Carrying a Corpse by Pu Songling
Returning from market, a woodsman finds a headless body attached to his carrying pole; it disappears after he dislodges it and strikes about him. In the next village, men report that a man's head fell among them and vanished. Later, another man drops his basket when someone spots a head inside, and it rolls away and disappears.
By Pu Songling · Genre: Supernatural Fiction, Short Story · 273 words
First lines
A woodsman who had been to market was returning home with his pole across his shoulder,[1] when suddenly he felt it become very heavy at the end behind him, and looking round he saw attached to it the headless trunk of a man. In great alarm, he got his pole quit of the burden and struck about him right and left, whereupon the body disappeared. He then hurried on to the next village, and when he arrived there in the dusk of the evening, he found several men holding lights to the ground as if looking for something. On asking what was the matter, they told him that while sitting together a man's head had fallen from the sky into their midst; that they had noticed the hair and beard were all draggled, but in a moment the head had vanished. The woodsman then related what had happened to himself; and thus one whole man was accounted for, though no one could tell whence he came. Subsequently, another man was carrying a basket when some one saw a man's head in it, and called out to him; whereupon he dropped the basket in a fright, and the head rolled away and disappeared.
Genres
- Supernatural Fiction — A headless body inexplicably attaches itself to a carrying pole, and severed heads appear and disappear.
- Short Story — A brief prose narrative connects the woodsman's encounter, the villagers' report, and a later discovery in a basket.
Tags
headless corpse · severed heads · supernatural encounters · woodsman
What this Textopian page supports
Carrying a Corpse is listed on Textopian as a short story by Pu Songling, dated Date unknown.
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- Work type: Short story
- Author: Pu Songling
- Date: Date unknown
- Language: English
- Genres: Supernatural Fiction, Short Story
- Length: 273 words
- Structure: 1 section, 2 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Standard (8th-9th Grade)
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