Original Text
In Hu Tian Village, there was a family surnamed Hu, and two brothers went into a deep valley to gather firewood. They encountered a massive python; the elder brother, walking ahead, was seized and swallowed by the serpent. The younger brother, initially terrified and about to flee, saw his brother being devoured and, enraged, drew his woodcutter's axe and struck the python's head. Though wounded, the giant serpent continued to swallow, and soon the elder brother's head had been consumed, but luckily his shoulders became wedged at the python's jaws, preventing further ingestion. The younger brother, in desperate anxiety and with no other recourse, seized his brother's feet with both hands and strained against the python, eventually pulling his brother free. The python, wounded, fled away. When the younger brother looked at his brother, his ears and nose had already dissolved, and he lay gasping, on the verge of death. The younger brother carried him home on his back, resting more than a dozen times along the way. After medical treatment and convalescence, the elder brother recovered fully only after half a year. To this day, his face is covered with scars, and only holes remain where his nose and ears once were.
Ah! Among the rustic peasants of the mountains and fields, there was actually a younger brother who served his elder brother with such reverence and devotion! Some say, "The python did not devour the elder brother because it was moved by the younger brother's moral virtue and righteousness." Truly, it was so!
Commentary
Hu Tian Village is located in present-day Zhangdian District, Zibo, Shandong, and still exists today, known as Hu Tian. The stories in Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio are mostly set in Shandong, and within Shandong, many are set in the author's hometown. The location of this story is detailed down to a specific village, which shows it was based on contemporary hearsay.
The commentaries in "Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio" often adopt the form of "The Historian of the Strange remarks." This particular tale appends its commentary directly at the story's conclusion, likely due to its brevity. The assertion that "'The python did no harm, for it was moved by virtue and righteousness' is indeed true" is, of course, Pu Songling's own presumption. He believed it himself and hoped through fiction to propagate this idea of being moved by virtue and righteousness. Though this tale is not particularly outstanding, it laid the groundwork for the later lengthy story of brotherly friendship, "Zhang Cheng." In "Zhang Cheng," however, the python was transformed into a tiger.