Some Chinese Ghosts Part 6

"_The Soul of the Great Bell._"--The story of Ko-Ngai is one of the collection ent.i.tled _Pe-Hiao-Tou-Choue_, or "A Hundred Examples of Filial Piety." It is very simply told by the Chinese narrator. The scholarly French consul, P. Dabry de Thiersant, translated and published in 1877 a portion of the book, including the legend of the Bell. His translation is enriched with a number of Chinese drawings; and there is a quaint little picture of Ko-Ngai leaping into the molten metal.

"_The Story of Ming-Y._"--The singular phantom-tale upon which my work is based forms the thirty-fourth story of the famous collection _Kin-Kou-Ki-Koan_, and was first translated under the t.i.tle, "La Bacheliere du Pays de Chu," by the learned Gustave Schlegel, as an introduction to his publication (accompanied by a French version) of the curious and obscene _Mai-yu-lang-tou-tchen-hoa-koue_ (Leyden, 1877), which itself forms the seventh recital of the same work.

Schlegel, Julien, Gardner, Birch, D'Entrecolles, Remusat, Pavie, Olyphant, Grisebach, Hervey-Saint-Denys, and others, have given the Occidental world translations of eighteen stories from the _Kin-Kou-Ki-Koan_; namely, Nos. 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 14, 19, 20, 26, 27, 29, 30, 31, 34, 35, and 39. The Chinese work itself dates back to the thirteenth century; but as it forms only a collection of the most popular tales of that epoch, many of the stories selected by the Chinese editor may have had a much more ancient origin. There are forty tales in the _Kin-Kou-Ki-Koan_.

"_The Legend of Tchi-Niu._"--My authority for this tale is the following legend from the thirty-fourth chapter of the _Kan-ing-p'ien_, or "Book of Rewards and Punishments,"--a work attributed to Lao-tseu, which contains some four hundred anecdotes and traditions of the most curious kind:--

Tong-yong, who lived under the Han dynasty, was reduced to a state of extreme poverty. Having lost his father, he sold himself in order to obtain ... the wherewithal to bury him and to build him a tomb. The Master of Heaven took pity on him, and sent the G.o.ddess Tchi-Niu to him to become his wife. She wove a piece of silk for him every day until she was able to buy his freedom, after which she gave him a son, and went back to heaven.--_Julien's French Translation_, p. 119.

Lest the reader should suppose, however, that I have drawn wholly upon my own imagination for the details of the apparition, the cure, the marriage ceremony, etc., I refer him to No. XCVI. of Giles's "Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio," ent.i.tled, "A Supernatural Wife," in which he will find that my narrative is at least conformable to Chinese ideas. (This story first appeared in "Harper's Bazaar," and is republished here by permission.)

"_The Return of Yen-Tchin-King._"--There may be an involuntary anachronism in my version of this legend, which is very pithily narrated in the _Kan-ing-p'ien_. No emperor's name is cited by the homilist; and the date of the revolt seems to have been left wholly to conjecture.--Baber, in his "Memoirs," mentions one of his Mongol archers as able to bend a two-hundred-pound bow until the ears met.

"_The Tradition of the Tea-Plant._"--My authority for this bit of folklore is the brief statement published by Bretschneider in the "Chinese Recorder" for 1871:--

"A j.a.panese legend says that about A.D. 519, a Buddhist priest came to China, and, in order to dedicate his soul entirely to G.o.d, he made a vow to pa.s.s the day and night in an uninterrupted and unbroken meditation. After many years of this continual watching, he was at length so tired that he fell asleep. On awaking the following morning, he was so sorry he had broken his vow that he cut off both his eyelids and threw them upon the ground. Returning to the same place the following day he observed that each eyelid had become a shrub. This was the _tea-shrub_, unknown until that time."

