Releasing Quail, Extending Longevity 放鶉延壽

When Cai Yuanchang (i.e., Cai Jing 蔡京, 1047-1126 CE)[1] held power, he ate quail at every celebration. One evening, he dreamt that a yellow-robed old person said: “In the coming days you are to suffer murder; hopefully the gentleman may be spared this fate.” Cai asked: “What kind of person are you?” They then recited verses:

Several grains of millet could feed the gentleman;

Only meat in the congee can fill the gentleman.

For one congee several lives are cut short;

Putting down his chopsticks these are still not enough.

On the moments between mouth and stomach;

Fate and fortune are together dependent.

Wishing to warn the gentleman not to kill;

Life and death spin as if on a wheel.

He awoke and marvelled at this, making enquiries to those who prepared meals, acquiring several dozen yellow quails and releasing them. During the night he again dreamt of the yellow-robed old person, who said: “I am aware that the gentleman fulfilled the prayer, and has already saved lives. The Heavenly Emperor has now granted an extension to the gentleman’s lifespan.” Cai indeed subsequently enjoyed a long life before he passed away.

Anon., Huhai xinwen yijian xuzhi, 前2.114 (Tale 199):




[1] On Cai Jing 蔡京, courtesy name Yuanchang 元長 (who died after banishment at a relatively advanced age) see and the brilliant article by Charles Hartman, ‘A Textual History of Cai Jing’s Biography in the “Songshi”’, in  Emperor Huizong and Late Northern Song China: The Politics of Culture and the Culture of Politics (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2006), pp. 517-64.

A Fox Called Duke of the Spirits 狐稱鬼公

In Xixiang, Pucheng County, there was a powerful spirit, proved effective in many affairs, that called itself Duke of the Spirits; after several decades, near and far all strove to approach it. It happened that one Wan Tu, who tended pigs for a living, stretched a small net across a mountain path and a fox fell into this. It suddenly spoke with a human voice, saying: “I am the Spirit Duke of Xixiang; I hope [you] will spare my life, for which there will be a generous reward.” Tu then released and turned it free. The next night, at lamp-lighting time, two hens and a great many guanhui notes were tossed into his compound. Before many days had passed, he again fell into the hands of a human forester, and once more spoke in supplication: “I was once caught by Wan Tu, and he, having released me, has been thanked most generously. If I am returned alive your reward will be rich.” The man having no trust in this, he ‘placed him on the field of death’. Several days later, a troupe of foxes surrounded [the forester’s] house seeking and searching, soon after, a single fox torched the dwelling and departed.

Anon., Jin Xin 金心 (ed.), Huhai xinwen yijian xuzhi 湖海新聞夷堅續志, 2.249:




A Soul Beheads People 斬人魂魄










Nie Yinniang 聶隱娘








Taken from the Chuanqi 傳奇.[1]








Repay Injustice, Settle A Dispute 冤報解和








Freed Turtles Repay Benevolence 放鼈報恩

Ye Sanda was a first-placed examination candidate from Huaixiang. Someone presented him with a large soft-shelled turtle, and he dropped it into the river. Several days later it came back; he inspected it carefully and it was indeed the turtle he had released those few days before, so he pricked the character ‘Buddha’ on its belly and released it below the Jichuan Bridge. In the renzi year, it was decreed that father and son present themselves together for the prefectural examinations. Suddenly a flood overtook them, and their boat passed the Jinshui Beach and spun round and round. Soon after it stopped, as if the boat was held steady by something. On reaching a calmer flow, the soft-shelled turtle showed its ‘Buddha’ character, and he then realized that this was the turtle he had released. That night, he dreamed that a black-robed old woman addressed him: “Your son Xuan will triumph in the prefectural examinations this autumn.” That same year it did come to pass.

