Anonymous
Chinese Stories 1
Complete
digital texts
Kuichú's
donkey
[Short
story - Full text.]
Anonymous:
Chinese
________________________________________
A donkey had never been seen in Kuichú, until the day an
eccentric, eager for novelty, had one carried by boat. But since he didn't know
what to use it for, he released it in the mountains.
A tiger, seeing such a strange creature, took it for a
divinity. He watched him hide in the forest, until he ventured out of the
jungle, always keeping a prudent distance.
One day the donkey brayed for a long time and the tiger
started to run in fear. But he turned and thought that, despite everything,
that divinity could not be so terrible. Already accustomed to the donkey's
braying, he approached her, but without risking too much.
When he gained confidence in him, he began to take some
liberties, touching him, giving him a push, bothering him at every turn, until
the donkey, furious, kicked him. "So this is what he knows how to
do," said the tiger. And jumping on the donkey, he tore it to pieces and
devoured it.
Poor donkey! It seemed powerful for its size, and fearsome for
its braying. If he had not shown all his talent with kicking, the ferocious
tiger would never have dared to attack him. But with his kick the donkey signed
its death sentence.
END
The
hidden deer
[Short
story - Full text.]
Anonymous:
Chinese
A woodcutter from Cheng came across a frightened deer in the
field and killed it. To prevent others from discovering it, he buried it in the
woods and covered it with leaves and branches. Shortly after he forgot the
place where he had hidden it and believed that everything had happened in a
dream. He told it, as if it were a dream, to all the people. Among the
listeners there was one who went looking for the hidden deer and found it. He
took him to his house and said to his wife:
-A woodcutter dreamed that he had killed a deer and forgot
where he had hidden it and now I have found it. That man is a dreamer.
-You must have dreamed that you saw a woodcutter who had
killed a deer. Do you really think there was a lumberjack? But since here is
the deer, your dream must be true -said the woman.
"Even supposing I found the deer in a dream,"
replied the husband, "why worry about finding out which of the two
dreamed?"
That night the woodcutter came back to his house, still
thinking of the deer, and he really dreamed, and in the dream he dreamed of the
place where he had hidden the deer and he also dreamed who had found it. At
dawn he went to the other's house and found the deer. Both argued and went
before a judge, to resolve the matter. The judge told the woodcutter:
-You really did kill a deer and you thought it was a dream.
Then you really dreamed and believed it was true. The other found the deer and
now he disputes it, but his wife thinks that he dreamed that he had found a
deer that someone else had killed. Then no one killed the deer. But since here
is the deer, it is best that they divide it up.
The case came to the attention of the King of Cheng, and the
King of Cheng said:
- And that judge is not dreaming that he distributes a deer?
END
The
charm
[Short
story - Full text.]
Anonymous:
Chinese
________________________________________
Ch'ienniang was the daughter of Mr. Chang Yi, a Hunan
official. She had a cousin named Wang Chu, who was a smart and handsome young
man. They had grown up together, and since Mr. Chang Yi was very fond of the
boy, he said that he would accept him as his son-in-law. They both heard the
promise, and since they were always together, the love increased day by day.
They were no longer children and came to have intimate relationships.
Unfortunately, the father did not notice. One day a young official asked for
the hand of her daughter, and Mr. Chang Yi, forgetting her old promise,
consented.
Ch'ienniang, having to choose between love and respect that
she owed to her father, she was about to die of grief, and the young man was so
upset that he decided to leave the country so as not to see Ch'ienniang's
girlfriend. he married another. She invented a pretext and told her uncle that
she had to go to the capital. Since her uncle could not dissuade him, he gave
her money, gifts, and gave her a farewell party. Wang Chu, in desperation,
spent the entire time of the party pondering, telling himself that it was
better to leave and not engage in an impossible love.
Wang Chu embarked one afternoon and had sailed a few miles
when night fell. He told the sailor to tie up the boat and to rest, but no
matter how hard he tried, he could not fall asleep. Around midnight, she heard
footsteps approaching. He got up and asked:
-Who is there at this time of night?
-It's me, I'm Ch'ienniang.
