Gems of Chinese Literature/P‘u Sung-ling-A Chinese Jonah

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Gems of Chinese Literature (1922)
translated by Herbert Allen Giles

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P‘U SUNG-LING.

17th century a.d.

[After taking his first or bachelor’s degree before he was twenty, this now famous writer, popularly known as “Last of the Immortals,” failed to secure the second and more important degree which would have brought him into official life; the reason being that he neglected the beaten track of academic study and allowed himself to follow his own fancy. His literary output consists of a large collection of weird fantastic tales, which might well have disappeared but for the extraordinarily beautiful style in which they are written, a style which has been the envy and admiration of authors for the past two hundred and forty years. They have been translated into English by the present writer under the title of “Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio.” All that we really know about him is given in the document translated below.]

P‘u Sung-ling1524390Gems of Chinese Literature — A Chinese Jonah1922Herbert Allen Giles

A man named Sun Pi-chên was crossing the Yang-tze when a great thunder-squall broke upon the boat and caused her to toss about fearfully, to the great terror of all the passengers. Just then, an angel in golden armour appeared standing upon the clouds above them, holding in his hand a scroll inscribed with certain words, also written in gold, which the people on the boat easily made out to be three in number, namely Sun Pi-chên. So, turning at once to their fellow-traveller, they said to him, “You have evidently incurred the displeasure of God; get into a boat by yourself and do not involve us in your punishment.” And without giving him time to reply whether he would do so or not, they hurried him over the side into a small boat and set him adrift; but when Sun Pi-chên looked back, lo! the vessel itself had disappeared.^[1]

↑ The point of this story is lost in translation. Pi-chên may mean to the ear either “must be struck” or “must be saved,” though in writing two different characters are used. That the other passengers misread chên “to be saved” for chên “to be struck”―Sun must be struck―is evident from the catastrophe which overtook their vessel, while Sun's little boat rode safely through the storm.

(See original text in Chinese: 孫必振)

[1] The point of this story is lost in translation. Pi-chên may mean to the ear either “must be struck” or “must be saved,” though in writing two different characters are used. That the other passengers misread chên “to be saved” for chên “to be struck”―Sun must be struck―is evident from the catastrophe which overtook their vessel, while Sun's little boat rode safely through the storm.

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