took
proceedings against him; but as all the servants told the same story,
the Prefect was unable to convict him. Chu returned home and took
counsel with the Judge, who told him there would be no difficulty, it
being merely necessary to make the murdered girl herself speak. That
night Mr. Wu dreamt that his daughter came and said to him, "I
was killed by Yang Ta-nien, of Su-ch'i. Mr. Chu had nothing to do
with it; but desiring a better-looking face for his wife, Judge Lu
gave him mine, and thus my body is dead while my head still lives.
Bear Chu no malice." When he awaked, he told his wife, who had
dreamt the same dream; and thereupon he communicated these facts to
the officials. Subsequently, a man of that name was captured, who
confessed under the bamboo that he had committed the crime; so Mr. Wu
went off to Chu's house, and asked to be allowed to see his wife,
regarding Chu from that time as his son-in-law. Mrs. Chu's old head
was fitted on to the young lady's body, and the two parts were buried
together.
Subsequent to these events Mr. Chu tried three times for his doctor's
degree, but each time without success, and at last he gave up the
idea of entering into official life. Then when thirty years had
passed away, Judge Lu appeared to him one night, and said, "My
friend, you cannot live for ever. Your hour will come in five days'
time." Chu asked the Judge if he could not save him; to which he
replied, "The decrees of Heaven cannot be altered to suit the
purposes of mortals. Besides, to an intelligent man life and death
are much the same. Why necessarily regard life as a boon and death as
a misfortune?" Chu could make no reply to this, and forthwith
proceeded to order his coffin and shroud; and then, dressing himself
in his grave-clothes, yielded up the ghost. Next day, as his wife was
weeping over his bier, in he walked at the front door, to her very
great alarm. "I am now a disembodied spirit," said Chu to
her, "though not different from what I was in life; and I have
been thinking much of the widow and orphan I left behind." His
wife, hearing this, wept till the tears ran down her face, Chu all
the time doing his best to comfort her. "I have heard tell,"
said she, "of dead bodies returning to life; and since your
vital spark is not extinct, why does it not resume the flesh?"
"The ordinances of Heaven," replied her husband, "may
not be disobeyed." His wife here asked him what he was doing in
the infernal regions; and he said that Judge Lu had got him an
appointment as Registrar, with a certain rank attached, and that he
was not at all uncomfortable. Mrs. Chu was proceeding to inquire
further, when he interrupted her, saying, "The Judge has come
with me; get some wine ready and something to eat." He then
hurried out, and his wife did as he had told her, hearing them
laughing and drinking in the guest chamber just like old times come
back again. About midnight she peeped in, and found that they had
both disappeared; but they came back once in every two or three days,
often spending the night, and managing the family affairs as usual.
Chu's son was named Wei, and was about five years old; and whenever
his father came he would take the little boy upon his knee. When he
was about eight years of age, Chu began to teach him to read; and the
boy was so clever that by the time he was nine he could actually
compose. At fifteen he took his bachelor's degree, without knowing
all this time that he had no father. From that date Chu's visits
became less frequent, occurring not more than once or so in a month;
until one night he told his wife that they were never to meet again.
In reply to her inquiry as to whither he was going, he said he had
been appointed to a far-off post, where press of business and
distance would combine to prevent him from visiting them any more.
The mother and son clung to him, sobbing bitterly; but he said, "Do
not act thus. The boy is now a man, and can look after your affairs.
The dearest friends must part some day." Then, turning to his
son, he added, "Be an honourable man, and take care of the
property. Ten years hence we shall meet again." With this he
bade them farewell, and went away.
Later on, when Wei was twenty-two years of age, he took his doctor's
degree, and was appointed to conduct the sacrifices at the Imperial
tombs. On his way thither he fell in with a retinue of an official,
proceeding along with all the proper insignia, and, looking carefully
at the individual sitting in the carriage, he was astonished to find
that it was his own father. Alighting from his horse, he prostrated
himself with tears at the side of the road; whereupon his father
stopped and said, "You are well spoken of. I now take leave of
this world." Wei remained on the ground, not daring to rise; and
his father, urging on his carriage, hurried away without saying any
more. But when he had gone a short distance, he looked back, and
unloosing a sword from his waist, sent it as a present to his son,
shouting out to him, "Wear this and you will succeed." Wei
tried to follow him; but, in an instant, carriage, retinue, and
horses, had vanished with the speed of wind. For a long time his son
gave himself up to grief, and then seizing the sword began to examine
it closely. It was of exquisite workmanship, and on the blade was
engraved this legend: "Be bold, but cautious; round in
disposition, square in action." Wei subsequently rose to high
honours, and had five sons named Ch'en, Ch'ien, Wu, Hun, and Shen.
One night he dreamt that his father told him to give the sword to
Hun, which he accordingly did; and Hun rose to be a Viceroy of great
administrative ability.
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