It is said that an official named Liu Zhiqing lived in a place called Zhen Ze during the Kai Yuan reign of Tang. He had been a Councillor of the Imperial Censor, but as he had attempted unsuccessfully to impeach Prime Minister Li Linfu he had been forced into retirement to his home district. His wife had warned him against leveling such accusations, so she held bitter feelings and they often quarreled over this. The gentleman was an upright individual but in these affairs he refused to recognize his own fault. Consequently his wife became sad at heart, and her anguish changed into an illness of the body. A physician was repeatedly summoned to heal her, and try though he did on several visits the ailment proved to be chronic.

One night when the lady was sitting on her bed sipping a few mouths of congee she called her maid to clear away the bowl and utensils. And seeing that the silver lantern's flame was dim, the maid spoke up: "Madam, look how beautifully the spent wick is glowing! A sign of good luck, indeed!"

"What good is it bringing me?" answered the lady. "Still," she continued, "if you give me a bigger flame the brightness before these dying eyes just might make me feel more at ease."

The maid then went forth and with two fingers applied the tool to the burnt wick. Soon the lamp was brilliant and the carbon sliver, red hot, fell down upon the table. Just then from behind the lantern blew a gust of cold wind which swirled the glowing ember round and round, as if it were a pearl of fire.

"Madam," the maid laughingly exclaimed, "look! The wick has come to life..." But before she had finished they were already staring at the blazing dervish, swirling and revolving back and forth, to and fro, dancing and becoming as large as a bowl. And as they watched, the glowing mass hopped down onto the floor, rumbling and sputtering like a Roman candle, now hissing, now exploding, scattering fiery stars all over the floor. Then all at once it disappeared. All that could be seen was the form of an old hag, grown to three feet in height. The apparition then advanced toward the lady, greeted her with numerous blessings and proclaimed: "Your old kinswoman knows that something ails thee! I've got a medicine of the gods for m'lady to swallow down."

Now, our Lady Liu had at first been frightened, but having heard the apparition speak up she recognized it as the manifestation of some holy spirit, and she was in fact delighted. It was as if, provided the sickness was not incurable, the Buddha himself had taken the form of some individual who was fated for the part, so as to help her. Then she took the offered medicine and her illness was immediately cured. However, the old hag proceeded to pester Lady Liu, desiring to come around regularly as if she were some blood relative. Riding in a four-seat palanquin, preceeded by much ceremonious cacophony and and followed by a jostling crowd she frequently arrived at the Liu home amidst the sound of confusion. Try as she might to drive her away, there was no getting rid of her and Lady Liu didn't dare insult her. And if anyone defied her wishes, she would merely beckon with her hand and that person would be stricken down. Then, by some unknown technique, she would extract the accursed person's heart and liver and would hold high the organs dripping with blood, causing the crowd to cry out in bitter, grieving lamentations, begging her to stop. At that point she would take the grisly organs and fling them back into the seemingly dead victim's mouth as if it were the most natural thing in the world, and the stricken individual would then awaken.

Because of these fearful occurances, Censor Liu and his entire household were sorely vexed, and he took it upon himself to have somebody follow this demon and find her domicile. Now for one thing, she had been seen swirling down into the shallows of Oriole Throat Lake. Of what strange sort of water does dear reader think that lake was filled? How could it be that she made her home in those shallows? Certainly she was a phantom siren! Censor Liu called repeatedly for Daoist priests to write charms and recite spells, in mysterious combinations of profound, secret and abstruse characters, He was still unable to exile her, and things went from bad to worse. The gentleman then went to an old monk at Southgrove Temple, who entreated the Venerable Spirit for Rectifying Religious Truths to come forth and set a vast cosmic snare for the ghost, to prevent any possibility of escape. The siren was then enticed and snatched up, and promptly revealed its original form, that of a three-foot-tall, common Macaco monkey, rather old in years and ghastly in appearance. Now, the Venerable Spirit was none other than the Dragon Tree Bodhisattva of ancient fame. Censor Liu had supported this venerable diety with sacrifices during normal times and, due to his resolute faith, this Bodhisattva came forth today to render aid in extirpating the siren and her great mischief. A poem says:

Now this common monkey which was trapped was human in appearance and by nature very clever. But he climbed up on windowsills and tables, pushed aside plates and overturned bowls, pulled at people's sleeves and tugged at their garments, picked his fleas and masturbated in public; his airs were grossly unrefined to say the least. And furthermore he was old and thus unable to change his strange ways. Now there is also a breed of ape, known in Chinese as Yuan, which grows to large size and which is both exceptionally rubust and nimble. And among these are a type which know the the use of their hand, of which they have four: one at the end of each limb, giving them a pair of fully developed hands on each side of their body. So they could extend or withdraw their limbs simultaneously, even while reaching up with yet another free hand and pulling themselves out of danger. And each of them was expert at climbing gorges and leaping up trees, and if anyone tried to shoot them with an arrow they would reach out in all four directions and snatch up the shafts in flight, entirely unafraid of the attacker. And these apes also came to know, in time, of Dao and to thoroughly grasp the principles of Yin and Yang, to chant Daoist charms and perform expert magic, and to achieve broad knowledge of the spirits. In fact, we can never exhaust our description of them. And how do we know? We can find out from this poem:

Now it is said that in the time of Zhou Jing Wang during the Spring and Autumn period, when the kingdoms of Wu and Yue were joined in battle, Fu Cha, King of Wu layed seige to Gou Jian, King of Yue upon Mt Kuaiji. But thanks to the efforts of Yue's emissary Wen Zhong, who went forth to plead for mercy, Fu Cha permitted his rival to live. However, Gou Jian and his lady were stripped of robe and crown and thrown into a dungeon; later, they bred horses for Wu for three years. Only then were they permitted to return home. Now the King of Yue felt compelled to avenge this shame. Thinking of the 3,000 superior swords of Wu, he realized how difficult it would be to prevail. So he had his minister Fan Li present a strategy, and an army of 6,000 noblemen was selected, to be drilled from dawn to dusk. And then there was the maiden, Chu Nyu, sojourning at Nanshan and said to be expert at swordsmanship. For her part she received an edict from Gou Jian, appointing her "Teacher of the Realm". Our maiden tidied up and started down from her mountain home, but before she had gone half of the way she met a white-haired old man who called himself Yuan Gong.

"I hear tell," he stated boldy, "that thou art an expert swordswoman. Well, I, Old Yuan, knoweth a thing or two and would like to challenge thee to a little test of arms!"

"I," the maiden answered shyly but confidently, "am but a low and uncouth girl and don't dare deceive you. I'm really not much of a fighter but out of respect for your years I can only accept your challenge."

These words so politely said, Yuan Gong peeked into the trees, selected a stem of dried bamboo, danced about some and plucked it right out. Then he threw it up and let it fall to earth. Receiving the power of the very wind itself it snapped in two with a loud "crack". Chu Nyu grabbed the top half, Yuan Gong the bottom and the test of combat was on. The old man stabbed the maiden outright but our Chu Nyu neither panicked nor rushed angrily into defeat. Continuing to grasp her half of the stem, she whirled about and delivered a stinging blow right into Yuan Gong, who leapt high into the treetops, changed into a white ape and fled.

Now, our Chu Nyu was not originally a mortal being. In truth she was a transmigration of Xuan Nyu, the Mystery Girl, Dowager Queen of ninth, highest Heaven, who had assisted the Yellow Emperor in times of old. Because Fu Cha, King of Wu, did not follow the correct path, the Jade Emperor of Ninth Heaven had dispatched her to earth to aid Yue in the annihilation of Wu. And as for his part, Yuan Gong was in fact a highly dexterous white ape who had lived for many years in the Kingdom of Chu, cultivating himself in perfect accordance with Dao, the correct path. But when King Gong went out for the royal hunt at Mt Jing, Yuan Gong snatched up all eighteen of the royal arrows. The King thereupon ordered the country's most famous archer, Yang Youji, who could shoot a branch off of a willow at a hundred paces, to come forth and shoot Yuan Gong. Now, the white ape knew that Yang Youji was a fine archer and that he could never hope to deal with him, so he up and disappeared in a cloud of smoke. The King then had his three armies, large and small, come out to surround the summit. But search and search as they might there was not a trace to be found. They then set fire to the entire mountain's trees and shrubs, burning them completely. And to this day it is said by folks that the King of Chu burned a forest in anger" over a runaway monkey.

The white ape had in fact escaped to White Cloud Cave on Mt Dream-of-the-Clouds, where he applied himself to a life of consummate Dao. Having heard that the Mystery Girl Xuan Nyu had descended to earth, he deliberately changed himself into an old man and went forth to test her fighting skills. After the combat the maiden, who was as we have said the mortal manifestation of this Mystery Girl sent by the Jade Emperor, went to see Gou Jian and to drill the 6,000 man army of Yue to perfection. And in so doing she answered to no man, neither Fan Li nor the King of Yue himself! And then, her work complete, she drifted up and away and was gone. And there is poem that sums it all up:

It is said that at the time when the maiden descended Nanshan and came to the Kingdom of Yue, crowds presenting gifthorses and pulling carts laden with treasure came to welcome this royal officer; there is no need to belabor the pomp and oppulence of this occasion. And then one day she left without saying farewell; now, of course she was alone. Half in cloud and half in mist, walking along an old path, she could hear someone in the forrest calling out for the venerable Goddess Xuan Nyu, crying out: ""Master! My Venerable Teacher!" But when the maiden brushed aside the clouds and swept her all-seeing, all-knowing eyes across the scene she saw that the sound came from Yuan Gong, who was kneeling reverently. In his hands he was offering up a stone dish, upon which were arrayed four varieties of everlasting fruit.

