Page:A history of Chinese literature - Giles.djvu/352

 340 CHINESE LITERATURE

a fit laughing-stock for devils. 1 For my talents are not those of Yii Pao, 2 elegant explorer of the records of the gods ; I am rather animated by the spirit of Su Tung-p'o, who loved to hear men speak of the supernatural. I get people to commit what they tell me to writing, and sub- sequently I dress it up in the form of a story ; and thus in the lapse of time my friends from all quarters have supplied me with quantities of material, which, from my habit of collecting, has grown into a vast pile.

"When the bow 3 was hung at my father's door, he dreamed that a sickly-looking Buddhist priest, but half- covered by his stole, entered the chamber. On one of his breasts was a round piece of plaster like a cash; and my father, waking from sleep, found that I, just born, had a similar black patch on my body. As a child, I was thin and constantly ailing, and unable to hold my own in the battle of life. Our home was chill and desolate as a monastery ; and working there for my livelihood with my pen, I was as poor as a priest with his alms-bowl. Often and often I put my hand to my head and exclaimed,
 * Surely he who sat with his face to the wall 4 was myself

1 When Liu Chiian, Governor of Wu-ling, determined to relieve his poverty by trade, he saw a devil standing by his side, laughing and rubbing its hands for glee. " Poverty and wealth are matters of destiny," said Liu Chiian, "but to be laughed at by a devil ," and accordingly he desisted from his intention.

2 A writer who flourished in the early part of the fourth century, and com- posed a work in thirty books, entitled " Supernatural Researches."

3 The birth of a boy was formerly signalled by hanging a bow at the door ; that of a girl, by displaying a small towel indicative of the parts that each would hereafter play in the drama of life.

4 Alluding to the priest Dharma-nandi, who came from India to China, and tried to convert the Emperor Wu Ting of the Liang dynasty ; but failing in his attempt, he retired full of mortification to a temple at Sung-shan, where he sat for nine years before a rock, until his own image was imprinted thereon.

�� �