Original Text
Wang Shengyu traveled south and moored his boat in the middle of the river. That night, after retiring to bed, he saw the moonlight as pure as white silk and could not fall asleep, so he had his servant boy massage him. Suddenly, he heard what sounded like a child walking on the boat's roof, rustling the reed mats atop the cabin with a crackling noise; the sound came from the stern and gradually approached the cabin door. Wang, fearing it might be a thief, hastily rose and asked his servant, who had also heard it. As they exchanged words, they saw a figure lying on the boat's roof, hanging its head down to peer into the cabin. Wang was greatly alarmed, seized his sword, and called for the other servants, waking everyone on board. Wang told them what had happened, and some suspected it might have been an illusion. Suddenly, the noise on the roof resumed. The group went out to look around, but there was no one in sight—only the bright moon and sparse stars in the sky, and the rolling waves on the river. They sat in the boat, and soon saw a green flame, like a lamp, emerge from the water, floating with the waves, drawing nearer until it reached the boat's side, where it suddenly extinguished. Then a black figure rose from the water, standing upright on the surface, and climbed along the boat's railing, moving forward. The crowd shouted, "This must be the troublemaker!" and prepared to shoot it with arrows. Just as they drew their bows, the figure swiftly sank back into the water and was seen no more. Wang asked the boatman what this could be, and the boatman said, "This is an ancient battlefield; ghosts and spirits often appear here—nothing to be surprised at."
Commentary
According to traditional standards, "On the River" is a work of strange tales, but the strangeness it records is not of a creature, but rather a phenomenon or a sensation.
When Wang Shengyu was traveling by night on the Yangtze River, he felt not only the fear of a traveler guarding against thieves, but also the discomfort of being in an unfamiliar place, and moreover, a composite sensation stirred by the river wind, the moonlight, the roaring waves, the schools of fish, and the floating creatures, thus giving rise to strange and bizarre phenomena and feelings—these sensations were elusive, as if present yet absent, vague and indistinct, now appearing, now vanishing. The boatman said, "This is an ancient battlefield where ghosts often appear; there is nothing strange about it." This was merely a conjecture offered after failing to find any other explanation. What is remarkable is that Pu Songling vividly and vividly conveyed this phenomenon or feeling.
Some scholars believe that what is described in "The River" is the phenomenon of red tides resulting from the eutrophication of noctilucent algae.