"Esteemed Teacher," he cried out, "Pity the honesty and utmost sincerity of your disciple, who longs to be taken in and taught benevolence, really he does!"

Now these four varieties of eternal fruit are hazlenut, acorn, yew and walnut. For although the Southeast has oranges, grapefruits and strawberries and the Northwest has crabapples, pears and jujubes, and although these are all fine fruit they must be eaten fresh, in season. But there are four sorts of fruit which are stored in shells like nuts, so that the wind cannot dry them, nor can the rain soak them and they have long been among the vittels stored by mountain dwellers. And in painting there has long been the depiction of a white ape presenting fruit; it comes from this very story!

At this time the prostrated Yuan Gong put down his plate and knocked his forehead repeatedly on the ground.

"Teacher," he cried out, "you must certainly receive disciples here!" And the maiden, whom he had recognized as a transformation of Xuan Nyu, thought for a moment.

"I didn't give this old man enough credit," she mused, "why he's bolder and more clever than I thought! No harm in taking one of each of his fruit for myself, and I can present the remainder to the King of Yue's servants for their enjoyment."

Then Yuan Gong, down upon his knees, straightened his back and prayed while the maiden recived the fruit and picked out in return, from in her sleeve, two large magic pellets, each of which were as large as an eye; she bestowed these upon Yuan Gong who received them respectfully with both hands. And seeing that they entirely resembled cast iron, what with dull appearance, Yuan Gong while silent harbored many doubts.

"If these were a couple of wheat dumplings," he thought, "they could at very most only delay hunger, and even if they were silver, well, what with their weighing no more than a couple of ounces, they would be of no great value. And even if they were only lead pellets, I, Old Yuan, would never take up marbles; what good are they?"

At this point, as he hesitated, the Mystery Girl had already figured out his dilemma and breathed down onto the pellets, incanting "live!". Then a strange brilliance flashed up and in an instant they jumped and danced left and right, like two golden snakes entwined and encircling, only bobbing their heads and throats. Then from their mouths burst forth all the myriad secrets of the universe, in cold brilliance, and the bitingly frigid blast of wind seemed unendurable. And stabbing his eardrums there came at once a sound like that of a thousand swords and myriad blades, so frightening that Yuan Gong closed his eyes tightly.

"Good Master," he exclaimed, "your disciple now knows that you posess the might of Heaven itself!"

For now, what had originally been two lumpen pellets were molded, certainly by an immortal being, into two complimentary swords incorporating the male and female principles, both flexible and capable of limitless transformations. By ordinary light they first appeared to be only lumps of lead, but then upon leaping up and dancing around they could become capable of running freely right past a million soldiers and striking with brutal insolence, going like arrows and coming like the wind itself. We can safely say that these pellets, once launched in flight by some immortal, would strike their target 100% of the time! This time the Mystery Girl used only a a small part of her magic power and managed to terrify Yuan Gong, but although the demonstration was fierce it left him unscathed, aside from a few singed hairs on his head and brow. Still, he knew that if at some time he were to be insincere to even the slightest degree, he would be immediately beheaded: even if he were to have ten thousand heads she would take them all! Chu Nyu now suddenly swept her sleeves, extinguishing the brightness and secreting the two leaden pellets back into hiding. Yuan Gong finally dared to open his eyes, the cold sweat of terror pouring forth from his entire body, and for a moment he was speechless. He then bowed wholeheartedly and followed the Mystery Girl's earthly form directly to the vault of Nanshan, where he spent an entire day picking flowers and scrificial fruit as offerings to his new master. Now, the maiden pitied him in his careful labors, and she took it upon herself to transmit her knowlege of swordsmanship to him in its entirety. Yuan Gong copied the the two swords, male and female-natured, which could be stored up a sleeve and moreover which could transform themselves, and with with which he was, to say the least, delighted.

Now at this time, the King of Yue was leading his army of 6,000, marching directly on Wu. Punishing Fu Cha, he himself came to control all of the territory east of the river dividing them, and the thought arose of using Chu Nyu on his attacking front. So again he dispatched runners to Nanshan to search for her. But this time there was no trace, so at once he commanded that a temple be built in honor of the maiden atop Nanshan. This was accomplished, and all throughout the procession of the four seasons worshippers sacrificed continually. And does the dear reader have any idea why Xuan Nyu could not be found? It was precisely because the King of Yue had been successful in battle, and because the Mystery Girl of Nanshan had ascended to report this successful rectification of evil on earth to the Jade Emperor. At any rate, how can mere mortals like ourselves hope to fathom the marvelous efficacy of godly immortals in their ability to reveal or conceal themselves as they wish?

Click to continue to conclusion of Chapter 1 Return to HomepageTable of Contents