Original Text
In a temple in Tianjin, a pair of storks built their nest atop the ornamental chiwen ridge-end on the main hall's roof. Hidden within the ceiling of the hall was a serpent as thick as a basin, which, whenever the stork chicks had just grown their first feathers, would emerge and devour them all. The storks would cry mournfully for several days before flying away. This happened for three consecutive years, and people assumed the storks would not return, yet after a year, they came again to build their nest. When the chicks had grown, the parent storks flew off, returning only after three days. Upon returning to the nest, they cawed hoarsely and continued to feed their young. The great serpent once again slithered up. As it neared the nest, the two storks were startled into flight, crying and shrieking as they soared into the blue sky. Soon, a sound like a howling wind was heard, and in an instant, the sky and earth grew dark. The onlookers were greatly astonished, and looking up, they saw a massive bird, its wings blotting out the sun, descending from the sky with the speed of a storm. It struck the serpent with its claws, and the serpent's head was instantly severed, also breaking off a section of the temple eaves several feet wide. Then it flapped its wings and flew away. The storks followed behind it, as if seeing it off. The storks' nest was overturned, and both chicks fell to the ground; one died, but the other survived. A monk placed the living chick atop the bell tower. After a while, the storks returned and continued to feed the chick until it grew up, then they departed.
The Chronicler of Strange Tales remarks: The stork returned after a year, for it had not anticipated that calamity would strike again; after three years, the nest remained unmoved, indicating that the plan for vengeance was already set; and when it did not return for three days, it was as if it wept in the court of Qin to seek aid—this can be discerned. That great bird must have been a sword-wielding knight among the feathered kind, coming like a drifting shadow and striking with a single blow—how could even the masterful Kongkong'er of the sword-wielding knights surpass this?
In Jinan there was a soldier who, seeing a stork flying by, shot an arrow at it, and the stork fell to the ground with a cry, still holding a fish in its beak meant to feed its young. Someone advised the soldier to pull out the arrow and release the stork, but he refused. Shortly after, the stork flew away with the arrow still lodged in it. For over two years, the bird flew back and forth within and beyond the city walls, always bearing that arrow. One day, as the soldier sat beneath the yamen gate, the stork passed overhead, and the arrow dropped to the ground. The soldier picked it up, examined it, and said, "So this arrow is still here?" Just then, his ear itched, and he used the arrowhead to scratch it. Suddenly, a great gust of wind slammed the gate shut, and the door struck the arrow, driving it through his skull, killing him instantly.
Commentary
This is a fairy tale about storks. It tells of a pair of storks unable to protect their young, which were devoured by a snake, so they summoned a great bird for protection. The great bird was like "a sword immortal of the feathered tribe, arriving with a whirlwind and departing with a single strike." Feng Zhenluan commented on this piece, saying: "It is written with vivid sound and color, like the Grand Historian narrating the passage of Jing Ke's assassination of the King of Qin." He also believed that this piece was likely influenced by Du Fu's poem "The Righteous Falcon's Journey." This argument is quite reasonable. The passage describing the great bird—"its wings shaded the sky and sun, it swooped down from the void with sudden fury like wind and rain, struck the snake with its claws, instantly severing its head, and even shattered several feet of the temple eaves, then flapped its wings and departed"—is concise and vigorous, with a resounding force. In the "Historian's Commentary," it says, "How could the master of the empty hand surpass this?" This praises the great bird's bravery, and also serves as self-praise for the vividness of the writing.