The Boatmen of Lao-Lung by Pu Songling
After traders repeatedly vanish in Kuangtung, Viceroy Chu fasts and receives a riddle from a Municipal temple messenger in a dream. He deciphers a clue to the Lao-lung ferry, where more than fifty arrested boatmen confess to rendering passengers senseless, killing them, and placing stones inside their bodies to make them sink.
By Pu Songling · Genre: Short Story, Crime Fiction, Supernatural Fiction · 647 words
First lines
When His Excellency Chu was Viceroy of Kuangtung, there were constant complaints from the traders of mysterious disappearances; sometimes as many as three or four of them disappearing at once and never being seen or heard of again. At length the number of such cases, filed of course against some person or persons unknown, multiplied to such an extent that they were simply put on record, and but little notice was further taken of them by the local officials. Thus, when His Excellency entered upon his duties, he found more than a hundred plaints of the kind, besides innumerable cases in which the missing man's relatives lived at a distance and had not instituted proceedings. The mystery so preyed upon the new Viceroy's mind that he lost all appetite for food; and when, finally, all the inquiries he had set on foot resulted in no clue to an elucidation of these strange disappearances, then His Excellency proceeded to wash and purify himself, and, having notified the Municipal God,[1] he took to fasting and sleeping in his study alone. While he was in ecstasy, lo! an official entered, holding a tablet in his hand, and said that he had come from the Municipal temple with the following instructions to the Viceroy: --
Genres
- Short Story — A compact narrative follows the traders' disappearances, Chu's deciphering of a riddle, and the boatmen's arrest and confession.
- Crime Fiction — An investigation uncovers bandits disguised as ferry boatmen who kill passengers and conceal their bodies underwater.
- Supernatural Fiction — After Chu appeals to the Municipal God, a temple messenger appears in his dream with the riddle that directs him to the criminals.
Tags
disappearances · ferry boatmen · murder · criminal investigation · dream riddles
What this Textopian page supports
The Boatmen of Lao-Lung 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: Short Story, Crime Fiction, Supernatural Fiction
- Length: 647 words
- Structure: 1 section, 7 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Difficult (College Level)
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