The Cloth Merchant by Pu Songling
At a ruined temple in Ch‘ing-chou, a cloth merchant agrees to fund repairs, but a priest pressures him to pay for ornamentation until he promises all his money, then threatens to kill him. A woman in red, described as a divine manifestation, draws a passing general inside; he rescues the merchant from hanging, beheads the priest, and returns the merchant’s property. The merchant repairs the temple and continues supplying lights and incense.
By Pu Songling · Genre: Short Story, Supernatural Fiction, Moral Tale · 790 words
First lines
A certain cloth merchant went to Ch‘ing-chou, where he happened to stroll into an old temple, all tumble-down and in ruins. He was lamenting over this sad state of things, when a priest who stood by observed that a devout believer like himself could hardly do better than put the place into repair, and thus obtain favour in the eyes of Buddha. This the merchant consented to do; whereupon the priest invited him to walk into the private quarters of the temple, and treated him with much courtesy; but he went on to propose that our friend the merchant should also undertake the general ornamentation of the place both inside and out.[1] The latter declared he could not afford the expense, and the priest began to get very angry, and urged him so strongly that at last the merchant, in terror, promised to give all the money he had. After this he was preparing to go away, but the priest detained him, saying, "You haven't given the money of your own free will, and consequently you'll be owing me a grudge: I can't do better than make an end of you at once. " Thereupon he seized a knife, and refused to listen to all the cloth merchant's entreaties, until at length the latter asked to be allowed to hang himself, to which the priest consented; and, showing him into a dark room, told him to make haste about it.
Genres
- Short Story — A brief prose narrative follows a merchant's encounter with a violent priest through his rescue and subsequent repair of the temple.
- Supernatural Fiction — A woman in red draws the general into the temple and is subsequently described as a divine manifestation.
- Moral Tale — The closing note explicitly presents the merchant's rescue as Buddha's protection of those who support his interests on earth.
Tags
extortion · Buddhist temples · divine intervention · rescue · temple restoration
What this Textopian page supports
The Cloth Merchant 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, Supernatural Fiction, Moral Tale
- Length: 790 words
- Structure: 1 section, 7 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Difficult (10th-12th Grade)
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- Work identity for The Cloth Merchant by Pu Songling
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