Surprised and happy, Wang Chu ushered her into the boat. She
told him that her father had been unfair to him and that she could not resign
herself to being separated from him. She, too, had feared that Wang Chu, in her
despair, might be driven to suicide. That's why she had braved the anger of her
parents and the disapproval of the people and she had come to follow him
wherever he went. Both, very happy, continued the trip to Szechuen.
Five years of happiness passed, and she bore him two children.
But there was no news from the family and she, Ch'ienniang, thought more and
more of her father. This was the only cloud in her happiness. She did not know
whether her parents were alive or not, and one night she confided her grief to
Wang Chu.
"You're a good daughter," he said, "five years
have passed and their anger must have passed." Let's go home.
She ch'ienniang she rejoiced and they prepared to return with
the children.
When the boat arrived at her hometown, Wang Chu told
Ch'ienniang.
We don't know how we will find your parents. Let me go first
and find out.
Spotting the house, he felt his heart beating. Wang Chu saw
her mother-in-law, knelt down, bowed, and begged for forgiveness. Chang Yi
looked at him in amazement and said:
-What are you taking about? Five years ago, Ch'ienniang has
been in bed and unconscious. He has not gotten up once.
"I don't understand," said Wang Chu, "she is
perfectly healthy and she is waiting for us on board."
Chang Yi did not know what to think and sent two maidens to
see Ch'ienniang.
They found her sitting in the boat well dressed and happy.
Amazed, the maidens returned and Chang Yi's astonishment increased.
Meanwhile, the sick woman had heard the news and she seemed to
have been cured: her eyes shone with a new light. She left the bed and dressed
in front of the mirror. Smiling and without saying a word, she headed for the
boat.
The one on board was going towards the house: they met on the
shore. They embraced and the two bodies merged and only one Ch'ienniang
remained, young and beautiful as always. Her parents rejoiced, but ordered the
servants to keep quiet, to avoid comment.
For more than forty years, Wang Chu and Ch'ienniang lived
together and were happy.
END
Note: This tale is from the Tang Dynasty era: 7th-10th
centuries
The
Chinese mirror
[Short
story - Full text.]
Anonymous:
Chinese
________________________________________
A Chinese farmer went to town to sell his rice crop and his
wife asked him not to forget to bring her a comb.
After selling his rice in the city, the farmer met with some
companions, and they drank and celebrated for a long time. Later, a bit
confused, when he returned, he remembered that his wife had asked him for
something, but what was it? He couldn't remember. He then bought the first
thing that caught his attention in a women's store: a mirror. And he returned
to the town.
He gave the gift to his wife and went to work in her fields.
The woman looked in the mirror and began to cry uncontrollably. Her mother
asked her the reason for those tears.
The woman gave him the mirror and said:
-My husband has brought another woman, young and beautiful.
The mother took the mirror, looked at it and said to her
daughter:
-You do not have to worry, she is an old woman.
END
The
chest mirror
[Short
story - Full text.]
Anonymous:
Chinese
________________________________________
Returning from a business trip, a man bought a mirror in the
city, an object that until then he had never seen, nor did he know what it was.
But precisely that ignorance made him feel attracted to that mirror, because he
thought he recognized the face of his father in it. Amazed, he bought it and,
without saying anything to his wife, kept it in a chest they had in the attic
of the house. From time to time, when he felt sad and lonely, he would go
"to see his father."
But his wife found him very affected every time she saw him
come back from the attic, so one day she spied on him and she found that there
was something in the chest and that she was looking inside it for a long time.
When the husband went to work, the woman opened the chest and
she saw in it a woman whose features were familiar to her but she could not
tell who it was. From there a great marital fight arose, because the wife said
that there was a woman inside the chest, and the husband assured that her
father was there.
At that moment, a monk who was highly revered by the community
passed by, and when he saw them arguing, he wanted to help them bring peace to
his home. The spouses explained the dilemma to him and invited him to go up to
the attic and look into the chest. The monk did so and, to the surprise of the
couple, he assured them that at the bottom of the chest who really rested was a
Zen monk.
END
The
man who plays the heavenly flute
[Story -
Full text.]
