The Fortune-Hunter Punished by Pu Songling
A man inherits two uncles’ estates by becoming their adopted son, then neglects his promised duties of ancestral worship and tomb upkeep. During a sudden illness, he mutilates himself and dies; his son dies shortly afterwards, and strangers inherit the property.
By Pu Songling · Genre: Cautionary Tale, Short Story · 269 words
First lines
A certain man's uncle had no children, and the nephew, with an eye to his uncle's property, volunteered to become his adopted son.[1] When the uncle died all the property passed accordingly to his nephew, who thereupon broke faith as to his part of the contract.[2] He did the same with another uncle, and thus united three properties in his own person, whereby he became the richest man of the neighbourhood. Suddenly he fell ill, and seemed to go out of his mind; for he cried out, "So you wish to live in wealth, do you? " and immediately seizing a sharp knife, he began hacking away at his own body until he had strewed the floor with pieces of flesh. He then exclaimed, "You cut off other people's posterity and expect to have posterity yourself, do you? " and forthwith he ripped himself open and died. Shortly afterwards his son, too, died, and the property fell into the hands of strangers. Is not this a retribution to be dreaded?
Genres
- Cautionary Tale — The nephew’s broken obligations precede his death and his son’s death, which the narrator explicitly presents as dreaded retribution.
- Short Story — A single compact narrative follows an inheritance scheme through broken promises to the deaths that transfer the fortune to strangers.
Tags
inheritance · adoption · ancestral worship · broken promises · self-mutilation · retribution
What this Textopian page supports
The Fortune-Hunter Punished 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: Cautionary Tale, Short Story
- Length: 269 words
- Structure: 1 section, 3 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Standard (8th-9th Grade)
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