Original Text
Yin Yuanli was a native of Yunnan, skilled in acupuncture and moxibustion. Once, encountering a bandit uprising, he fled deep into the mountains. As dusk fell and the nearest village was still far off, he feared encountering tigers and wolves. Seeing two figures on the road ahead, he hurried to catch up. When he reached them, they asked where he had come from, and Yin Yuanli gave his name and native place. Upon hearing this, the two bowed respectfully and said, "So it is the renowned physician Mr. Yin—we have long admired your name!" Yin Yuanli then asked their names. They said their surname was Ban, one called Ban Zhao and the other Ban Ya. "Mr. Yin," they said, "we too are fleeing the chaos. There is a stone chamber where we can take shelter; pray come to our home, for we have a favor to ask of you." Yin Yuanli gladly followed them. Before long, they arrived at a place where a stone chamber stood beside a deep ravine beneath a cliff. They lit some firewood to serve as a candle, and Yin Yuanli saw that the two Bans were fierce in appearance and stature, not seeming like honest folk. But having nowhere else to go, he resigned himself to his fate. He heard someone groaning on a bed and, looking closely, saw an old woman lying stiffly as if in great pain. He asked, "What ails her?" Ban Ya replied, "It is for this very reason that we humbly beg your treatment." Saying this, he lit a torch to illuminate the bed and invited Yin Yuanli to examine her. He saw two tumors, each the size of a bowl, below her nose and at the corners of her mouth. "They hurt so much she dares not touch them," Ban Ya said, "and they hinder her eating." Yin Yuanli said, "This ailment is easy to cure." He took out some moxa cones and applied moxibustion several dozen times, then said, "She will be well by tomorrow night." The two Bans were delighted and roasted venison to entertain Yin Yuanli, having no wine or grain, only this meat. Ban Zhao said, "In our haste we did not know a guest was coming; pray do not blame us for our poor hospitality." After eating his fill of venison, Yin Yuanli went to sleep, using a stone as a pillow. Though the two Bans were honest and simple, they were rough and boorish, inspiring fear, so Yin Yuanli tossed and turned, unable to sleep soundly. Before dawn, he woke the old woman and asked how she fared. Just awake, she felt her face and found the tumors had burst, leaving two sores. Yin Yuanli urged the two Bans to rise, lit a torch to examine the wounds, applied medicinal powder, and said, "It is healed." Then, clasping his hands in farewell, he took his leave. The two Bans gave him a roasted venison haunch to take with him.
For three years thereafter, no news came. Yin Yuanli once had to venture into the mountains on business when he encountered two wolves blocking his path, preventing him from advancing. The sun was already slanting westward when another pack of wolves arrived, leaving Yin Yuanli besieged from front and rear. The wolves lunged at him, knocked him to the ground, and several fought over biting him, tearing his clothes to shreds. Yin Yuanli thought he would surely be devoured. Suddenly, two tigers charged forth, scattering the wolf pack in terror. The tigers roared in fury, and the wolves, utterly cowed, prostrated themselves on the ground. The tigers slew every last wolf, then departed. Yin Yuanli stumbled onward in distress, fearing he had no place to lodge. He met an old woman approaching, who, seeing his sorry state, said, "Master Yin has suffered much!" Yin Yuanli, with a woeful countenance, recounted his ordeal and asked how she knew him. The old woman replied, "I am the old sick woman whose tumor you treated with acupuncture in that stone chamber." Yin Yuanli then realized the truth and begged to stay at her home for the night. She led him into a courtyard where a lamp was already lit. The old woman said, "I have been awaiting you for a long time." So saying, she brought out a robe and trousers for Yin Yuanli to replace his tattered garments. Then she laid out wine and dishes, earnestly urging him to drink. She herself drank from an earthen bowl, speaking and drinking with a boldness unlike ordinary women. Yin Yuanli asked, "The two men from before—what relation are they to you, madam? Why are they not seen?" The old woman said, "I sent my two sons to welcome you, but they have not yet returned; they must have lost their way." Moved by her kindness, Yin Yuanli drank freely, and before he knew it, he was drunk, falling into a deep sleep at the table. When he awoke, dawn had broken, and looking around, he found the house had vanished; he sat alone on a rocky crag. He heard a sound like an ox panting from below the cliff, and drawing near, saw a tiger still asleep, with two scars at the corners of its mouth, each as large as a fist. Yin Yuanli was terrified, fearing the tiger might wake, and so he crept away unnoticed. Only then did he realize that the two tigers were none other than Erban.
Commentary
This is a fairy tale about tigers.
The physician Yin Yuanli, while traveling by night, feared encountering a tiger, yet twice he did encounter tigers, and even used acupuncture to cure one of its ailments. However, the tiger never revealed its true form, and Yin Yuanli believed all along that he was dealing with humans; it was only at the tale's conclusion that Yin Yuanli suddenly realized that the beings he met on his nocturnal journey were tigers he had healed.
Writing about the extraordinary encounter between humans and tigers, where the tiger remembers kindness and repays it, is not uncommon in classical Chinese tales. The brilliance of this story lies, first, in its structure: it does not simply narrate how the tiger repaid the favor, nor does it have the tiger immediately reveal its identity after rescuing Yin Yuanli from a wolf attack three years later. Instead, it describes how "the tiger killed all the wolves and then departed." Only after Yin Yuanli is treated by a patient and dawn breaks does he discover the truth, making the narrative twisty and intriguing. Second, the tiger in the story always acts in human form while retaining the temperament and traits of a tiger. This is true for Er Ban and also for their mother. He Yin, a commentator on "Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio," remarked, "A tiger's repayment of a debt of gratitude is just like a human's, but it cannot avoid being somewhat rough and boorish," which captures the essence of the matter.