As the story goes, the old caretaker and the neighbors tied up that young merchant and brought him into the Zhengzhou district hall, where the Governor himself was on hand to try the case. While the accused was forced to kneel, the local civil militia chief announced that the young man, in a local courthouse, had chased an unknown young woman and caused her to leap into the well. The governor himself conducted the examination.

"I'm from a local family," stated the defendant, "and my name is Pu Ji. I was on my way back from selling soap in Kaifeng when I spotted the woman, whose name I still do not know. She was under a shade tree where I stopped, several li past the Banqiao Eight-sided Village. I still don't know what her name was. She said she couldn't go on because her feet hurt. She said she'd pay me five-hundred coppers if she could ride in my cart to her parents' home at a crossing just inside the East Gate of Zhengzhou. I pulled her all the way home, but after she opened the door and went inside she never came out again. I waited a long time and then the caretaker came, telling me that it was formerly Judge Diao's official residence, now uninhabited. He wasn't at all willing to help me get my fare. Then he and I went in for a look round. We spotted the missing girl but she leapt into the well, absolutely with any intention or cause of mine."

The governor then ordered Pu Ji to be detained and taken along on the morrow when they would recover the body from the well behind Judge Diao's old place.

Early next day appointed a commissioner to take Pu Ji from prison and to oversee the recovery work. The official went to the site with the accused, the old caretaker and four or five neighbors. Onlookers crowded and shoved for a look and all were abuzz with stories, mostly about how the house had been haunted with the music of ghosts and how nobody had wanted to live there. "What do you make of the corpse they're taking out of the well today?" one could be heard asking.

The commissioner was seated in an armchair and ordered Pu Ji to bow before him. He then asked for testimony from the old caretaker, neighbors and others as to how Pu Ji had forced the girl down the well. Pu Ji then reiterated that he had never pushed her, but that she had jumped on her own.

"Divers, report for duty!" called the commissioner. The men came forth, saluted and donned their vests. "By edict of the Governor, I order you down the well. Conduct this recovery carefully!"

"We've just had a look inside," said the leader of the retrieval party. "It's four or five hundred feet deep. Just climbing down won't do it. We'll need a mechanical windlass and a way of signalling if something goes wrong."

"Just tell me what you need and it will be brought."

"We'll need the winch, about 300 hundred feet of rope, a large basket, a good loud bronze bell and twenty strong men. In an emergency we'll ring the bell to be pulled up."

In a short while everything was on hand and the men began setting up the geared windlass, bell and basket. "Sir!" shouted the senior diver. "We shall now enter the well as you command."

"Make sure whoever goes is a strong swimmer!" added the commissioner.

A few fellows manned the winch as one diver sat in the basket, waiting. Three men then lowered him into the mouth of the well as the others slowly unwound the drum. But before the man had been lowered two hundred feet an urgent ringing of the bell was heard. The commissioner ordered them to pull him back up, and as the basket appeared the men gathered round, shouting excitedly, for nothing like this had ever been seen or heard of before. That fellow who had gone down so hale and pink had just now come as a corpse, skin yellow as wax and limbs stiff as boards. The commissioner ordered him laid out on the ground and told the workers to take him home for a proper funeral.

Now the commissioner had some more comments. "Although it is indeed sad," he pronounced, "at least only one man lost his life and it was all in the line of duty. Let's put it behind us and get on with sending another man down.

"Chief!" shouted the water workers as one. "All of us have got elders and children at home. We've all just seen such a terrible thing. Is this really something worth throwing away our lives for? We absolutely refuse to go down there! Send us to the governer to be tortured and to die in prison if you like, we still will not go down that well!"

"I can't say I blame you," said the commissioner. "Why indeed must we bring up that woman's corpse at all? All of you stay here with Pu Ji while I go and see the governor about this."

He then rode off in his palanquin and explained everything to the governor, who could see no sense in it either. "The neighbors there have all been saying that Judge Diao's place is unclean, and now that a water worker has died there nobody will go down that well. Problem is, without the woman's corpse we can't wrap up the case against Pu Ji. In my humble opinion, excellency, why not make Pu Ji, the culprit. go down himself to recover the body? And if he should die down there all the better; it would be fitting payment for the woman's life."

"That sounds fine to me," said the governor. "See to it".

The commisssioner then bade farewell to the governor and returned to the well. "You're the one who drove the woman to jump," he admonished Pu Ji, "so you go down there and bring up her body yourself! I've consulted with the governor and we both agree. If you die down there he will pardon you."

"I'm only willing to go down if I can have a dagger to defend myself." said Pu Ji.

"That's reasonable!" shouted the crowd as one. And so Pu Ji was released from the cangue and armed with a knife. They then sat him in the basket and lowered him down with the windlass. Before long he disappeared from view. "The last fellow rang the bell when he got to two hundred feet," said one of the crowd, but now the rope is almost all unreeled and nothing's gone amiss. If we had more rope to give him who knows how far down he could go!" And has he finished those words the drum froze as the rope came to its end, and still the alarm bell remained silent.

Now enough talk of those at the well. Let me tell you about Pu Ji down in the depths of the shaft. When he looked upward he could see a tiny speck of light from the mouth high above, and feeling outside the basket he determined that there was no water. He then stepped out and jumped down to solid earth, and began to grope his way along in the dark. He'd gone about one or two li when he came upon a bright place. With his hands he could feel double doors, the gateway to a cave. When he opened it and entered he saw a sky as bright as that on earth. "How can a well have such a world inside of it?" he marvelled. Walking forward with his knife held high he then saw what appeared to be a tiger in the path ahead. "The dead woman told me about this thing!" he thought. "Well, I've got nothing to lose if it devours me, so here goes! Arghh! Take that!"

With a loud "clang" his knife drew sparks and a sharp jolt left his hand and wrist momentarily numbed. It had just been a stone tiger all along! "There must be something important here!" he thought. And continuing on a few more feet he say two rows of pine trees lining a road paved with goose eggs. If there's a road, there must be a destination! And so clutching the knife he walked on under the pines, and after another hundred paces or more he emerged into a place that made him freeze in his tracks. And as he looked carefully upon the scene, this is what greeted his eyes:

"What sort of place is this!" gasped Pu Ji. "Dare I open the door to a fairies' cave?" He couldn't work up the courage to go in nor could he go back without some proof, either. Even if he told them about the stone tiger, how could he expect the governor to believe him? Just then as he was waivering the doors creaked open and a page girl in blue came forth.

"Pu Ji! Holy Auntie has been waiting to see you for so long, young man!" she announced.

Now, Pu Ji gave considerable thought to those words. How did the page know him, and could there really be such an old woman with a name like that? There had been nobody in three generations of his family by that name, so it couldn't be one of his ancestors seeking him. All he could do was follow the girl to a hall where he saw two fairies standing along with another girl page. And sure enough, seated in the armchair was an old woman. Pu Ji took a good look at her, and this is what he saw:

"This has got to be a fairy cave!" he thought as he fell to his knees. "Fate must have brought me here." He then addressed the old woman reverently. "Oh, true goddess! The merchant Pu Ji worships you with all his heart and soul!" And then he performed four kowtows.

The woman in the chair spoke. "You must indeed have been fated to come to us immortals here. Somebody had to have been instrumental in your safe arrival, so please be seated!"

Now, there was absolutely no way that he was going to sit down.

"You are blessed by Fate, so please feel free to sit!"

Then and only then did he dare be seated, and the woman then called for tea. "Your safe journey to this place," she continued as a pagegirl arrived with tea, "has been no easy matter. Do you know the reason you are here?"

"All I know, Auntie, is that I was on my way back with an empty cart from selling soap in Kaifeng when I spotted a woman sitting under a tree. She said she was on her way to her mum and dad that her feet hurt, and she offered me five hundred coppers to carry her in my cart to the front of Judge Diao's courthouse just inside the East Gate. She said that was her home. She got off the cart, opened the door and went in, never to come out. And when she saw me coming in looking for her she leapt into the well. And so the neighbors arrested me and bound me over to the officials. They sent down a man to try and retrieve the body, and yet another death resulted. Then the governor could only order me to go down, and when I saw that there was path at the bottom, with no water, I just followed my instincts and walked in here."

"And what did you see down there?" asked Holy Auntie.

"Why, I saw a stone tiger!"

"That creature has been on duty for many years and quite a few people have been destroyed by it. Mortals who cast their eyes on that tiger must then be eaten by it. You managed to stab it, so some truly great accomplishment must be in store for you. Pu Ji! I now have somebody for you to see!" She then glanced at a pagegirl. "Tell her to come out!" she commanded.

Then pagegirl then went in back for awhile and emerged with a woman. And who was it but the very same one that had jumped into the well! Seeing Pu Ji before her she greeted him warmly. "Master," she said, "you did a truly great thing yesterday!"

Now, when Pu Ji caught sight of her, violent anger arose in his heart and spleen. "Sneakthief!" he shouted. "How can I forgive your telling me that your feet hurt and that you couldn't walk, just to get me to push you so far in my cart. Then you skip off without paying the fare, run away into the house and jump into a well, getting me arrested, put in the cangue and chains and thrown into prison to suffer so. What can you say for yourself? At least before now I was satisfied that I'd never see you again, but here you are in spite of all that!" He then lifted his knife to her. "Take this!" he screamed, eyes bulging in fearsome anger and hate. Then he lunged with all his strength, but his arm was stopped by a little chant of Hu Yong's, and indeed his entire body became solid, frozen in its tracks.

"Robber!" screamed Yong'r. "All the time you were pushing me to town I was watching your face, and if I hadn't thought you were such a fine, cultivated and serious man you'd be tiger dung by now. I spared you and this is the gratitude you show! Well, this is the last time you'll ever lift a knife to me..."

Holy Auntie quickly interceeded. "Don't destroy him, you'll need that his help in the future!" She then breathed onto Pu Ji's face and once more he could move.

"This girl is a shrew!" he gasped.

"If it weren't for me you'd be dead now. No more of your impudence from now on!"

