Original Text
Wang Fenbin once told a story: In his hometown there was a man who raised a mynah bird. He taught the mynah to speak, and the mynah learned exceptionally well, forming a close bond with its master. Every time the master traveled, he would take the mynah along, and this continued for many years. One day, the master took it passing through Jiangzhou in Shanxi, far from home, and all his travel funds were exhausted. The master was deeply worried and at a loss. The mynah said, "Why don't you sell me? If you take me to the prince's mansion, you can surely get a good price and have no worry about the fare home." The master said, "How can I bear to sell you!" The mynah replied, "It's no matter. Once you get the money, leave quickly and wait for me under the big tree twenty li west of the city." The master followed the mynah's advice. He brought the mynah into the city and, in front of the crowd, engaged in a question-and-answer exchange with it, drawing an ever-growing crowd of onlookers. A eunuch serving in the prince's mansion saw this and reported it to the prince. The prince summoned the mynah and its master into the mansion, intending to buy the bird. The master said, "I, humble as I am, have been inseparable from it all along and truly cannot bear to part with it." So the prince asked the mynah, "Are you willing to stay?" The mynah said, "I am willing to stay." The prince was greatly delighted. The mynah then added, "Give him ten taels of silver, no more." The prince, even more overjoyed, immediately gave the mynah's master ten taels of silver. The master deliberately feigned great distress and left angrily. The prince spoke with the mynah, and it responded with great agility. The prince ordered meat to be fed to it. After eating the meat, the mynah said, "Your servant wishes to bathe." The prince commanded his attendants to bring a golden basin filled with water, open the cage, and let the mynah bathe in the basin. After bathing, it flew to the eaves, preened its wing feathers with its beak, shook its entire plumage, and chattered incessantly with the prince. After a while, when its feathers were dry, the mynah fluttered up gracefully and said in the local Shanxi dialect, "Your servant takes his leave!" In the blink of an eye, the mynah flew away without a trace. The prince and the eunuchs looked up with long sighs, hastily sent men to search everywhere for the mynah's master, but not a single shadow of him was found. Later, a man who went to Shaanxi saw that person with the mynah in the bustling market of Xi'an. This story was recorded by Mr. Bi Zai Ji.
Commentary
This is a story about a myna bird conspiring with its keeper to commit fraud. What is astonishing is that the mastermind behind the scheme is actually the bird! Moreover, its acting skills are superb: it performs a double act with the keeper, selling itself; it tricks the buyer into opening the cage by feigning a desire to bathe; while preening its feathers and shaking its plumage, it chatters incessantly with the buyer, lulling them into a false sense of security; and just before flying away, it says in the local dialect, "I am off, my lord!" — a calm and effortless escape that defies all imagination.
The creation of "The Myna" is quite unique within Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, for neither the teller of the story nor the recorder of it was Pu Songling himself. In his preface to the collection, Pu wrote, "Over time, friends from all quarters sent me tales through the post, and thus, as things gather by fondness, my collection grew ever larger." Many factors contributed to the success of Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, including the relaxed teaching environment Pu enjoyed at the time and the support of his patron Bi Zaiji, who shared his interests. Apart from this piece, the tale "The Five-Ram Doctor" in the third volume is also noted as having been recorded by Bi Zaiji.