Original Text
In the household of the venerable Mr. Wang Qinwen of Xincheng, there was a groom surnamed Wang who, from his youth, had entered the Laoshan Mountains to study the Way. After a long period of cultivation, he ceased to eat cooked food, subsisting only on pine seeds and white stones, his body becoming entirely covered in hair. Thus passed several years, until he grew nostalgic for his aged mother and returned home, gradually resuming the consumption of cooked fare, yet still partaking of stones as before. He would hold a stone up to the sunlight and could discern whether it was sweet or bitter, sour or salty, and would eat it as if it were a taro. After his mother's death, he once again ventured deep into the mountains, and now seventeen or eighteen years have passed since then.
Commentary
In the geographical distribution of the tales from Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, Shandong accounts for a very large proportion. Among the Shandong tales, places such as Zichuan, Jinan, Xincheng, and Laoshan also occupy a significant share. Zichuan was the hometown of Pu Songling. Jinan was the location where Pu Songling repeatedly took the imperial examinations. Laoshan was a place Pu Songling had visited. And Xincheng was where Wang Yuyang, the relative by marriage of Pu Songling's employer Bi Jiyou, resided.
The story of "Gnawing Stones" is also found in Wang Yuyang's "Chibei Occasional Talks: Strange Tales I," under the title "Devouring Stones," which narrates a tale largely similar to "Gnawing Stones": "The immortals boiling stones has only been passed down in words. My household servant Wang Jialu, when young, lived in the Laoshan Mountains, sitting alone for several years, until he ceased to consume cooked food, eating only stones as his meals, and when thirsty, drinking from mountain streams. Hair grew all over his body to a length of over an inch. Later, because his mother was aged, he returned home. Gradually resuming cooked food, the hair fell off. Yet he still often ate stones. Whenever he picked up a stone, he would examine it in the sunlight and immediately know whether its taste was sweet, salty, bitter, or pungent. He would fill a huge bucket with water, hang it from his teeth, and spin it around like the wind. After his mother died, his whereabouts became unknown." Interestingly, both Pu Songling and Wang Yuyang described why Wang Jialu could gnaw stones. In Wang Yuyang's account, it was "he would fill a huge bucket with water, hang it from his teeth, and spin it around like the wind," emphasizing the strength of Wang Jialu's bite, while Pu Songling disdained such explanation, simply stating: "It was like eating taro."—Does the difference in their narratives reflect each having its own merits, or is there a distinction between skill and clumsiness?