"I have truly been predestined to meet you, Holy Auntie! Now, if I can only avoid imprisonment and further suffering, and just go back up the well to go free on my way, why, I'll worship you every day of my life!"

"You have indeed been fated to come here," said the old woman. Now, come have a few cups of wine with me and then I'll take you back. Pu Ji followed her but suddenly remembered his humble origins as a poor village boy. What use could he possibly be, and in what undertaking? But it has all been arranged. Just feast your eyes on this:

The old woman told Pu Ji to sit, but once again he didn't dare. "Now sit yourself down, brother Pu Ji!" she commanded. "Great wealth will be yours someday!" He finally sat and watched the courses of food and drink brought in, taking advantage of the opportunity to view such a grand site. Two of the pagegirls in blue were pouring endless servings of wine. Cup after brimming cup, elbows bent and bottoms up. Half drunk, he began to reflect upon recent events. How long a journey it had been from the mouth of the well to that feast! All the places and immortals he had come to know, and now that woman again! He knew that she was either a fairy or a demon but he didn't plan to hang around long enough to find out which! He then stood and voiced a request to Holy Auntie and Yong'r.

"I want to up the well now to check on the money in my cart before somebody takes it."

"You can always earn money if you've got your life," said the old woman. "But I'd like you to take a certain object back up with you, not exactly a great fortune to speak of. What do you think?"

"Why, thanks for your consideration, Holy Auntie. Yes, what's money in my situation? What I really need is something to take back up with me as proof, so that I can get out of these charges alive!" The old woman then called Yong'r over and whispered into her ear. Not long thereafter a girl in blue came forth presenting an object with both hands to Pu Ji. He felt it to be extremely heavy and wondered just what it might be, all wrapped up in a yellow net cloth.

"What have you given me, Holy Auntie?" he asked.

"You are not permitted to unwrap it nor may you give it to the others. Just take it up the well and say that the district diety herself kept it for a thousand years before you received it. When you give it to the district governor you will then avoid paying for the crime with your life. And there's something else I must tell you. Whenever you encounter difficulty or danger just shout "Holy Auntie" loudly and I'll come right to your rescue!" Pu Ji payed careful attention to each point. The old woman then ordered a girl in blue to escort him out, retracing his original entry route. Arriving back at the bamboo basket he climbed inside, pulled the rope tight and rang the bell. Those waiting above heard it and quickly cranked him up.

Now, when all gathered round for a look they saw nothing of the woman's corpse. There was only Pu Ji holding something wrapped in yellow netting, striding right over to the commissioner. "Don't anybody touch this!" he said. "It's a gift for the district governor from the district goddess, for him to open and view personally." The commissioner got in his palanquin and the others crowded and pressed round Pu Ji as they went directly to the district yamen, right up to the governor's office where officials opened the doors wide for them.

"Pu Ji was down in the well well for half the day," reported the commissioner. "Finally we heard the bell and brought him back up. We only saw him and a yellow cloth bundle he was carrying that he said had come from the district diety herself, to be presented to your excellency alone. I didn't dare touch it but brought it right here!"

The Governor called for Pu Ji to be brought forth. "What is in the yellow net, and why have you brought it?" he demanded to know.

"Excellency! I went down the well but saw nothing of the woman's corpse. There wasn't even any water, but there was a path. I followed it for about two li when I suddenly saw daylight. I then spotted a tiger that tried to kill me. When I struck it with my knife sparks flew, and when I looked closely I saw it was stone. Then there was a path lined with pines, and I saw a hall. Outside of it was a pagegirl in blue beckoning me inside, where I met an immortal. She said that she was the diety of this district and gave me a banquet. Then she brought this thing out and told me to present it to your excellency alone, and warned that Heaven's secrets must never be leaked.!"

The governor received the yellow bundle solemnly and placed it on his table. It was extremely heavy he felt. He reflected on how a treasure had been discovered and presented to him out of all this while he personally unwrapped it, finding a solid gold three-legged holy vessel for sacrifices, with two handles. On the side were nine characters: "He who finds this item will surely become wealthy". Having thus seen the vessel, he rewrapped it and called for his family members and servants to come and carry it back for storage as treasure in the family vault. Suddenly two of his aides came forth. "Pu Ji is waiting for your verdict, excellency!" they reminded him.

Now, the governor mulled this over. If he were to release Pu Ji... well, everyone in the district had heard by now that Pu Ji had driven a woman to jump into a well, and that a man's life had been lost in trying to retrieve the body... no, if he declared Pu Ji a free man the morality of his decision would be questioned. And if he ordered Pu Ji to forfeit his life in return for the woman's, how could he justify having received that golden vessel instead of her yet-unfound corpse. What would be best? He then reached for his brush, picked it up and set forth his verdict: "Pu Ji..." he began.

And in so doing the governor unknowingly consigned himself to an unnatural death in the future, and doomed all the people of Zhengzhou to suffer through a great upheaval. It's like this:

Now turn the page and read the text to see what happens next.

Conclusion of Chapter 25 Click to continue to Chapter 26Table of Contents