Original Text
In Nanyang, the E family was plagued by a fox spirit; their gold, silver, and household items were frequently stolen, and if they offended it, the calamity became even worse. The E family had a nephew named Ji Sheng, a renowned scholar of unrestrained and heroic character. He burned incense and prayed, attempting to plead with the fox on behalf of the E family to cease its mischief, but to no avail. He then begged the fox to leave his maternal grandfather's home and come to his own house to cause trouble, but the fox refused. Everyone mocked Ji Sheng, who said, "Since the fox can transform into human form, it must possess a human heart. I will surely guide it and help it attain true enlightenment." Thereafter, he visited every few days to pray to the fox. Though not entirely effective, whenever Ji Sheng came, the fox ceased its harassment. Thus, the E family often invited Ji Sheng to stay overnight. At night, he would gaze at the stars and beg to see the fox, his entreaties growing more earnest. One day, Ji Sheng returned home and sat alone in his study when suddenly the door slowly opened by itself. Ji Sheng stood up, bowed, and said, "Is it Brother Fox who has come?" Yet all was silent. Another night, the door opened again. Ji Sheng said, "If Brother Fox has deigned to visit, I, a humble scholar, have long prayed for an audience; why not reveal yourself and meet me?" But still, there was silence. On his desk were two hundred coins, which were missing by dawn. That evening, Ji Sheng added several hundred more coins. At midnight, he heard the cloth curtain rustle. Ji Sheng said, "Is it Brother Fox? I have prepared several hundred coins for your use. Though I am not wealthy, I am not a miser. If you truly need money, why not speak plainly instead of stealing?" After a moment, he saw that two hundred coins had been taken. He left the rest in place, and for several nights, nothing was lost. A cooked chicken, intended for a guest, also disappeared. That night, Ji Sheng added wine, and from then on, the fox vanished. Yet the fox still plagued the E family. Ji Sheng went again to pray, saying, "I set out money and you did not take it; I laid out wine and you did not drink. My maternal grandfather is old and frail; do not constantly haunt his home. I have prepared some humble offerings; tonight, take them as you please." He placed ten thousand coins, a jar of wine, and two chickens sliced thin on a table. Ji Sheng slept beside the table, but all night there was no disturbance; the money and food remained untouched, and the fox was never seen again.
One day, Ji Sheng returned home late and opened the door to his study, only to find on the table a flagon of wine, a full platter of roasted chicken, and four hundred cash strung together with red thread—the very items that had been lost some days before. He knew this was the fox's repayment. He sniffed the wine and found it fragrant; upon pouring it out, he saw it was emerald green, and it tasted rich and mellow. Having drained the flagon, he grew somewhat tipsy and felt a sudden surge of greed within his heart, an impulse to turn thief, so he opened the door and went out. He recalled a wealthy man in the village and made his way there, intending to scale the wall. Though the wall was high, he leaped up and down with ease, as if he had grown wings. He broke into the house, stole a sable coat and a golden tripod, then fled back home, placing the loot by his bedside before lying down to sleep. At dawn, Ji Sheng brought the items into the inner chamber. His wife, startled, asked what had happened; Ji Sheng answered vaguely, a pleased expression on his face. His wife cried in alarm, "Husband, you have always been upright—how could you suddenly turn to thievery?" Ji Sheng, utterly unconcerned, saw nothing strange in it and even remarked that the fox was most gracious. His wife suddenly understood and said, "This must be the fox's poison in the wine!" She recalled that cinnabar could ward off evil, so she ground some into powder, mixed it with wine, and made Ji Sheng drink it. After a while, Ji Sheng suddenly cried out, "How could I have become a thief!" His wife then explained the cause of his thievery, and Ji Sheng, bewildered and at a loss, knew not what to do. Word of the wealthy man's burglary had already spread through the village. Ji Sheng could not eat all day, unsure how to dispose of the stolen goods. His wife devised a plan for him to throw the items back over the wealthy man's wall under cover of night. Ji Sheng followed her advice. When the wealthy man saw his stolen goods returned of their own accord, the matter was thus laid to rest.
In the annual examination, Scholar Ji achieved the highest honors and was also recommended for his exemplary conduct, deserving of double rewards. On the day the results were posted, a note was found stuck to a beam in the government office, reading: "This Ji once committed theft, stealing a sable fur coat and a golden tripod from a certain household—how can he be deemed virtuous?" The beam was so high that no ordinary person could have reached it on tiptoe to affix the note. The chief examiner, greatly puzzled, asked Ji about the matter. Startled, Ji realized that no one but his wife knew of this affair, and given the strict security of the government office, how could the note have appeared there? He then understood and said, "This must be the work of a fox." Without concealment, he recounted the entire story in detail, and the examiner still granted him generous rewards and gifts. Ji often thought to himself: I have not offended the fox, yet it repeatedly plots against me—perhaps it is because a petty man feels ashamed to be the only one of his kind.
The Chronicler of the Strange remarks: Scholar Ji originally sought to lead the wicked toward righteousness, yet instead found himself bewitched by the cunning fox. The fox’s intent was not necessarily to commit great evil; perhaps, because Ji teased it with playful methods, it responded in kind, mocking him with similar tricks. But had Ji not been naturally endowed with spiritual insight and blessed with a virtuous wife at home, he would have nearly fallen into the same despair as the widow and her family in the tale of Yuan She of the Western Han—once violated by bandits, they abandoned all self-respect. Alas, how dreadful!
Wu Muxin said: "During the Kangxi reign in the year of Jiaxu, a provincial graduate took up the post of county magistrate in Zhejiang and proceeded to inspect the prisoners in the jail. Among them was a thief who had already been tattooed with the character for theft, and according to custom, he should have been released and set free. But the magistrate, disliking that the character 'qie' was written in a simplified, vulgar form rather than the official orthodox character, ordered the tattoo to be scraped off. After the wound healed, he had the thief retattooed with the character 'qie' following the exact strokes from the dictionary. The thief then spontaneously recited a poem: 'Holding a mirror to look closely, fresh blood stains the old scars. Had I known the face would suffer such pain again, I would have first guarded against literate officials when stealing.' The jailer mocked him, saying: 'Why do you, a poet, not seek scholarly honors but instead turn to thievery?' The thief recited another poem in reply: 'In youth I studied the Way, aspiring to fame and rank, but poverty ruined my life. Hoping to gain capital to lend at interest, I roamed the markets of Yan to win favor and glory.' From this, it can be seen that a scholar turning to banditry is also seeking fame and fortune. The fox taught Ji Sheng the means to advance his ambitions, yet he later regretted it, thinking he had been misled by the fox—how pedantic! A laugh."
Commentary
This story consists of two parts: the main text and an appendix. In the main text, Scholar Ji intends to influence and reform a fox according to human moral standards, but ends up drinking poisoned wine and nearly being influenced and reformed by the fox instead. Pu Songling concludes that one must be cautious when associating with petty individuals, lest one fall into their ways. The appendix is a joke told by Pu Songling's friend Wu Muxin.
Under normal circumstances, the "appended remarks" in Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio often follow the main text by category, serving merely as an adjunct without any connection in plot. However, the "appended remarks" in the tale of Ji Sheng extend from one point to another, linking in the commentary to the main text's plot—that is, providing another perspective for understanding the fox's behavior in the main narrative—while incidentally satirizing the bribery and the buying and selling of official positions in the imperial examination system, thereby unifying the "main text" and the "appended remarks" into a cohesive whole, which can be regarded as an innovation in the structure of Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio.