Original Text
There was a military officer of the rank of Youji, who kept a multitude of wives and concubines. He was most averse to anyone uttering his childhood name, and therefore he substituted 'year' with 'age', 'birth' with 'hard', 'horse' with 'big donkey', and further changed 'defeat' to 'victory', and 'peace' to 'release'. Although in correspondence he was not overly strict, if any member of his household spoke a forbidden word, he would fly into a rage. One day, a clerk in charge of documents, while reporting a matter, inadvertently violated this taboo. The officer, in a fury, struck him with an inkstone and killed him outright. Three days later, the officer, drunk and asleep, saw the clerk enter holding a visiting card. The officer asked, "What business have you?" The clerk replied, "'Horse Son Peace' has come to call." Suddenly realizing that the clerk was a ghost, the officer hastily rose and drew his sword to strike him. The clerk smiled, tossed the card onto the table, and vanished. The officer took up the card and saw written upon it: "Age family relative hard big donkey releases victory." Such a violent and absurd man, mocked by a ghost, is truly laughable!
On Ox-Head Mountain there lived a monk who styled himself Iron-Hard, and also Iron-Filth. He composed forty poems, and all who read them could not help but burst into uncontrollable laughter. He carved two seals for himself, one reading "Rogue and Rascal," the other "Honest Ruffian." A man from Xiu-shui named Wang Si-zhi had his poems printed and published under the title "Forty Farts from Ox-Head Mountain," with the inscription "Set forth by Rogue and Rascal, Honest Ruffian." Even without reading the poems, the title and inscription alone were enough to make one roar with laughter.
Commentary
According to the interpretations of folklore and anthropology, all ethnic groups around the world observe certain linguistic taboos. Freud believed that so-called taboos have two meanings: one implies the sublime and the sacred, and the other implies the dangerous, the mysterious, the forbidden, and the unclean, representing something that is restricted or prohibited and cannot be touched. The two tales in "The Clerk of Records" encompass both aspects. The first tale recounts how a certain roving military officer became so absurdly obsessed with the taboo of personal names that he was ridiculed by a ghost. The second tale tells of a monk at Ox-Head Mountain who was unrestrained and eccentric, engaging in exaggerated self-mockery regarding himself and his writings—both reflecting Pu Songling's open-minded attitude toward related taboos.