Strange Stories 1: 10

By Pu Songling

This Smashwords edition of Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio was transcribed from the 1908 Second Edition of a translation by Herbert A. Giles. Broomhandle Books has edited the stories to provide modern punctuation and styling so as to make them more accessible to a reader in this e-book format. In addition, Chinese personal and place names have been rendered into modern pinyin.

Stories 1 - 10 include:

Story 1. Examination for the Post of Guardian Angel
Story 2. The Talking Pupils
Story 3. The Painted Wall
Story 4. Planting a Pear Tree
Story 5. The Taoist Priest of Laoshan
Story 6. The Buddhist Priest of Changqing
Story 7. The Marriage of the Fox’s Daughter
Story 8. Miss Jiao Nuo
Story 9. The Magical Arts
Story 10. Joining the Immortals

• Language: English
• Publisher: Broomhandle Books
• Release date: Nov 11, 2012
• ISBN: 9781301287260

Pu Songling

Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio is commonly known in China as the Liao Zhao. Although the volume of stories was completed in 1679, it circulated in manuscript only until printed and published in 1740. Since then many editions have appeared in Chinese and many translations have been made into foreign languages. The dates of birth or death for Pu Songling are unknown, but it is known that he reached the lowest (or bachelor’s) degree before age twenty. In 1651, ten years or so after his graduation, he had not progressed to an advanced degree. While it is unfortunate he did not personally progress in his academic standing, it is fortunate he used the time he had to write the tales contained in Strange Stories. Despite his failures in the more advanced competitive examinations, Pu Songling left a cherished manuscript, which for more than 300 years has gained him an enduring place in Chinese literature.

Book preview

Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio

Stories 1 -10

By Pu Songling

Translated by

Herbert A. Giles

Transcribed from the 1908 Second Edition

Prepared for Electronic Transmission with an Introduction by

TK Rolland

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2012 TK Rolland

Cover photograph by John Zhang

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, scanned, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system without the prior written permission of the publisher. All inquiries should be addressed to [e-mail]

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

Story 1. Examination for the Post of Guardian Angel

Story 2. The Talking Pupils

Story 3. The Painted Wall

Story 4. Planting a Pear Tree

Story 5. The Taoist Priest of Laoshan

Story 6. The Buddhist Priest of Changqing

Story 7. The Marriage of the Fox’s Daughter

Story 8. Miss Jiao Nuo

Story 9. The Magical Arts

Story 10. Joining the Immortals

INTRODUCTION

Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio, known in China as the Liao Zhai Zhi Yi, was a volume of stories completed in 1679, but circulated in manuscript only until printed and published in 1740. Since then many editions have appeared in Chinese and many translations have been made into foreign languages.

The dates of birth or death for Pu Songling are unknown, but it is known that he reached the lowest (or bachelor’s) degree before age twenty. In 1651, ten years or so after his graduation, he had not progressed to an advanced degree. While unfortunate he did not personally progress in his academic standing, Pu Songling left a cherished manuscript, which for more than 300 years has gained him an enduring place in Chinese literature.

This Smashwords edition was transcribed from the 1908 Second Edition of a translation by Herbert A. Giles, originally published by Kelly & Walsh, Limited with offices in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Yokohama. My own personal copy of this edition contains a note of ownership penned by Geo. Dorsey, Shanghai, May, 1911. I am grateful to Mr. Dorsey for keeping his volume so beautifully protected and intact. Besides preparing these stories for electronic transmission, I have attempted to edit them with a more modern format, including punctuation and styling, to make them accessible to today’s readers. In addition, I have rendered Chinese personal and place names into modern pinyin.

The 1908 edition of Herbert A. Giles translation contains a scholarly introduction detailing what little is known of Pu Songling. It contains even a translation of a personal document left behind by Pu. Along with copious footnotes and annotations, Giles included the document in order to provide an insight into the beautiful style of a gifted writer.

By choosing to publish one story at a time, Broomhandle Books hopes to accommodate readers in downloading particular titles of interest, thus saving them the trouble of moving through a large and unwieldy electronic document. The goal, however, is to complete transcription of the individual stories, add a linkable table of contents, and then group them into larger segments for downloading.

If the contents of Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio intrigue you, obtaining a hard copy of the 1908 Second Edition is worth the cost. That edition contains much information not provided in this transcription. Herbert A. Giles’s valuable scholarship can be found not only in the introduction to that edition, but also in the footnotes and annotations that bring some of the book’s more difficult to understand literary allusions to life.

Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio

Story 1

EXAMINATION FOR THE POST OF GUARDIAN ANGEL

My eldest sister’s husband’s grandfather, named Song Tao, was a graduate. One day, while lying down from indisposition, an official messenger arrived, bringing the usual notification in his hand and leading a horse with a white forehead to summon him to the examination for his master’s degree. Mr. Song here remarked that the Grand Examiner had not yet come, and asked why there should be this hurry. The messenger did not reply to this, but pressed so earnestly that, at length, Mr. Song roused himself, and getting upon the horse rode with him.

The way seemed strange and, by and by, they reached a city which resembled the capital of a prince. They then entered the Prefect’s official residence, the apartments of which were beautifully decorated; and there they found some ten officials sitting at the