Anonymous:
Chinese
________________________________________
Many, many years ago, at the foot of the Five Finger
Mountains, there lived a man who played the bamboo flute beautifully. He played
it so well that the oriole did not dare to compete with him, the blackbird did
not sing such beautiful melodies and not even the lark trilled with such rich
sonority. When he began to play the flute, the birds stopped in mid-flight, the
peasants who tilled the land stopped their chores; the elderly felt rejuvenated
and the children jumped for joy... And his music was so beautiful that people
believed that he had come down from heaven, for which they nicknamed him
"Man who plays the heavenly flute".
One day, the Dragon-King of the South Sea entertained the
divinities with a banquet on the beach. Eight thousand geniuses in rich exotic
clothing chatted and enjoyed drinking around the host, who wore a habit cinched
with a jade belt. And precisely that same day of the festival, after having
walked ten days and ten nights, the "Man who plays the heavenly
flute" arrived at the beach to fish. He spread the net over the calm sea,
sat down on a clean, smooth stone and began to play the flute. At that very
moment, as the Dragon-King raised his glass to toast his guests, he heard a
sound as wondrous as he had ever thought to hear. Each and every one of the
gods stood in suspense, even forgetting about the tables laden with delicacies
and dropping their jade goblets. The man with the flute did not know nor could
he imagine that, at that moment, so many divinities were listening to how he
played his flute. And the gods, for their part, were convinced that whoever
touched her thus must surely have descended from the upper heaven to the human
world.
The Dragon-King liked the sound of that flute so much that he
wanted to find the player to teach his son to play the instrument. And,
following the direction from which the sound came, he found the man, who
gathered up his net, tucked the flute into his broad belt, and followed the
Dragon-King to his palace.
Three years had already passed and the King's son had learned
to play the bamboo flute, so the piper, who missed his family and his people
very much, begged the father to let him come home. The grateful King granted it
to him and told his son to accompany the teacher to choose two gifts-the ones
he wanted-from the royal treasury. There were red, yellow, blue precious
stones…; glittering gold bars, and hundreds of thousands of extremely valuable
items. The flute player took a long look at the Dragon King's treasure room
and, seeing a cylindrical basket made of bamboo strips, he thought: "This
utensil can be used to store the shrimp and fish that I catch." He took it
and attached it to his belt. Later, in a closet, he discovered a rain cape and
reflected: "With this cape I can go to the beach to fish even on rainy and
windy days." And this was the second and last gift he chose.
As he left the treasure room accompanied by the son of the
Dragon-King, the latter, very intrigued, asked him:
-Why have you chosen these simple objects among piles of gold
and silver, pearls and precious stones?
The teacher replied with a smile:
-Gold and precious stones wear out and disappear. Instead,
with this bamboo basket and rain cloak, I can go fishing every day, and with
the fish I catch, I will never go hungry.
But when he returned to his house and went fishing for the
first time, he discovered that those two gifts were really wonderful objects.
When he returned from fishing, the bamboo basket was always overflowing with
glittering fish, and the cloak, unfurled, carried him flying to the South Sea,
to the place of fishing.
In this way, with the bamboo basket and the rain cloak, he
flew to the Five Finger Mountains and, as soon as he played his flute, the
sound spread through the sky and the whole world was filled with joy and joy. .
END
The
angry monk
[Short
story - Full text.]
Anonymous:
Chinese
________________________________________
Two Zen monks were crossing a river. They met a very young and
beautiful woman who also wanted to cross, but she was afraid.
So a monk put her on her shoulders and carried her to the
other shore.
The other monk was furious. He didn't say anything but he
boiled inside. That was forbidden. A Buddhist monk was not supposed to touch a
woman and this monk had not only touched her, but he had carried her on her
shoulders.
They traveled several leagues. When they arrived at the
monastery, as they entered, the monk who was angry turned to the other and
said:
I'll have to tell the teacher. I will have to report on this.
Is prohibited.
-What are you talking about? What is prohibited? the other
told him.
-You have forgotten? You carried this beautiful woman on your
shoulders -said the one who was angry.
END
The white monkey
[Story - Full text.]