Cheng Yuanzhang came from Youting in Wuyuan. Together with his wife he had a great liking for soft-shelled turtle, and ordered their servant girl Mei Xiang to cook the delicacy. None of it tasted quite right, however, so he whipped her. She once obtained a large one, over a chi (33cm) long, and had just grasped the knife to slaughter it, when she saw it stretch and contract, shivering in terror. Unable to bear it, she pointed to it and said: “I normally cook turtles, and must still suffer beatings. I am about to release you alive, despite facing one more battering.” She then untied it, placing it in the pond behind their residence. This pool was broad and its water had never once dried up. Cheng and his wife, because the turtle had been so large and promised such satisfaction and fullness, grew extremely angry at its loss, and gave the serving girl several dozen lashes. After two years had passed, the serving girl fell developed a fever and then a mania, rushing about recklessly, confused and dazed. The family realised that she could not be cured, and so carried her into [120] the pavilion on the pond, to await her death. The next day, as dawn broke, someone knocked at the back door of the residence; thinking it must be a spirit, they shouted at it to go away. She then said: “I am Mei Xiang; I beg to be allowed to go home.” They opened the gate and it was indeed her. Asked what had happened, she said: “At midnight I seemed to see a strange thing, which netted my body in damp mud and straw, spinning around thirty or forty times, awakening my mind and heart and leaving it open and clear, cooling and refreshing my four limbs and removing all pain. The next thing I knew, I was alone in the pavilion.” The Chengs did not believe this. They waited until dusk, then sent her back to lie down like the previous day and spied on her in secret. They watched as a huge soft-shelled turtle emerged e pond, its body covered in algae and duckweed. The Chengs could not understand the matter, so the maid recounted her release of the turtle from beginning to end, telling of how it had grown so much larger from its beginnings until that point, and looked at how the hole left behind by its tail had persisted. At that, the pond dried up and they caught it and carried it to a deeper pool. The entire Cheng family abstained and never ate it again. A famous physician once said: “In a case of extreme fever, where death seems impossible to avert, draw fresh water and soak the upper and lower clothes together as a fine treatment.” This is not to say that the smaller types of aquatic creatures could do this, too; this was provoked by a secret moral act.

Anon., Huhai xinwen yijian xuzhi, 前2.119-20 (Tale 208):




程元章，婺源遊汀人。與妻皆嗜食團魚，令婢梅香主庖饌，每滋味不適口即撻之。嘗得一大者，長尺餘，方操刀欲屠，睹其伸縮顫悸，為之不忍，指而與言：「我尋常烹煮，必遭杖責。今放汝不殺，亦不過痛打一頓。」遂解縛置於舍後污池中。池廣水亦未嘗竭。程夫婦以鼈肥大，可滿意飫饜之。既失之，怒甚，杖婢數十。經二年，婢發熱疾發狂，奔躁昏憒，家人知其不可療，舁入 [120] 池上茅亭以待終。明日，天明曉，有扣宅後門扉者，謂為鬼物，叱去之。乃言：「我是梅香，病已無事，乞令歸家。」啟閽信然。問其故，對曰：「半夜髣髴見一異物，將溼泥草遍罨我身上，環繞三四十匝，便覺心下開豁，四肢清涼，全無所苦，始知獨在亭上。」程氏未以為然。迨暮復使往，如昨日偃臥，而密伺察之。見巨鼈自池御水藻浮萍遮覆其體。程氏不省此事，婢詳述放鼈之首末，云今比昔日，其大倍加，視尾後穿竅猶存。於是涸池取得之，因送諸深潭。程舉家戒不復食。嘗有名醫云：「熱證之極，卒未可解者，汲新水浸衣裳互熨之為妙。」不謂水族細類亦能如此，蓋陰德所招故也。


Saving Flies Averts Death 救蠅免死

Long ago in the capital was a master winemaker; every day flies would fall into his water and wine and he used pieces of dry ash to save and revive them. After several years like this, those lives saved were extremely numerous. One day, his having been implicated in a crime, the presiding officials wished to execute him, and the office clerk took up his brush to write out the judgement, when a fly took hold of the brush head. He drove it away and dipped the brush again, but it happened once more. In the beginning they thought it a coincidence, but after the third and fourth time began to suspect that there might be some injustice, so questioned and investigated anew. They had not yet made their decision when an amnesty was suddenly announced, so he was pardoned and returned. That fly, the smallest of insects, has little knowledge or dedication, [119] but the creator of things employed it purely in order to reward the winemaker’s good heart.

Anon, Huhai xinwen yijian xuzhi, 前2.118-19 (tale 206):


昔日京師有一酒匠，每日於酒及水內浸死蠅，用乾灰救之即生，如此數年，所活者甚多。一日，偶被罪，當官欲行刑，府官執筆書判，有一蠅抱筆頭，逐去之，再點筆，復如是。初以為偶然，其至三四次，疑有冤抑，再閱審問，未決間，忽遇大赦，得免罪而還。夫蠅至微之蟲，何識而致， [119] 不過造物用之，以報酒匠之善心耳。


A Sheep Baas and Begs for its Life 羊鳴乞命

When Han Zhongxian was magistrate of Xiangzhou, he went out to make offerings for the Cold Food Festival, and the cook drove out several sheep intending to slaughter them. One of the sheep inside ran out, kneeled in front of the gentleman and baaed, not moving for a long time, as if it was presenting an appeal. The gentleman questioned it: “You are begging for your life, aren’t you? I understand.” The sheep baaed and knelt again, as if bowing in gratitude. The gentleman then personally wrote out a tablet, reading ‘long-lived sheep’, and hung this from its neck, ordering that it not be slaughtered. The gentleman abstained from mutton in his feasts and banquets.

Anon, Huhai xinwen yijian xuzhi, 前2.100 (tale 171):


