Original Text
When Scholar Wei Zhouzuo, a native of Shanxi who later became a Grand Secretary, was still a xiucai, he grew weary of worldly affairs and moved into a temple to live and eat. However, the room was infested with bedbugs, mosquitoes, and fleas in such great numbers that Wei often found it impossible to sleep through the night.
One day after finishing his meal, Wei Zhouzuo lay down to rest. Suddenly, a small warrior about two inches tall, with a pheasant tail feather in his headdress, rode in on a horse the size of a grasshopper, his arm encased in a blue leather sleeve upon which perched a hunting falcon as large as a fly. He entered from outside, circling the room, now walking, now trotting. Just as Wei Zhouzuo was staring intently, another small figure entered, dressed identically to the first, with a tiny bow and arrows at his waist, leading a hunting dog as large as an ant. After a while, hundreds of small warriors, some on foot, some on horseback, came swarming in, along with hundreds of falcons and hundreds of hounds. Whenever a mosquito or fly took flight, the small warriors would release their falcons to soar and strike, killing them all. The hounds leaped onto the bed and climbed the walls, seeking out bedbugs and fleas to devour; even those hiding in crevices, once sniffed out, were caught without fail, and in an instant, they were all consumed. Wei Zhouzuo pretended to be asleep, but watched from the corner of his eye, seeing the falcons alight on his body and the hounds scurry over him. Then came a figure in yellow robes, wearing a flat-topped crown like a king, who ascended another couch and tied his chariot to the mat. The attendant knights all dismounted, offering mosquitoes, flies, bedbugs, and fleas, crowding around the king, their words unintelligible. Before long, the king mounted his small chariot, the guards hastily mounted their horses, and thousands of steeds galloped off like scattered beans, raising clouds of dust, vanishing in an instant.
Wei Zhouzuo saw it all with perfect clarity, his heart filled with profound astonishment, yet he knew not whence they came. He slipped on his shoes and went out to investigate, but there was neither trace nor sound. Turning to look all around, he saw nothing at all, save that a small hunting dog had fallen from the wall bricks. He quickly caught the little dog, which proved quite tame. Placing it in the inkstone case for repeated admiration, he noticed its fur was exceedingly fine, and a tiny ring hung around its neck. He offered it a grain of rice, but the dog sniffed it and left it untouched. It leaped onto the bed, searching among the seams of the clothing, biting to death all the nits and lice, then returned to crouch in the case. After a night, Wei Zhouzuo thought the little dog must have gone, but when he looked, it was still crouching there. As soon as he lay down, it jumped onto the bed mat, biting dead any insect it encountered, so that even mosquitoes and flies dared not alight. Wei Zhouzuo cherished this little dog more than a precious jade disc. One day, while he napped at noon, the little dog lay silently by his side. When he awoke and turned over, he crushed the dog under his waist. Feeling something beneath him, he thought it might be the dog, and hastily rose to look—the little dog was already flattened and dead, as thin as if cut from paper. Yet from that time on, no insects ever appeared in the room again.
Commentary
This tale reflects the fantasies that arose from human struggles with mosquitoes, flies, fleas, and lice before the invention of chemical insecticides, imbued with a distinctly fairy-tale quality.
In terms of description and structure, this tale shares a similar ingenuity with "The Little Official" from the second volume; both are remarkable for "making the large small, and finding wonder in the diminutive," employing vivid metaphors to depict objects, such as "a horse as large as a wax doll," "a hawk like a fly," "hunting dogs like giant ants," and "a myriad of hooves stampeding, scattering like tossed beans." After a broad, general portrayal, both use detailed close-ups to deepen the impression—while "The Little Official" presents a gift, this tale describes the small hunting dog as having "extremely fine, soft fur, with a tiny ring around its neck."
Wang Yuyang excerpted this story in his "Chibei Outan: Tan Yi Qi" and specifically noted at the end, "This matter is seen in Scholar Pu Songling's 'Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio'," showing his considerable appreciation for this piece.