Original Text
There was a provincial graduate named Liu who could remember his previous lives. He was a fellow graduate with my late elder brother Wenbi and once clearly recounted his past existence to him. In his first life, he was a scholar-official who committed many immoral and filthy deeds, dying at the age of sixty-two. When he first met the King of Hell, the king treated him with the courtesy shown to a country squire, inviting him to sit and offering tea. Stealing a glance, he saw that the tea in the king's cup was perfectly clear, while his own was turbid like unstrained wine, and he secretly wondered if this might be the fabled potion of oblivion from the underworld. So, while the king looked elsewhere, he quietly tipped his cup over the corner of the table, pretending to have drunk it all. Soon, the king examined the record of his evil deeds and flew into a rage, ordering demons to drag him from the hall and condemning him to be reborn as a horse. Instantly, a fierce demon bound him and led him away. He arrived at a doorway with a threshold so high he could not step over. As he hesitated, the demon struck him violently, and in agony he fell to the ground. When he looked at himself, he was already beneath a horse trough. He heard someone say, "The black mare has given birth to a colt, a male." His mind was still clear, but he could not speak. Feeling ravenous, he had no choice but to suckle at the mare's side. After four or five years, he grew tall and strong, but he was terrified of being beaten; at the mere sight of a raised whip, he would flee in panic. When his master rode, he would use a saddle and let the reins go slack, allowing a slow pace, which was not too painful. But when servants or grooms rode without gear, their ankle bones pressing into his flanks caused him unbearable agony. In extreme fury, he refused to eat for three days and thus died.
Upon arriving at the underworld, the King of Hell checked his punishment period and found it was not yet complete; he rebuked him for deliberately evading it, stripped off his horse hide, and sentenced him to be reborn as a dog in the next life. His heart was filled with deep regret, and he did not wish to go forward. A group of ghosts rushed forward and beat him violently again; in extreme pain, he fled into the wilderness. He thought to himself that it would be better to die, so in a fit of anger he leaped from a steep cliff, falling to the ground unable to move. When he looked at himself, he found he was already lying in a dog's den, with a mother dog licking and nursing him, and thus he knew he had come into the world once more. As he grew a little, he saw excrement and urine and knew them to be filthy, yet they smelled fragrant to him; he could only resolve in his heart not to eat them. During his year or more as a dog, he often thought angrily of seeking death, yet feared the King of Hell would accuse him of deliberately evading punishment and add to his guilt; moreover, his master cherished and tamed him, unwilling to kill him. So he deliberately bit off a piece of flesh from his master's thigh; the master, enraged, beat him to death with a club. The King of Hell, upon inquiry, was greatly angered by his fierce madness, and after flogging him several hundred times, ordered him to become a snake. He was confined in a dark chamber, so dark that he could not see the sun or sky. Feeling extremely stifled, he crawled up the wall, made a hole in the roof, and escaped. When he looked at himself again, he found he was lying in a thicket of grass, having become a snake. Thereupon he resolved not to harm any living creature; when hungry, he would swallow grass and fruits. After more than a year, he often thought that suicide was not permissible, nor was dying by harming others; he sought a good way to die, but could find none. One day, as he lay in the grass, he suddenly heard a carriage approaching; he quickly darted out and blocked the road, and the carriage, speeding past, crushed him into two pieces.
The King of Hell was greatly astonished that he had returned to the underworld so swiftly, whereupon he prostrated himself and crawled forward on his knees, confessing his true intentions to the King. Because he had been unjustly slain, the King pardoned him and granted him permission to be reborn as a new man after his allotted term expired, and thus he became Lord Liu. From the moment of his birth, Lord Liu could speak, and any text or historical record he merely glanced at once, he could recite from memory. In the year Xinyou, he passed the provincial examination and became a juren. He often advised others that when riding a horse, one must always add ample padding like mud-guards, for the punishment of pressing the horse's flanks with both legs was more painful than the lash of a whip.
The Chronicler of the Strange remarks: Among those creatures that bear fur and horns, there are indeed those who hold the rank of princes and nobles. The reason for this is that among princes and nobles, there are also those who are no less than beasts in human attire. Thus, when a lowly person performs good deeds, it is like desiring flowers and first planting a tree; when a noble person performs good deeds, it is like having already bloomed and then nurturing the roots of the flower. A tree that has been planted can grow tall, and a tree whose roots have been nurtured can endure for long. Otherwise, one may be punished by being reborn as a horse, bearing heavy loads and pulling carts, enduring the bonds of the halter; or else, one may be punished by being reborn as a dog, eating filth and drinking urine, subject to slaughter; or else, one may be punished by being reborn as a snake, covered in scales and armor, to die in the belly of a crane or stork.
Commentary
This story aims to convey the passage from the "Commentary by the Historian of the Strange": "Among those with fur and horns, there are indeed princes and nobles within them. The reason for this is that among princes and nobles, there are originally not without those with fur and horns within them." Translated into modern language, it means: Among beasts, there are many princes and nobles; the reason for this is that among princes and nobles, there are originally many beasts. The phrasing is somewhat convoluted, but to put it plainly: Many princes and nobles are not human!
Since this work employs a roundabout way of cursing people, its narrative technique is quite intriguing, with omniscient and limited perspectives interwoven. When Liu the Filial and Incorrupt is reborn as a horse, he sees the world through a horse's eyes; when reborn as a dog, through a dog's eyes; when reborn as a snake, through a snake's eyes. Thus, having experienced all this, Liu often advised others: "When riding a horse, you must thicken the saddle blanket, for the torment of squeezing with the thighs is worse than the lash." In the worlds of horses, dogs, and snakes, Pu Songling infused their natures with the traits of a despotic local gentry. For instance, after Liu became a dog, he was unwilling to accept his fate: "He often fumed with rage, wishing to die, yet feared being punished for shirking his duty. But his master kept feeding him and refused to kill him. So he deliberately bit off a piece of flesh from his master's thigh. The master, enraged, beat him to death. The King of Hell examined the case, angered by his mad barking, had him flogged hundreds of times, and made him a snake." Dan Minglun commented: "He was punished as a dog for shirking his duty. A dog fears shirking, yet he went mad and barked? After being beaten to death and flogged again, he was further punished as a snake. This is typical of a cunning village elder, thus portraying his ghostly, crooked, sly, and venomous demeanor."