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Chinese Literature - Soushenji

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Soushenji 搜神記 "Investigations into Deities"

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by Gan Bao's 干寶 (ca. 300 AD)

6. 彭祖七百歲

彭祖者,殷時大夫也。姓錢,名鏗。帝顓頊之孫,陸終氏之中子。歷夏而至商末, 號七百歲。常食桂芝。歷陽有彭祖仙室,前世云,禱請風雨,莫不輒應。 常有兩虎在祠左右。今日祠之訖,地則有兩虎跡。

Pengzu was seven hundred years old

Pengzu was an official during the Yin (Shang) dynasty. His last name was Qian, his first name Jian. He was a grandson of the mythical emperor Zhuanxu and the middle son of the Luzhong clan. He passed all the time of the Xia dynasty until the end of Shang, when he was first called "Seven Hundred Years". He lived on the holy lingzhi (guizhi) fungus. His fairy home was in Liyang, and the old people say that when they went to Liyang to pray for wind and rain, all their wishes were fulfilled. In old times, two tigers guarded the temple to the left and the right. Today, the temple has already disappeared, but the traces of the two tigers are still visible.

62. 郭璞救死馬

趙固所乘馬忽死,甚悲惜之。以問郭璞,璞曰:「 可遣數十人持竹竿,東行三十里,有山林陵樹,便攪打之,當有一物出,急宜持歸。」 於是如言,果得一物,似猿。持歸,入門見死馬,跳梁走往死馬頭,虛及其鼻。 頃之,馬即能起,奮迅嘶鳴,飲水如常。亦不復見向物。固奇之,厚加資給。

Guo Pu saves a dead horse

The horse Zhao Gu was riding suddenly died, and he felt great pity for it. Asking Guo Pu for help, he said: "You should send twenty or thirty people with a bamboo rod, going thirty miles to the east. They will come to a hill inside a forested mountain, where they shall stir and beat with their rods. A thing will come out, that they shall take home." The men did as Guo Pu had said, and they really got a thing, that was similar to a monkey. Taking it home, they entered the court where the dead horse laid. When the monkey saw the horse, it rushed to the horse's head and blew into its nose. Turning it around, the horse suddenly was able to stand up. It shook its head, gallopped around and neighed loudly, and drank water, all like before. But it did not look once after the monkey. Zhao Gu was so astonished, that he gave lots of money to Guo Pu.

270. 東方朔灌酒消患

漢武帝東游,未出函谷關,有物當道。 身長數丈,其狀象牛,青眼而耀睛,四足入土,動而不徙。百官驚駭。東方朔 乃請以酒灌之。灌之數十斛而物消。帝問其故,答曰:「此名為患,憂氣之所生也。 此必是秦之獄地,不然,則罪人徙作之所聚。夫酒忘憂,故能消之也。」 帝曰:「吁!博物之士,至於此乎!」

Dongfang Shuo consoles Suffer with wine

When emperor Han Wudi (r. 140-87 BC) made an inspection tour to the east, he met a thing on his way, even before he had left the Hangu pass. The thing was several feet long and was similar to a cow. Its eyes were blue-green and with a shiny glazing, the four feet were inside the earth, and it walked without going forward. The hundred officials were deeply frightened. Dongfang Shuo let the thing be given wine. It was presented some twenty pints of wine, when it suddenly disappeared. The emperor asked Dongfang Shuo for what had happened, and he answered: "This thing called Suffer is sad about being born. This place must have been a jail of the state of Qin, or at least was a place where convicts were gathered to do slavery work. Now, wine removes sadness, and therefore the thing can again disappear." The emperor said: "You are really a person of knowledge to come so far."

320. 河神劈山

二華之山,本一山也。當河,河水過之而曲行。 河神巨靈以手擘開其上,以足蹈離其下,中分為兩,以利河流。今觀手跡於華岳上, 指掌之形具在。腳跡在首陽山下,至今猶存。

The River God cleaves the Huashan Mountain

In old times, the two peaks of the Hu