A Rip Van Winkle by Pu Songling
Chia follows Lang to a cave in pursuit of Taoist immortality, but is sent away after recognising a visitor as his wife. Returning to his ruined home, he learns that she has slept for over a hundred years and recently awakened; she recognises him, and they reunite in tears.
By Pu Songling · Genre: Short Story, Supernatural Fiction · 1,547 words
First lines
Note on the title: This being a long and tedious story, I have given only such part of it as is remarkable for its similarity to Washington Irving's famous narrative.
[The story runs that a Mr. Chia, after obtaining, with the assistance of a mysterious friend, his master's degree, became alive to the vanity of mere earthly honours, and determined to devote himself to the practice of Taoism, in the hope of obtaining the elixir of immortality.[1]]
Genres
- Short Story — The supplied narrative follows Chia's departure, interrupted initiation and return to his family in one compact episode.
- Supernatural Fiction — A cave contains another world, Chia finds himself in the moon, and his wife survives a sleep lasting over a hundred years.
Tags
Taoism · immortality · altered time · prolonged sleep · family reunion
What this Textopian page supports
A Rip Van Winkle 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, Supernatural Fiction
- Length: 1,547 words
- Structure: 1 section, 8 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Standard (8th-9th Grade)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for A Rip Van Winkle by Pu Songling
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- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
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