Bretschneider adds that the legend in question seems not to be known to the Chinese; yet in view of the fact that Buddhism itself, with all its marvellous legends, was received by the j.a.panese from China, it is certainly probable this legend had a Chinese origin,--subsequently disguised by j.a.panese chronology. My Buddhist texts were drawn from Fernand Hu's translation of the Dhammapada, and from Leon Feer's translation from the Thibetan of the "Sutra in Forty-two Articles." An Orientalist who should condescend in a rare leisure-moment to glance at my work might also discover that I had borrowed an idea or two from the Sanscrit poet, Bhamini-Vilasa.

"_The Tale of the Porcelain-G.o.d._"--The good Pere D'Entrecolles, who first gave to Europe the secrets of Chinese porcelain-manufacture, wrote one hundred and sixty years ago:--

"The Emperors of China are, during their lifetime, the most redoubted of divinities; and they believe that nothing should ever stand in the way of their desires....

"It is related that once upon a time a certain Emperor insisted that some porcelains should be made for him according to a model which he gave. It was answered that the thing was simply impossible; but all such remonstrances only served to excite his desire more and more.... The officers charged by the demiG.o.d to supervise and hasten the work treated the workmen with great harshness. The poor wretches spent all their money, took exceeding pains, and received only blows in return. One of them, in a fit of despair, leaped into the blazing furnace, and was instantly burnt to ashes. But the porcelain that was being baked there at the time came out, they say, perfectly beautiful and to the satisfaction of the Emperor.... From that time, the unfortunate workman was regarded as a hero; and his image was made the idol which presides over the manufacture of porcelain."

It appears that D'Entrecolles mistook the statue of Pou't'ai, G.o.d of Comfort, for that of the real porcelain-deity, as Jacquemart and others observe. This error does not, however, destroy the beauty of the myth; and there is no good reason to doubt that D'Entrecolles related it as it had been told him by some of his Chinese friends at King-te-chin. The researches of Stanislas Julien and others have only tended to confirm the trustworthiness of the Catholic missionary's statements in other respects; and both Julien and Salvetat, in their admirable French rendering of the _King-te-chin-thao-lou_, "History of the Porcelains of King-te-chin" (a work which has been of the greatest service to me in the preparation of my little story), quote from his letters at considerable length, and award him the highest praise as a conscientious investigator. So far as I have been able to learn, D'Entrecolles remains the sole authority for the myth; but his affirmations in regard to other matters have withstood the severe tests of time astonishingly well; and since the Tai-ping rebellion destroyed King-te-chin and paralyzed its n.o.ble industry, the value of the French missionary's doc.u.ments and testimony has become widely recognized. In lieu of any other name for the hero of the legend, I have been obliged to retain that of Pou, or Pu,--only using it without the affix "t'ai,"--so as to distinguish it from the deity of comfort and repose.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Decorative motif]

Glossary

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GLOSSARY

ABHIDHARMA.--The metaphysics of Buddhism. Buddhist literature is cla.s.sed into three great divisions, or "baskets"; the highest of these is the Abhidharma.... According to a pa.s.sage in Spence Hardy's "Manual of Buddhism," the full comprehension of the Abhidharma is possible only for a Buddha to acquire.

CHIH.--"House"; but especially the house of the dead,--a tomb.

CHU-SHA-KIH.--The mandarin-orange.

cRAMANA.--An ascetic; one who has subdued his senses. For an interesting history of this term, see Burnouf,--"Introduction a l'histoire du Buddhisme Indien."

DAMaRI.--A peculiar chant, of somewhat licentious character, most commonly sung during the period of the Indian carnival. For an account, at once brief and entertaining, of Hindoo popular songs and hymns, see Garcin de Ta.s.sy,--"Chants populaires de l'Inde."

DOGS OF FO.--The _Dog of Fo_ is one of those fabulous monsters in the sculptural representation of which Chinese art has found its most grotesque expression. It is really an exaggerated lion; and the symbolical relation of the lion to Buddhism is well known. Statues of these mythical animals--sometimes of a grandiose and colossal execution--are placed in pairs before the entrances of temples, palaces, and tombs, as tokens of honor, and as emblems of divine protection.

