The Spirit Of The Hills

A MAN named Li, of I-tu, was once crossing the hills when he came upon a number of persons sitting on the ground engaged in drinking. As soon as they saw Li they begged him to join them, and vied with each other in filling his cup. Meanwhile, he looked about him and noticed that the various trays and dishes contained all kinds of costly food; the wine only seemed to him a little rough on the palate. In the middle of their fun up came a stranger with a face about three feet long and a very tall hat; whereupon the others were very much alarmed, and cried out, “The hill spirit! the hill spirit!” running away in all directions as fast as they could go. Li hid himself in a hole in the ground; and when by-and-by he peeped out to see what had happened, the wine and food had disappeared, and there was nothing there but a few dirty potsherds and some pieces of broken tiles with efts and lizards crawling over them.
山神
　　益都李會斗，偶山行，值數人籍地飲。見李至，讙然並起，曳入座，競觴之。視其柈饌，雜陳珍錯。移時，飲甚懽；但酒味薄濇。忽遙有一人來，面狹長，可二三尺許；冠之高細稱是。眾驚曰：「山神至矣！」即都紛紛四去。李亦伏匿坎窞中。既而起視，則肴酒一無所有，惟有破陶器貯溲浡，瓦片上盛晰蜴數枚而已。

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Kong Rong Gives up the Biggest Pear

Kong Rong (153-208), the 20 th generation descendant of Confucius, was a high official during the reign of Emperor Ling of the Eastern Han Dynasty. As he was good-tempered and hospitable, his house was always full of guests. He was a noted poet and was one of the “Seven Famous Personages of Jian An.” Kong Rong was once appointed the prefect of Beihai , hence named Kong Beihai . During his tenure of office, Kong Rong constructed cities, built schools, and advocated Confucianism. Kong Rong upheld etiquette , and had made his name heard in his childhood for a "giving up the biggest pear" story. In Kong Rong ’s Family, there were seven brothers in his family and Kong Rong was the sixth son. When he was four years old, he was asked to choose a pear in priority. However, Kong Rong choose a smallest pear, leaving big ones to his elder brothers. Every time the siblings ate pears, his elder brothers always took big ones. He, however, always picked up the small one. When ...

When the tree falls, the monkeys scatter.

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The Legend of The Three-Life Stone

The Buddhist believe metempsychosis, or the migration of the souls of animated beings, people's relationships are predestined through three states of life: the past, present, and future life. Legend has it that there's a road called Yellow Spring Road, which leads to Fogotten River. Over the river there's a bridge called Helpless Bridge (Naihe Bridge), at one end of the bridge sits a crimson stone called Three-life Stone. When two people die, they take this route to reincarnation. if they carve their name on the Three-life Stone together while they pass the stone, they are to be predestined to be together in their future life. Although before their rebirth they will be given a MengPo Soup to drink and thereby their memory of past life are obliterated. In reality, San-Sheng Shi (三生石), or Three-Life Stone is located beside Flying Mountain near the West Lake, Hangzhou. On the stone, there is seal with three Chinese characters that say "The Three-life Stone," and a de...

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