Whose Strange Stories? P'u Sung-ling (1640 - East Asian History

32
"When out of all my bones she had sucked
the marrow." (Baudelaire)
I had observed that intercourse with women
distinctly aggravated my health. (Rousseau)
A woman who has learned this secret [of
nursing her own potency by absorbing the
man's YangJ will feed on her copulations
with men, so that she will prolong her span
of life and not grow old, but always remain
like a young girl. (Secret Instructions)
These four words, "Turn love into hate,"
constitute a veritable Book of life. (Feng)
Jttlii{;J1.gJG' 0 ( 00)
It is true that she had no intention of doing so:
but with even the best intentions. love can lead
to illness and death. Unbridled lust can kill
even in a harmonious marriage. (Tan)
Miss lien·hsiang was here speaking without
book, as will be seen in a story later on. (Giles)
6 The female principle. In a properly·constituted
human being the male and female principles are
harmoniously combined. Nothing short of a small
volume would place this subject, the basis of Chinese
metaphysics, in a clear light before the uninitiated
reader. Broadly speaking, the yin and the yang are
the two primeval forces from the inter·action of
which all things have been evolved. (Giles)
Originally neither foxes nor ghosts hurt mortals:
mortals hurt themselves. (Tan)
This sums up the entire preceding section. It
also harks back to the original "jest." (Tan)
Possession can be of three types: by illdisposed
human spirits, by demons and by
elementals. However, possession can only
take place if the vibration of the victim is
identical with its own [i.e. that of the "possessor"J.
In other words, the person must
himself have a predisposition to hurt. (Wilson)
JOHN MINFORD AND TONG MAN
at once Miss Li walked in, but when she saw
Lien-hsiang she turned back as though she
would run away, which Lien-hsiang instantly
prevented by placing herself in the doorway.
Sang then began to reproach her, and Miss Li
could make no reply; whereupon Lien-hsiang
said, "At last we meet. Formerly you attributed
this gentleman's illness to me; what have you to
say now?" Miss Li bent her head in acknowledgment
of her guilt, and Lien-hsiang continued,
"How is it that a nice girl like you can thus turn
love into hate?" Here Miss Li threw herself on the
ground in a flood of tears and begged for mercy;
and Lien-hsiang, raising her up, inquired of her
as to her past life. "I am a daughter of a petty
official named Li, and I died young, and was
buried outside the wall [of this house 1, leaving
the web of my destiny incomplete, like the
silkworm that perishes in the spring. To be the
partner of this gentleman was my ardent wish;
but I had never any intention of causing his
death." "I have heard," remarked Lien-hsiang,
"that the advantage devils obtain by killing
people is that their victims are ever with them
after death. Is this so? " "It is not," replied Miss
Li; "the companionship of two devils gives no
pleasure to either. Were it otherwise, I should
not have wanted for friends [young men 1 in the
realms below. [ "How foolish you are!" said Lienhsiang,
"To couple night after night with a human
is too much for any mortal. How much more so
must it be with aghast!" 1 But tell me, [asked Miss
Li,] how do foxes manage not to kill people
[Faxes can cause men to die; by what skill are you
able to avoid doing so ]?" "You allude to such
foxes as suck the breath out of people?" replied
Lien-hsiang; "I am not of that c1ass.5 Some foxes
are harmless; no devils are, because of the
dominance of the yin 6 in their compositions."
Sang now knew that these two girls were really
a fox and a devil; however, from being long
accustomed to their society, he was not in the
least alarmed. His breathing had dwindled to a
mere thread, and at length he uttered a cry of
pain.
Certificate qf good conduct
sent to the ruler of Hades
(Dare)