Original Text
On Lake Dongting, it often happened that the Water God would borrow a boat; whenever an empty vessel was encountered, its mooring rope would suddenly untie of its own accord, and the boat would drift along as if floating on air. One could only hear celestial music playing in unison from the sky, while the boatman crouched in a corner, eyes shut, listening intently, not daring to lift his head or gaze about, letting the boat wander as it pleased; when the journey was complete, the boat would still come to rest in its original place.
There was a scholar surnamed Liu who, having failed the imperial examinations, returned home drunk and lay sleeping in a boat. Suddenly, the sound of pipes and drums arose mightily; the boatman shook Liu but could not wake him, so he hid beneath the vessel. After a while, someone came to drag Liu, but he was so deeply intoxicated that he fell to the deck and remained asleep, so the person left him alone. Before long, the clamor of drums and music grew deafening, and Liu half-awoke, perceiving the entire boat filled with the fragrance of orchids and musk. Glancing sidelong, he saw the boat crowded with beautiful women. Knowing in his heart that he had encountered something extraordinary, he feigned sleep. Shortly, he heard a summons for "Zhicheng," and immediately a maidservant approached, standing by Liu's cheek, wearing emerald stockings and purple shoes, her feet as delicate as fingers. Liu took a liking to her and secretly bit her stocking with his teeth. In a moment, as the maid moved, she was tripped by Liu and fell onto the boat. The person seated above asked what had happened, and she explained the cause. The one above grew very angry and ordered Liu to be beheaded at once. Warriors entered, bound Liu, and as he looked up, he saw a figure seated facing south, dressed like a monarch. Liu said as he was led away, "I have heard that the Lord of Dongting Lake is surnamed Liu, and I am also surnamed Liu; he failed the examinations in his time, and I have also failed; he met a dragon princess and became an immortal, but today I, drunk, teased a maid and am to be executed—why is fortune and misfortune so vastly different?" Hearing this, the king called him back and asked, "Are you a failed scholar?" Liu replied that he was. The king then handed him brush and paper and ordered him to compose a rhapsody on the theme "Wind-tossed hair and misty tresses." Liu was originally a renowned scholar of Xiangyang, but his thoughts were slow, and he paused long with brush in hand. The king mocked him, saying, "How can a famous scholar be like this?" Liu set down the brush and stated, "In former times, Zuo Si took ten years to complete his 'Rhapsody on the Three Capitals,' thus it is clear that writing values excellence, not speed." The king smiled at this. Liu wrote from morning until noon before finishing the draft. When the king read it, he was greatly delighted and said, "Truly a famous scholar!" He then bestowed wine upon Liu, and soon the table was piled with fine delicacies. As they conversed, a minor official entered with a register and reported, "The list of those destined to drown is prepared." The king asked, "How many in total?" The official replied, "One hundred and twenty-eight." The king asked, "Who is to carry this out?" The official answered, "The two commandants, Mao and Nan." Liu rose to take his leave, and the king presented him with ten catties of gold and a crystal ruler, saying, "When calamity befalls the lake, holding this will allow you to avoid it." Suddenly, carriages, canopies, horsemen, and figures appeared standing upon the water; the king descended from the boat, mounted his carriage, and vanished. After a long time, the lake returned to calm.
Only then did the boatman crawl out from beneath the vessel, rowing northward, but the headwind made progress difficult. Suddenly, a great iron cat emerged from the water, and the boatman cried out in terror, "The General Mao has appeared!" All the merchants on the other boats prostrated themselves. Not long after, a wooden pole rose straight up from the lake, bobbing up and down, and the boatman, even more frightened, exclaimed, "The General Nan has come forth as well!" In a short while, monstrous waves surged across the lake, blotting out the sky and the sun, and in an instant, every boat on the water capsized. Liu Sheng, holding aloft his crystal ruler, sat upright and solemn in his boat; though the towering waves crashed around him, they subsided at his vessel's edge, and thus he alone was spared.
When Liu Sheng returned home, he often recounted this strange event to others, saying that the maid on the boat, though he had not clearly seen her face, the small feet beneath her skirt were unmatched in the mortal world. Later, Liu Sheng went to Wuchang on business, where an old woman named Cui was selling her daughter, refusing even a thousand taels of silver, and she kept a crystal ruler at home, declaring that she would marry her daughter to anyone who could produce a matching ruler. Liu Sheng was astonished and went to see her with the ruler in his bosom. The old woman joyfully welcomed him and called her daughter out to meet him; she was about fifteen or sixteen, exquisitely charming and incomparably beautiful. She made a slight bow to Liu Sheng and then turned back into the curtain. At the sight of her, Liu Sheng's heart fluttered and his soul was stirred, and he said, "I also have a crystal ruler; I wonder if it matches the one in your esteemed household?" They then brought out both rulers and compared them, finding them exactly the same in length without the slightest difference. The old woman was delighted and asked where Liu Sheng lived, urging him to prepare a carriage to fetch the bride, leaving the ruler as a pledge. Liu Sheng was reluctant to leave the ruler. The old woman laughed and said, "Sir, you are too cautious! Do you think I would flee over a mere ruler?" Liu Sheng had no choice but to leave it. When he left the old woman's house, he hastily hired a carriage and rushed back, only to find the house empty. Greatly alarmed, he inquired among the neighbors, but none knew anything. As the sun was setting, Liu Sheng, dejected and gloomy, turned back. On the road, he encountered a carriage coming toward him; suddenly, someone lifted the curtain and said, "Why are you so late, Master Liu?" Liu Sheng looked and saw it was the old woman Cui. Joyfully, he asked, "Where are you going?" The old woman smiled and said, "You must have thought I was a swindler. After we parted, a convenient carriage came by, and I thought you were also a traveler from afar, so I sent my daughter back to your boat." Liu Sheng invited her to turn back with him, but she adamantly refused. Uneasy and uncertain whether to believe her, Liu Sheng hurried to his boat and indeed found the Cui girl and a maid already there. The girl smiled and greeted him as he approached. Seeing her emerald stockings and purple shoes, exactly like those of the maid he had seen on the boat attending the Lord of Dongting, he was puzzled and paced around, staring at her. The girl laughed and said, "Why stare so intently? Have you never seen me before?" Liu Sheng bent down to look closely and saw the tooth marks he had left on the back of her stocking still there. Startled, he exclaimed, "Are you Zhicheng?" The girl covered her mouth and smiled. Liu Sheng bowed deeply and said, "You are indeed a celestial maiden; please tell me the truth at once, to dispel the doubts and worries in my heart." Zhicheng said, "To tell you the truth: the person you met on the boat last time was the Lord of Dongting. He admired your great talent and wished to give me to you, but I was favored by the Princess, so he returned to consult with her first. My coming now is by the Princess's command." Overjoyed, Liu Sheng washed his hands, burned incense, and bowed toward the lake before returning home.
