Original Text
Ma Yong was a man from Shandong. By nature he was greedy and behaved like a scoundrel; his family was often in poverty, and the villagers mocked him, giving him the nickname "Hungry Ghost." By the time he was over thirty, his circumstances grew even more destitute—his clothes were tattered and torn, and he would cross his arms over his shoulders, wandering the market to snatch food without paying. Everyone despised him and treated him as less than human.
In the county there lived an old man named Zhu, who in his youth had dwelt with his wife in a bustling city, pursuing a most dishonorable trade. In his later years he returned to his native village, where he was greatly censured by the scholarly community; yet because he conducted himself with rectitude and delighted in charitable deeds, people gradually began to treat him with some courtesy. One day, he happened upon Ma Yong, who had taken food without paying and was being harassed by the shopkeeper. Taking pity on him, Old Zhu settled the bill, then led him home and gave him several hundred coins to use as capital. After Ma Yong departed, he refused to seek any livelihood and simply sat idly until his funds were exhausted. Soon the money was gone, and he fell back into his old ways. Ever fearful of encountering Old Zhu, he fled to a neighboring county. One night he lodged in the county school; the winter was bitter cold, so he stripped the jade pendants from the sage's statue and burned the ceremonial tablet to warm himself. When the school official learned of this, he was furious and wished to punish him. Ma Yong begged for clemency, offering instead to devise a scheme to enrich the official. Delighted, the official released him. Ma Yong then learned of a certain scholar who was wealthy and well-off; he went to his door and forcibly demanded money, deliberately provoking him until, in a fit of rage, he cut himself with a knife and falsely accused the scholar of the deed, lodging a complaint with the school official. The official extorted a large sum from the scholar before sparing him from expulsion. This incited the righteous indignation of the other scholars, who jointly brought the matter before the magistrate. Upon investigation, the magistrate ordered Ma Yong to be given forty strokes of the bamboo, placed in the cangue, and within three days he died. That very night, Old Zhu dreamed that Ma Yong arrived, neatly dressed, and said, "I have failed your kindness, but today I come to repay it." When Old Zhu awoke, his concubine had just given birth to a son. Knowing that Ma Yong had been reborn, he named the child Ma'er. As a boy, Ma'er was not particularly bright, but he was willing to study. By the age of twenty, after much effort, he managed to enter the county school. Later, when he went to take the examinations, he lodged at an inn and lay down during the day. Noticing that the walls were papered with old examination essays, he glanced at them and saw one with the four-character topic "The Nature of Dogs." Feeling that this subject was difficult, he read it repeatedly and committed it to memory. Entering the examination hall, he found that the very same topic was set; he transcribed the essay from memory, earned a high grade, and obtained the stipendiary status of a government-supported scholar. At over sixty years of age, Ma'er was appointed as an instructor in a neighboring county. After several years in office, he had not a single friend of moral integrity. Only when someone produced money from their sleeve and handed it to him did his face break into a smile; otherwise, he would lower his eyelids—his lashes a full inch long—and feign ignorance. Occasionally, when scholars committed minor offenses and the magistrate ordered a light punishment, Ma'er would flog them savagely, as if punishing thieves. If anyone brought a complaint against a scholar, it was as if money had come knocking at his door. His misdeeds were so numerous that the scholars could no longer endure them. When Ma'er approached seventy, he grew corpulent, deaf, and dim-sighted, and often sought a dye to blacken his beard. A wild scholar, having ground up madder root, deceived him with it. At dawn, when others saw him, Ma'er's dyed beard made him resemble the clay statue of the temple god Lingguan. Furious with shame, he tried to seize the wild scholar, but the man had already fled during the night. From this, Ma'er's heart became choked with resentment, and within a few months he died.
Commentary
This is a comic-style story, or perhaps a story-style comic, filled with mockery and scorn, specifically targeting the academic officials, that is, the educational officers of the time. Due to its comic nature, it possesses a general and representative quality of the type, and although the tale names specific individuals, it expresses Pu Songling's universal aversion to the instructors.
The novel is divided into two parts: the first part recounts Ma Yong's previous life, and the second part describes his present life. From his birth, family, conduct, scholarship, and examinations, particularly his attitude toward students as a school official and his unscrupulous methods of extorting money, it severely criticizes the hypocrisy and ugliness of Ming and Qing dynasty school officials. Dan Minglun remarked: "Its ugliness is fortunate to be confined to the school officials."