Original Text
Zong Xiangruo of Huzhou was a scholar. One autumn, while inspecting his fields, he saw a place where the crops were thick and violently shaking. Suspicious, he crossed the ridge to look and saw a man and woman engaged in illicit intercourse in the open. He smiled and was about to turn back, when the man, ashamed, hastily fastened his belt and fled. The woman then sat up, and upon closer inspection, Zong found her quite beautiful. He felt a desire for her and wished to dally with her at once, but was ashamed of such coarse behavior. He approached her gently, touched her lightly, and said, "Was your secret rendezvous enjoyable?" The woman only smiled and said nothing. Zong drew near, undid her garments, and saw her skin as smooth as lard; he then caressed her entire body. The woman laughed and said, "Pedantic scholar! Do as you will—why all this groping?" Zong asked her surname, but she replied, "After one bout of love, we go our separate ways—why ask in detail? Must I leave a name to erect a chastity arch?" Zong said, "To dally in the wild grass and dew of the fields is the way of rustic villagers; I am not accustomed to it. With your beauty, even a secret tryst should be conducted with dignity—how could you be so hasty?" The woman greatly approved of these words. Zong said, "My home is not far from here; please come for a while." The woman replied, "I have been out too long already and fear arousing suspicion. Midnight will be suitable." After asking carefully for the landmarks near Zong's door, she took a small path and hurried away. At the first watch, the woman indeed arrived at Zong's house. They indulged in the pleasures of cloud and rain, deeply affectionate. A month passed, and still no one knew of this secret.
At that time, by chance a foreign monk was lodging in the village temple, and upon seeing Zong Xiangruo, he exclaimed in surprise, "You carry a baleful aura; have you encountered anything?" Zong Xiangruo replied, "I have met with nothing." A few days later, Zong Xiangruo suddenly fell ill for no apparent reason. The woman came every night bringing fine fruits for him to eat, tending to him with great solicitude, as devoted as a loving wife, yet once they lay down, she would insist on coupling with him. Zong Xiangruo, weakened by his sickness, grew impatient and began to suspect she was not human, but he could not bring himself to sever ties and send her away. So he said, "The other day a monk said I was bewitched by a demon, and now I am truly ill; his words have come true. Tomorrow I shall invite him here and ask for a talisman." The woman's face suddenly turned sorrowful and pale, and Zong Xiangruo's suspicions deepened. The next day, Zong Xiangruo sent a servant to inform the foreign monk of the situation. The monk said, "This woman is a fox spirit. Her powers are still weak and easy to capture." He then wrote two talismans, handed them to the servant, and instructed, "Go back and place a clean jar before the bed, and paste one talisman on the jar's mouth. When the fox spirit enters the jar, quickly cover it with a basin, then paste the second talisman on the basin. Set it in a cauldron of boiling water over a fierce fire, and in no time it will perish." The servant returned and did exactly as the monk had ordered. Late that night, the woman arrived, producing golden tangerines from her sleeve and approaching the bedside to inquire after his health. Suddenly, a whistling sound came from the jar's mouth, and the woman was sucked inside. The servant sprang up, rushed out, covered the jar, and affixed the second talisman. Just as he was about to boil it, Zong Xiangruo saw the golden tangerines scattered all over the floor, recalled their past affections, and his heart was moved with pity. He hastily ordered her released. The servant removed the talisman and lifted the basin, and the woman emerged from the jar, disheveled and crestfallen. She knelt and kowtowed, saying, "My great path of cultivation was nearly complete, and I almost turned to ashes! You are a benevolent man; I swear I shall repay you." Then she departed.
After a few days, Zong Xiangruo's condition grew even more severe, as if he were on the verge of death. His family went to the market to buy a coffin for him. On the way, they encountered a woman who asked, "Are you a servant of Zong Xiangruo?" The family member replied, "Yes." The woman said, "Zong Lang is my cousin. I heard he is gravely ill and wished to visit him, but I am unable to go due to other matters. Here is a packet of miraculous medicine; please take it to him." The family member accepted the medicine and returned home. Zong Xiangruo thought that among his cousins there were no sisters, and realized this was the fox spirit repaying his kindness. He took the medicine, and indeed his illness greatly eased; within ten days he had fully recovered. Grateful to the fox woman, he prayed to the air, hoping to see her again. One night, Zong Xiangruo closed his door and drank alone, when suddenly he heard the sound of fingers tapping on the window. He unlatched the door and went out, and there was the fox woman. Zong Xiangruo was overjoyed, took her hand to express his gratitude, and invited her to sit and drink together. The fox woman said, "Since our parting, my heart has been entangled with thoughts I cannot release, and I felt I could not repay your kindness. Now I have found a suitable spouse for you, though I wonder if it might barely fulfill my duty?" Zong Xiangruo asked, "Who is she?" The fox woman said, "This is not something you can know. Tomorrow morning at the hour of Chen, go early to South Lake. If you see a young woman gathering water chestnuts, wearing a white crepe shawl, quickly row your boat to chase her. If you lose sight of her, look for a short-stemmed lotus flower hidden beneath the lotus leaves on the shore, pick it and take it home. Burn the flower stem with a candle flame, and you will obtain a beautiful wife and also gain long life." Zong Xiangruo respectfully accepted her instructions. Afterward, the fox woman said she must leave, and Zong Xiangruo repeatedly tried to detain her. The fox woman said, "Since suffering that calamity, I have suddenly awakened to the Great Way. How could I, for the sake of pillow and mat pleasures between man and woman, invite enmity and resentment?" Then, with a solemn expression, she bid farewell and departed.