FO.--Buddha is called _Fo_, _Fuh_, _Fuh-tu_, _Hwut_, _Fat_, in various Chinese dialects. The name is thought to be a corruption of the Hindoo _Bodh_, or "Truth," due to the imperfect articulation of the Chinese.... It is a curious fact that the Chinese Buddhist liturgy is Sanscrit transliterated into Chinese characters, and that the priests have lost all recollection of the antique tongue,--repeating the texts without the least comprehension of their meaning.

FUH-YIN.--An official holding in Chinese cities a position corresponding to that of mayor in the Occident.

FUNG-HOANG.--This allegorical bird, corresponding to the Arabian phoenix in some respects, is described as being five cubits high, having feathers of five different colors, and singing in five modulations.... The female is said to sing in imperfect tones; the male in perfect tones. The _fung-hoang_ figures largely in Chinese musical myths and legends.

GOPIA (or GOPIS).--Daughters and wives of the cowherds of Vrindavana, among whom Krishna was brought up after his incarnation as the eighth avatar of Vishnu. Krishna's amours with the shepherdesses, or Gopia, form the subject of various celebrated mystical writings, especially the _Prem-Sagar_, or "Ocean of Love" (translated by Eastwick and by others); and the sensuous _Gita-Govinda_ of the Bengalese lyric poet Jayadeva (translated into French prose by Hippolyte Fauche, and chastely rendered into English verse by Edwin Arnold in the "Indian Song of Songs"). See also Burnouf's partial translation of the _Bhagavata Parana_, and Theodore Pavie's "Krichna et sa doctrine." ... The same theme has inspired some of the strangest productions of Hindoo art: for examples, see plates 65 and 66 of Moor's "Hindoo Pantheon" (edition of 1861). For accounts of the erotic mysticism connected with the worship of Krishna and the Gopia, the reader may also be referred to authorities cited in Barth's "Religions of India"; De Ta.s.sy's "Chants populaires de l'Inde"; and Lamairesse's "Poesies populaires du Sud de l'Inde."

HAO-KHIEOU-TCHOUAN.--This celebrated Chinese novel was translated into French by M. Guillard d'Arcy in 1842, and appeared under the t.i.tle, "Hao-Khieou-Tchouan; ou, La Femme Accomplie." The first translation of the romance into any European tongue was a Portuguese rendering; and the English version of Percy is based upon the Portuguese text. The work is rich in poetical quotations.

HE-SONG-CHe-TCHOO.--"One day when the Emperor Hiuan-tsong of the Thang dynasty," says the _Tao-kia-ping-yu-che_, "was at work in his study, a tiny Taoist priest, no bigger than a fly, rose out of the inkstand lying upon his table, and said to him: 'I am the Genius of ink; my name is He-song-che-tchoo [_Envoy of the Black Fir_]; and I have come to tell you that whenever a true sage shall sit down to write, the Twelve Divinities of Ink [_Long-pinn_] will appear upon the surface of the ink he uses.'" See "L'Encre de Chine," by Maurice Jametel. Paris.

1882.

HOA-TCHAO.--The "Birthday of a Hundred Flowers" falls upon the fifteenth of the second spring-moon.

JADE.--Jade, or nephrite, a variety of jasper,--called by the Chinese _yuh_,--has always been highly valued by them as artistic material.... In the "Book of Rewards and Punishments," there is a curious legend to the effect that Confucius, after the completion of his _Hiao-King_ ("Book of Filial Piety"), having addressed himself to Heaven, a crimson rainbow fell from the sky, and changed itself at his feet into a piece of yellow jade. See Stanislas Julien's translation, p.

495.

KABIT.--A poetical form much in favor with composers of Hindoo religious chants: the _kabit_ always consists of four verses.

