The Faithless Widow by Pu Songling
After his widowed mother sells the family property and remarries, Chung grows up in poverty and is robbed while setting out to trade. He finds his dead father running a pawnshop and learns the business; his father then brings Chung's mother there, bites her neck, and vanishes as black vapour after she disappears. Chung prospers in the business and later learns that his mother died that day and his father was seen by the family.
By Pu Songling · Genre: Supernatural Fiction, Short Story · 1,055 words
First lines
Note on the title: Unless under exceptional circumstances it is not considered creditable in China for widows to marry again. It may here be mentioned that the honorary tablets conferred from time to time by His Imperial Majesty upon virtuous widows are only given to women who, widowed before the age of thirty, have remained in that state for a period of thirty years. The meaning of this is obvious: temptations are supposed to be fewer and less dangerous after thirty, which is the equivalent of forty with us; and it is wholly improbable that thirty years of virtuous life, at which period the widow would be at least fifty, would be followed by any act that might cast a stain upon the tablet thus bestowed.
Genres
- Supernatural Fiction — Chung's deceased father conducts business, attacks Chung's mother, and disappears as black vapour.
- Short Story — A compact prose narrative follows Chung from abandonment and robbery through reunion with his dead father to prosperity.
Tags
widowhood · child abandonment · pawnshops · apparitions · revenge · family reunion
What this Textopian page supports
The Faithless Widow 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: Supernatural Fiction, Short Story
- Length: 1,055 words
- Structure: 1 section, 2 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Difficult (10th-12th Grade)
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