Anonymous: Chinese
In the year 545, under the Liang
dynasty, the emperor sent an expedition led by the general Lin King to the
south. Arriving at Kuelin, the general engaged the united rebel forces of Li
Che-ku and Tchen Tche, while his lieutenant Euyang Ho pushed into Tchangle,
clearing all the caverns of enemies and entering dangerous terrain.
It turns out that the Euyang
woman, who had a delicate white complexion, was ravishingly beautiful.
"General," her men told
her. Why have you brought such a beautiful woman here? In this region there is
a god who boasts of kidnapping all the girls, and especially of not sparing the
most beautiful. The guard must be redoubled.
Deeply alarmed, Euyang that night
arranged for her guards to surround her house, and hid her woman in a secret room,
locking her in with a dozen servants whom he charged to protect her.
The night was very dark, and a
gloomy wind blew; however, all remained quiet until dawn. Finally, tired of
watching, the guards began to doze. Suddenly they thought they perceived the
presence of something unusual. Startled, they woke up and jumped off the
ground, but the woman had already disappeared. The door remained closed and no
one knew how she was able to get out of it. They dashed outside, searching the
jagged mountain in front of them, but the night was so dark that nothing could
be seen within a step, and it was impossible to continue their search. Daylight
came and no trace was found either.
Deeply indignant and sorrowful,
Euyang swore that he would never return alone, and that he would find his wife
first. Under the pretext that he was sick, he made his army camp there, and
every day he set out to search in all directions, delving into the deepest and
most dangerous ravines. A month later, thirty leagues from the camp, in a
bamboo grove he found one of his wife's embroidered shoes, which, although
soaked by the rain, was easy to recognize. More heartbroken than ever, Euyang
continued his search for him. With about thirty of his most seasoned men, he
spent the night sleeping in the caves or simply in the open air. After marching
ten more days, and moving some sixty leagues from the camp, he discovered to
the south a sinuous mountain covered with forests. Arriving at the foot of the mountain,
he found it surrounded by a deep river. The crossing was made on an improvised
raft. In the distance, between precipices and through the emerald bamboos, they
perceived the reddish glow of silk dresses, and heard female voices and
laughter.
Helping themselves with ropes,
clinging to the wild vines, the warriors climbed the precipices. Up there,
sumptuous trees were lined up, alternating with pictures of strange flowers,
and enchanting meadows stretched out. Everything looked calm and cool like a retreat
off the terrestrial world. To the east, under a portal dug into the rock
itself, dozens of women, luxuriously dressed, passed and passed again with
gestures of amusement, laughing and singing to the best of their ability. When
they saw the men, they were as if paralyzed. They let them come closer, and
then the women asked: -Why did
they come here?
Hearing Euyang's answer, the
women sighed and looked at each other:
-Your wife has been with us for
more than a month. She is now sick and she is bedridden. Come and see her.
Passing the wooden gate of the
gate, Euyang saw three spacious rooms arranged like a great hall. Along the
walls were rows of beds covered with silk cushions. There was her wife, lying
on a marble bed, covered in luxurious blankets, and all kinds of exotic foods
were displayed in front of her. As Euyang approached, she turned to him,
recognized him, but she briskly waved him away.
"Among us there are those
who have been here for ten years," the women told him. Here lives a
man-killing monster. Even with a hundred well-armed waiters. They won't be able
to do anything. They'd better turn back before our master returns. But bring us
two tons of good wine, and ten dogs to serve as bait, and a few dozen kilos of
hemp, and then we can help you kill him. They must come back in ten days, right
at noon, and by no means earlier.
The women begged them to leave as
soon as possible, and Euyang immediately withdrew.
Euyang returned on the appointed
day with excellent liquor, hemp, and dogs.
"The monster is a great
drinker," the women told him. He often drinks himself drunk. Once drunk,
he likes to gauge his strength. He asks us to tie him hand and foot to his bed
with silken cloth. Then it is enough for him to take a leap to break all the
ties. But when we tie him with a triple loop of silk, he in vain strives to
free himself. This time, if we tie him up with the hemp hidden in the silk
cloth, we are sure that his efforts will be useless. His entire body is hard as
iron, but we have observed that only one part is always protected, a few
centimeters below the navel. Surely he is vulnerable there.
