Chinese Fairy Tales and Fantasies (Pantheon Fairy Tale and Folklore Library) by Moss Roberts
Authors: Moss Roberts
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The philosopher Yang Chu had a younger brother named Pu. One day Pu left the house wearing white clothes. A storm came up and soaked them, so he changed into some dark ones. When he returned home, his dog did not recognize him and barked furiously. Pu was angry and raised his arm to beat the dog, when his older brother said, “Don’t hit him. Would you recognize your dog if he went off white and came home black?”
—
Lieh Tzu
The Dog Goes to Court
In the fall of the year a traveler was riding home from a business trip with five or six hundred pieces of silver. In a county called Chungmou he dismounted from his mule and sat by the roadside to rest. A young man with a long pole on which he was carrying a dog sat down beside him.
The dog whimpered piteously at the merchant as if begging for his freedom, so the traveler bought the dog from the youth and set it loose. Meanwhile the young man noticed that the merchant’s sack was heavily loaded. He quietly followed the traveler to a deserted spot, where he beat him to death with the pole. He dragged the body to a small bridge that crossed a stream, covered the corpse with sand and reeds, shouldered the sack, and left.
Seeing the stranger dead, the dog kept out of sight but trailed the youth home. He took note of the place and left, running all the way to the county courthouse. It happened that the judge was opening the day’s sessions, and the sergeants-at-arms were in position, strict and severe. The dog dashed forward and made a great outcry, half moaning, half appealing. He could not be driven off.
“What’s your complaint?” asked the judge. “I’ll send an officer to follow you.” The dog led the officer to the foot of the bridge where the traveler’s body was hidden; then he barked toward the water. The officer pulled up the reeds and discovered the corpse. He reported back to the judge, but there was no way to apprehend the culprit. The dog also returned to the courthouse, wherehe barked and flung himself about. “You know who did it?” asked the judge. “I might as well send officers to follow you.”
This time the judge dispatched several men with the dog. They trailed him for seven or eight miles until they came to a house in a remote village. The dog entered it, leaped on a young man inside, and savaged him, tearing his clothes and drawing blood. The officers dragged the man to the courthouse, where he confessed and gave details of his crime. “The merchant’s silver has not been touched,” he told them, and they returned to the house for it. Inside the merchant’s sack of money they also found a document with his name and village.
The judge passed sentence on the young man and had the sack placed in the public treasury. Again the dog planted himself and barked without letup. The judge reflected, “Although the merchant is dead, his family must be alive. The sack belongs to them; that must be why the dog is barking.” So he sent his officers off to the dead man’s village. The dog followed.
When they arrived, the merchant’s family was terribly shocked to learn that he was dead. The man’s son went back with the officers to Chungmou, where the culprit had already died in jail. The judge took the sack of silver, checked it carefully, and turned it over to the son.
The dog meanwhile followed the son to Chungmou and then back again when the coffin was escorted home. And in all the hundreds of miles that they covered, the animal conducted itself like a human being.
—
Hsü Fang
The Tale of the Trusty Tiger
One morning a woodsman was walking through a bamboo grove. All of a sudden he lost his footing and fell into a tiger’s lair. Two little cubs were inside the pit, which was shaped like an upside-down bowl. Sharp, jagged stones stuck out on three sides. The front wall was smooth but well over ten feet high. It was an unbroken drop like a slide—the tiger’s pathway.
The woodsman leaped up and fell back down a
The philosopher Yang Chu had a younger brother named Pu. One day Pu left the house wearing white clothes. A storm came up and soaked them, so he changed into some dark ones. When he returned home, his dog did not recognize him and barked furiously. Pu was angry and raised his arm to beat the dog, when his older brother said, “Don’t hit him. Would you recognize your dog if he went off white and came home black?”
—
Lieh Tzu
The Dog Goes to Court
In the fall of the year a traveler was riding home from a business trip with five or six hundred pieces of silver. In a county called Chungmou he dismounted from his mule and sat by the roadside to rest. A young man with a long pole on which he was carrying a dog sat down beside him.
The dog whimpered piteously at the merchant as if begging for his freedom, so the traveler bought the dog from the youth and set it loose. Meanwhile the young man noticed that the merchant’s sack was heavily loaded. He quietly followed the traveler to a deserted spot, where he beat him to death with the pole. He dragged the body to a small bridge that crossed a stream, covered the corpse with sand and reeds, shouldered the sack, and left.
Seeing the stranger dead, the dog kept out of sight but trailed the youth home. He took note of the place and left, running all the way to the county courthouse. It happened that the judge was opening the day’s sessions, and the sergeants-at-arms were in position, strict and severe. The dog dashed forward and made a great outcry, half moaning, half appealing. He could not be driven off.
“What’s your complaint?” asked the judge. “I’ll send an officer to follow you.” The dog led the officer to the foot of the bridge where the traveler’s body was hidden; then he barked toward the water. The officer pulled up the reeds and discovered the corpse. He reported back to the judge, but there was no way to apprehend the culprit. The dog also returned to the courthouse, wherehe barked and flung himself about. “You know who did it?” asked the judge. “I might as well send officers to follow you.”
This time the judge dispatched several men with the dog. They trailed him for seven or eight miles until they came to a house in a remote village. The dog entered it, leaped on a young man inside, and savaged him, tearing his clothes and drawing blood. The officers dragged the man to the courthouse, where he confessed and gave details of his crime. “The merchant’s silver has not been touched,” he told them, and they returned to the house for it. Inside the merchant’s sack of money they also found a document with his name and village.
The judge passed sentence on the young man and had the sack placed in the public treasury. Again the dog planted himself and barked without letup. The judge reflected, “Although the merchant is dead, his family must be alive. The sack belongs to them; that must be why the dog is barking.” So he sent his officers off to the dead man’s village. The dog followed.
When they arrived, the merchant’s family was terribly shocked to learn that he was dead. The man’s son went back with the officers to Chungmou, where the culprit had already died in jail. The judge took the sack of silver, checked it carefully, and turned it over to the son.
The dog meanwhile followed the son to Chungmou and then back again when the coffin was escorted home. And in all the hundreds of miles that they covered, the animal conducted itself like a human being.
—
Hsü Fang
The Tale of the Trusty Tiger
One morning a woodsman was walking through a bamboo grove. All of a sudden he lost his footing and fell into a tiger’s lair. Two little cubs were inside the pit, which was shaped like an upside-down bowl. Sharp, jagged stones stuck out on three sides. The front wall was smooth but well over ten feet high. It was an unbroken drop like a slide—the tiger’s pathway.
The woodsman leaped up and fell back down a
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