KAO-LING.--Literally, "the High Ridge," and originally the name of a hilly range which furnished the best quality of clay to the porcelain-makers. Subsequently the term applied by long custom to designate the material itself became corrupted into the word now familiar in all countries,--kaolin. In the language of the Chinese potters, the _kaolin_, or clay, was poetically termed the "bones," and the _tun_, or quartz, the "flesh" of the porcelain; while the prepared bricks of the combined substances were known as _pe-tun-tse_. Both substances, the infusible and the fusible, are productions of the same geological formation,--decomposed feldspathic rock.

KASi (_or_ VARANASI).--Ancient name of Benares, the "Sacred City,"

believed to have been founded by the G.o.ds. It is also called "The Lotos of the World." Barth terms it "the Jerusalem of all the sects both of ancient and modern India." It still boasts two thousand shrines, and half a million images of divinities. See also Sherring's "Sacred City of the Hindoos."

KIANG-KOU-JIN.--Literally, the "tell-old-story-men." For a brief account of Chinese professional story-tellers, the reader may consult Schlegel's entertaining introduction to the _Mai-yu-lang-tou-tchen-hoa-koue_.

KIN.--The most perfect of Chinese musical instruments, also called "the Scholar's Lute." The word _kin_ also means "to prohibit"; and this name is said to have been given to the instrument because music, according to Chinese belief, "_restrains evil pa.s.sions, and corrects the human heart_." See Williams's "Middle Kingdom."

KOUEI.--Kouei, musician to the Emperor Yao, must have held his office between 2357 and 2277 B.C. The extract selected from one of his songs, which I have given at the beginning of the "Story of Ming-Y," is therefore more than four thousand years old. The same chant contains another remarkable fancy, evidencing Chinese faith in musical magic:--

"When I smite my [_musical_] stone,-- Be it gently, be it strongly,-- Then do the fiercest beasts of prey leap high for joy.

And the chiefs among the public officials do agree among themselves."

Kw.a.n.g-CHAU-FU.--Literally, "The Broad City,"--the name of Canton. It is also called "The City of Genii."

Li.--A measure of distance. The length of the _li_ has varied considerably in ancient and in modern times. The present is given by Williams as ten _li_ to a league.

LI-SAO.--"The Dissipation of Grief," one of the most celebrated Chinese poems of the cla.s.sic period. It is said to have been written about 314 B.C., by Kiu-ping-youen, minister to the King of Tsou. Finding himself the victim of a base court-intrigue, Kiu-ping wrote the _Li-Sao_ as a vindication of his character, and as a rebuke to the malice of his enemies, after which he committed suicide by drowning.... A fine French translation of the _Li-Sao_ has been made by the Marquis Hervey de Saint-Denys (Paris, 1870).

LI-SHU.--The second of the six styles of Chinese writing, for an account of which see Williams's "Middle Kingdom." ... According to various Taoist legends, the decrees of Heaven are recorded in the "Seal-character," the oldest of all; and marks upon the bodies of persons killed by lightning have been interpreted as judgments written in it. The following extraordinary tale from the _Kan-ing-p'ien_ affords a good example of the superst.i.tion in question:--

Tchang-tchun was Minister of State under the reign of Hoe-tsong, of the Song dynasty. He occupied himself wholly in weaving perfidious plots. He died in exile at Mo-tcheou. Sometime after, while the Emperor was hunting, there fell a heavy rain, which obliged him to seek shelter in a poor man's hut. The thunder rolled with violence; and the lightning killed a man, a woman, and a little boy. On the backs of the man and woman were found red characters, which could not be deciphered; but on the back of the little boy the following six words could be read, written in Tchouen (_antique_) characters: TSe-TCH'IN-TCHANG-TCHUN-HEOU-CHIN,--which mean: "Child of the issue of Tchang-tchun, who was a rebellious subject."--_Le Livre des Recompenses et des Peines, traduit par Stanislas Julien_, p. 446.