Zong Xiangruo followed the instructions and went to South Lake, where he saw many beauties among the lotus blossoms. Among them was a young woman wearing a white gauze shawl, with a face of unparalleled beauty. He urged his boat forward, drawing near her, but suddenly she vanished from sight. He immediately parted the lotus thicket and indeed saw a red lotus, its stem less than a foot long; he broke it off and brought it home. Entering his door, he placed the red lotus on the table and trimmed the candlewick, preparing to light it. As soon as he turned his head, the red lotus transformed into a beautiful woman. Zong Xiangruo, both startled and delighted, prostrated himself on the ground in worship. The maiden said, "Foolish scholar! I am a fox spirit, come to bring you calamity!" Zong Xiangruo paid her no heed. The maiden asked, "Who instructed you in this?" Zong Xiangruo replied, "I recognized you of my own accord; what need was there for instruction?" He then seized her arm to draw her close, but the maiden slipped from his grasp like water and transformed into a strange stone, about a foot high, exquisitely translucent on every side. So Zong Xiangruo placed the strange stone on the altar, lit incense, bowed twice, and offered a prayer. When night came, he tightly closed the doors and windows, fearing the maiden might escape. At dawn, when he looked, it was no longer a strange stone but a thin gauze shawl, fragrant from afar; opening its collar and lapels, he found lingering traces of feminine softness. Zong Xiangruo covered himself with the quilt and lay down, embracing the shawl. In the evening, he rose to light the lamp, and when he returned to the bed, he saw the maiden lying on the pillow. Zong Xiangruo was overjoyed; fearing she might transform again, he first earnestly begged her, then drew near. The maiden said with a smile, "What a curse! I know not who was so meddlesome as to let this mad fellow pester me to death!" She then no longer resisted. Yet during their intimacy, the maiden seemed unable to bear it, repeatedly asking him to stop, but Zong Xiangruo turned a deaf ear. The maiden said, "If you continue thus, I shall transform and depart!" Fearing she would vanish, he desisted. From then on, their affection was deeply harmonious, and chests and cabinets were often filled with money, though none knew whence it came. When the maiden spoke with others, she merely murmured in assent, as if unskilled in conversation, and Zong Xiangruo avoided mentioning her extraordinary origins. Later, the maiden was pregnant for over ten months, and when the time for delivery was calculated, she entered the inner room, instructed Zong Xiangruo to close the door and not knock, then cut open her own belly with a knife, took out the child, and bade Zong Xiangruo tear a strip of cloth to bind her wound; by the next morning, it had healed.
After another six or seven years had passed, the young woman said to Zong Xiangruo, "The karmic debts of our past lives have been fully repaid; let us now part ways." Zong Xiangruo wept bitterly upon hearing this and said, "When you married me, I was poor and destitute, unable to stand on my own. It was only because of you that I became somewhat prosperous. How can you bear to suddenly speak of leaving? Moreover, you have no family, and in the future, our child will not know who his mother is—that too would be a great regret." The young woman also sighed with melancholy and said, "Where there is gathering, there must be parting—such is the natural order. Our son bears a blessed countenance, and you are destined for a long life; what more could you seek? My original surname is He. If ever you think of me, take my old garment in your arms and call out 'Lotus Flower Third Lady,' and you shall see me." With these words, she broke free and said, "I am leaving now." In the very instant Zong Xiangruo stared after her in astonishment, she had already flown higher than his head. He leaped up and hastily tried to seize her, but only caught one of her shoes. The shoe slipped from his hand and fell to the ground, transforming into a stone swallow, its color redder than cinnabar, translucent and clear both inside and out, like crystal. He then picked up the stone swallow and stored it away. When Zong Xiangruo examined her trunk, the white crepe shawl she had worn upon first arriving was still there. Whenever he longed for her, he would hold the shawl and call out "Third Lady," and instantly he would hold the real, tangible woman, with her joyful face and smiling eyes, exactly as she had been in life—only she could not speak.
Commentary
This chapter is composed of two independent stories, with the latter tale serving as the main narrative.
In terms of its framework, the preceding story is identical to "Li Shi," both negating the unreliability of sexual partners in illicit unions—Zong Xiangruo, upon discovering others engaged in such a union, encountered a fox spirit, and after associating with her, fell ill. Due to his lingering affection for her, he released the fox spirit who had caused his sickness. Grateful for his mercy, the fox spirit introduced him to Lotus Third Lady. The latter story recounts Zong Xiangruo's courtship and marriage with Lotus Third Lady, marked by shifting divine radiance—now a lotus, now a maiden, now a strange stone, now a gauze cape—written with romantic elegance and a refreshing purity, revealing Pu Songling's attention to and taste for flower arranging, scholarly ornaments, and decorative displays among the literati. In the manuscript of "Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio," there is this passage: "A friend said: 'Flowers that seem to understand speech are often troublesome; stones that cannot speak are most endearing.' This fine couplet by Lu You can serve as an illustration for this tale." Dan Minglun commented: "The commentary quoting Lu You's couplet suggests that this story may have originated from it."