Later, Scholar Liu went to Wuchang, and Zhicheng insisted on accompanying him, taking the opportunity to visit her family home. When they reached Dongting Lake, Zhicheng plucked a hairpin from her head and cast it into the water. Suddenly, a small boat emerged from the lake, and Zhicheng leaped aboard as nimbly as a bird alighting on a tree, vanishing in the blink of an eye. Scholar Liu sat at the prow of the boat, staring fixedly at the spot where Zhicheng had disappeared. In the distance, a large pleasure boat approached, and as it drew near, its window opened. All at once, something like a multicolored bird flew past—it was Zhicheng returning. Someone from within the window handed out a great many gold, silver, and precious jewels, all gifts from the princess. From then on, Scholar Liu and Zhicheng made it a custom to pay homage once or twice each year. Thus, Scholar Liu’s household possessed many rare treasures, and whenever he brought out one, it was something that even the great aristocratic families had never seen.
It is said that during the Tang dynasty, the scholar Liu Yi encountered the Dragon Princess, and the Lord of Dongting Lake took him as his son-in-law, later even bequeathing the throne to him. However, because Liu Yi’s appearance was gentle and refined, unable to intimidate the water demons, the Lord of Dongting gave him a ghost mask to wear by day and remove by night. Over time, Liu Yi grew so accustomed to it that he forgot to take it off, and eventually the mask fused with his face; when he looked in the mirror, he felt deep shame and distress. Thus, whenever travelers on boats pointed at something, Liu Yi would suspect they were pointing at him, and if they shaded their eyes with a hand, he would think they were staring at him. At such times, storms would rise on the lake, and most boats would sink. Therefore, those boarding a vessel for the first time were warned of these taboos by the boatmen; otherwise, they would have to slaughter a beast and offer sacrifices to the Lake Lord to safely cross. One day, the Immortal Xu Zhenjun happened upon Dongting Lake but was blocked by the winds and waves and could not proceed. Enraged, he ordered Liu Yi seized and imprisoned in the prefectural jail. When the jailer checked the prisoners, he often found one extra man, though he could not fathom the reason. One night, Liu Yi appeared in a dream to the prefect, pleading earnestly for deliverance. The prefect declined, saying that the realms of men and spirits were separate. Liu Yi replied, “The Immortal will arrive in your domain on a certain day; if you beseech him on my behalf, I shall surely be freed.” Soon after, Xu Zhenjun indeed came, and the prefect interceded for Liu Yi, who was then released. From that time onward, the taboos on the lake were lifted, and the winds and waves grew much calmer.
Commentary
Although this piece is not particularly outstanding in terms of its conceptual intent, and may even be regarded as merely an imitation of Tang dynasty chuanqi tales, it can nonetheless be seen as a typical example of the thematic creation found in Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio. That is to say, the story is generally a fusion of folk legends, records from earlier texts, and Pu Songling's own inventive imagination, with the proportions of these three elements varying from tale to tale.
The opening of this tale introduces the legend of the Water God borrowing a boat on Lake Dongting, and its conclusion speaks of the lake's stormy prohibitions, using these legends as the story's framework; interspersed within are tales of General Mao and General Nan's flood disasters, and then, borrowing and paralleling characters and plots from the Tang dynasty romance "The Tale of Liu Yi," the author narrates a romantic love story between a scholar named Liu Sheng and a dragon princess known as the Weaver. The so-called "failed scholar," who, upon composing the line "wind-tossed hair and mist-drenched tresses," receives the praise and favor of Liu Yi as a "true man of letters," all bears Pu Songling's unique complex.
Modern readers, upon encountering the passage where Liu Sheng, aboard a boat, observes Zhicheng's "delicate feet close to his cheek, adorned with green socks and purple shoes, slender as fingers, and, captivated by their charm, secretly nibbles at her sock with his teeth," and later, after disembarking, recounts his extraordinary encounter to others, still fixated on Zhicheng's "tiny arched feet beneath her skirt, unmatched in the mortal world," may find themselves perplexed; yet, if one were to travel back in time to the Ming and Qing dynasties and comprehend the sexual inclinations of the literati toward women in that era, a measure of understanding would dawn. Such descriptions also appear in the tale "Lian Suo" from the third volume of Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, for instance: "Wishing to glimpse her tiny feet beneath the skirt, the maiden lowered her head with a smile and said, 'You reckless scholar, how importunate you are!' Yang then toyed with them, and beheld her moonlit brocade socks, bound with a single strand of colored thread."