Then, showing him a cave next to
the house, they told him:
-There is his pantry. Hide inside
and quietly watch for him. Leave the wine with the flowers and let the dogs
loose in the forest. When we have fulfilled our plan, then we will call them
and they will come out of hiding.
Euyang and his men did as they
were told, holding their breath and waiting. About noon something like a long
piece of white silk fell from the top of a neighboring mountain, landed on the
ground, and entered the cavern. From there, a moment later, a man with a
handsome beard, six feet tall, dressed in a white robe, emerged. He advanced
with a cane in his hand, surrounded by his women. Seeing the dogs, surprised,
he pounced on them, tore them to pieces and devoured them to satiety. And all
the women competed in the charming and smiling way in which they offered him
wine in jade cups. When he drank several pints of liquor, the women helped him
into his house. They continued to hear some female laughter. Moments later the
women came out to warn the warriors. They entered with sword in hand, and found
a great white monkey, all four limbs tied to the bed. Seeing the strangers
approaching, and unable to break free, he cringed and rolled his glowing eyes.
In unison, all weapons were brought down on him, but found only a body of iron
and stone. Finally digging below the navel the blades entered directly into his
body. Abruptly, blood began to flow. Then the white monkey began to moan and
said:
-If I die it is because heaven
wanted it that way. You guys don't have enough strength to kill me. As for your
wife, she is already pregnant. Do not kill her son, who will in time serve a
great monarch and make her family more prosperous than ever.
As soon as he uttered these
words, he died.
The warriors then dedicated
themselves to looking for the monster's goods. They found heaps of precious
objects, and on the tables immense quantities of good things to eat. There were
all the known treasures of the world, including several gallons of exotic
essences and a pair of excellent swords. There were thirty women, all of them
of incomparable beauty, and some had been there for ten years. They said that
when a woman grew old or withered, they took her they didn't know where. The
white monkey enjoyed only his women and an accomplice was never known.
Every morning he washed, put on
his hat. Winter and summer he wore a white silk robe with a collar of the same
color. Her entire body was covered in white hairs, several inches long. When he
stayed at home, she liked to read wooden tablets, with writings that seemed
indecipherable hieroglyphics, and when he finished reading them he would hide
them in a hiding place in the rocks. Sometimes, when the weather was good, he
practiced with his two swords, making them trace glowing circles, which
surrounded him with a luminous halo, as if he were the moon. He drank and ate the
most diverse foods, particularly fruit, nuts, and above all dogs, whom he liked
to suck their blood. At noon he flew away, disappeared over the horizon. In
only half a day he made a journey of a thousand leagues. He used to come home
every night.
All his wishes were immediately
fulfilled. He never slept at night; he passed her from bed to bed, enjoying all
the women. Very erudite, he spoke with a magnificent and penetrating eloquence.
However, in terms of his physique, he never stopped being some kind of gorilla.
That year, at the time when the
leaves begin to fall, the white monkey, sad and dull, lamented:
-I finish being accused by the
divinities of the mountain and I will be sentenced to death. But I will ask
other spirits for protection, and perhaps I will escape the sentence.
Just after the full moon, his
hideout caught fire and all of his tablets were destroyed. So he considered
himself lost.
-I lived a thousand years without
parents. Now I am going to have a child. It means that my death is near.
Later, contemplating all his
women, he cried for a long time.
-This mountain is inaccessible.
No one could ever get here. From its height I could never see a single axeman,
since below it is full of tigers, wolves, and all kinds of ferocious beasts.
How can men get here if not by the will of Heaven?
Euyang returned home taking
jades, jewels, and all kinds of precious things. He also led all the women,
some of whom still remembered his families.
After a year, Euyang's wife gave
birth to a creature that resembled a monkey in every way. Euyang was later
executed by Emperor Wu, under the Tchen dynasty. But his old friend Kiang Tson,
who was very fond of Euyang's son because of his extraordinary intelligence,
sheltered him under his roof. Thus the child was saved from death. Growing up
he became a good writer and an excellent calligrapher. In short, he was a
famous person in his time.
