Original Text
General Li of Jiaozhou once acquired two black slaves, as black as lacquer. The soles of their feet were thick and coarse; even when sharp knives were arranged in rows, they could walk back and forth over them without the slightest injury. General Li paired them with prostitutes, and the children born to them had white skin. The other servants mocked them, saying the children were not their own. The black slaves themselves grew suspicious and killed the children; upon examination, they found the bones were entirely black, and only then did they feel deep regret. Whenever General Li had the two black slaves dance facing each other, their expressions and movements were quite entertaining to behold.
Commentary
During Pu Songling's era, the Western slave trade of black Africans was at its peak, so the so-called "two black devils" in this tale likely refer to black slaves. Jiaozhou, located on the shores of Jiaozhou Bay, bordered Jimo to the east, Pingdu to the north, Gaomi to the west, Zhucheng to the southwest, and the Huangdao District of Qingdao to the south; during the Tang and Song dynasties, it was one of the five major commercial ports in the nation and the only trading port in the north. Thus, the "two black devils" purchased by General Li could indeed have been black slaves. However, the claim that "they gave birth to a white child" might be true, but the assertion that "their bones were entirely black" is likely mere hearsay. In Zhao Yi's "Miscellaneous Notes from the Eaves," under the entry on "various barbarians," this tale directly changes "black devils" to "black slaves."