A Dwarf by Pu Songling
At Yeh, a magistrate seizes a magician’s box and learns that the tiny performer inside was abducted while returning from school and shrunk with a drug. The magistrate has the magician beheaded and takes charge of the captive, but cannot obtain a cure.
By Pu Songling · Genre: Short Story, Fantasy · 323 words
First lines
In the reign of K‘ang Hsi, there was a magician who carried about with him a wooden box, in which he had a dwarf not much more than a foot in height. When people gave him money he would open the box and bid the little creature come out. The dwarf would then sing a song and go in again. Arriving one day at Yeh, the magistrate there seized the box, and taking it into his yamên asked the dwarf whence he came. At first he dared not reply, but on being pressed told the magistrate everything. He said he belonged to a respectable family, and that once when returning home from school he was stupified by the magician, who gave him some drug which made his limbs shrink, and then took him about to exhibit to people. The magistrate was very angry and had the magician beheaded, himself taking charge of the dwarf. He was subsequently very anxious to get him cured, but unable to obtain the proper prescription.[1]
Genres
- Short Story — A brief prose narrative recounts the performer’s captivity, his disclosure to a magistrate, and his rescue without a cure.
- Fantasy — A magician’s drug shrinks a schoolchild’s limbs until he stands little more than a foot tall.
Tags
captivity · exploitation · magical shrinking · rescue · magistrates
What this Textopian page supports
A Dwarf is listed on Textopian as a short story by Pu Songling, dated Date unknown.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Short story
- Author: Pu Songling
- Date: Date unknown
- Language: English
- Genres: Short Story, Fantasy
- Length: 323 words
- Structure: 1 section, 2 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Standard (8th-9th Grade)
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