END
The crumbling wall
[Short story - Full text.]
Anonymous: Chinese
________________________________________
Once upon a time there was a rich
man in the Kingdom of Sung. After a downpour the wall of his house began to
crumble.
"If you don't repair that
wall," his son told him, "a thief could get in there."
An old neighbor gave him the same
warning.
That same night a large sum of
money was stolen from the rich man, who praised his son's intelligence, but
distrusted his old neighbor.
END
The Miracle Denier
[Short story - Full text.]
Anonymous: Chinese
________________________________________
Chu Fu Tze, denier of miracles,
was dead; His son-in-law watched over him.
At dawn, the coffin rose and hung
in the air, two-quarters above the ground. The pious son-in-law was horrified.
"Oh, revered
father-in-law," he begged, "don't destroy my faith that miracles are
impossible."
The coffin then slowly descended,
and the son-in-law regained his faith.
END
The landscaper
[Short story - Full text.]
Anonymous: Chinese
A very talented painter was sent
by the emperor to a distant, unknown, recently conquered province, with the
mission of bringing back painted images. The emperor's desire was to know those
provinces in this way.
The painter traveled a lot,
visited the corners of the new territories, but returned to the capital without
a single picture, without even a sketch.
The emperor was surprised, and
even angry.
Then the painter asked to be left
with a large wall painting of the palace. On that wall he represented the whole
country that he had just toured. When the work was finished, the emperor went
to visit the great fresco. The painter, stick in hand, explained to him all the
corners of the landscape, the mountains, the rivers, the forests.
When the description was
finished, the painter approached a narrow path that left the foreground of the
fresco and seemed to lose itself in space. The assistants had the sensation
that the painter's body was gradually entering the path, that it was advancing
little by little in the landscape, that it was getting smaller. Soon a curve in
the path hid it from his eyes. And instantly the whole landscape disappeared,
leaving the great wall bare.
The emperor and the people around
him returned to their chambers in silence.
END
The dream of the creepy fly
.jpg)
[Short story - Full text.]
Anonymous: Chinese
________________________________________
Li Wei dreamed that a creepy fly
was hanging around his room, inopportunely interrupting one of his deep
meditations. Annoyed, he started chasing her trying to smack the unpleasant
buzz from him. He was carrying in his hand, for this purpose, the first edition
of With the glass of wine in my hand I interrogate the moon, an epic poem by
his close friend Li Taibo. He ran and ran tirelessly between the small space of
those four walls, shaking his arms as if he were a fly himself. This company
was of little use to him. The fly, perched on the frame of the portrait of his
beloved, was looking at him with bored indifference.
Exhausted from the chase, Li Wei
woke up in a flurry. On the bedside table was perched, distracted, the annoying
insect. With a manly slap, the philosopher ended the short life of the sad fly.
Li Wei will never know if he
killed a fly or one of his dreams.
END
The Spear and Shield Seller
[Short story - Full text.]
Anonymous: Chinese
________________________________________
In the Kingdom of Chu there lived
a man who sold spears and shields.
"My shields are so
strong," he boasted, "that nothing can get past them." My spears
are so sharp that there is nothing they cannot pierce.
-What happens if one of your
spears collides with one of your shields? someone asked.
The seller did not know what to
answer.
END
The fox that harnessed the power of the tiger
[Short story - Full text.]
Anonymous: Chinese
A tiger caught a fox.
"You can't eat me,"
said the fox. The Emperor of Heaven appointed me king of all animals. If you
eat me, the Emperor will punish you for disobeying his orders. And if you don't
believe me, come with me. You will see how all the animals run away as soon as
they see me and no one approaches.
The tiger agreed to accompany him
and as soon as the other animals saw them arrive, they escaped. The tiger
thought that they were afraid of the fox and did not realize that they were
escaping through him.
END
Fearful man
[Short story - Full text.]
Anonymous: Chinese
________________________________________
Lowering his head, she saw her
shadow before him and imagined that an evil spirit was lying at her feet.
END
With affection,
Ruben
