The Master Thief by Pu Songling

Pao-chu, an agile soldier in Prince Wu's camp, offers to fetch the Prince's concubine's prized guitar without a written order. With the Prince's permission and the guards forewarned, he imitates a distressed cockatoo to draw a servant outside, seizes the guitar, and escapes through trees and over rooftops to return to the banquet.

By Pu Songling · Genre: Short Story, Adventure · 674 words

First lines

Before his rebellion,[1] Prince Wu frequently told his soldiers that if any one of them could catch a tiger unaided he would give him a handsome pension and the title of the Tiger Daunter. In his camp there was a man named Pao-chu, as strong and agile as a monkey; and once when a new tower was being built, the wooden framework having only just been set up, Pao-chu walked along the eaves, and finally got up on to the very tip-top beam, where he ran backwards and forwards several times. He then jumped down, alighting safely on his feet.

[1]: A. D. 1675. His full name was Wu San-kuei.

• Open reader

Genres

• Short Story — A brief account of Pao-chu's agility leads into a single completed episode: his seizure of the guitar and return to the banquet.
• Adventure — Pao-chu scales walls, evades arrows, and leaps between trees and rooftops while guards pursue him.

Tags

theft · acrobatics · deception · guards · musical instruments

What this Textopian page supports

The Master Thief 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: Short Story, Adventure
• Length: 674 words
• Structure: 1 section, 4 paragraphs
• Reading fit: Standard (8th-9th Grade)

Good citation fit

• Work identity for The Master Thief by Pu Songling
• Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
• Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
• Readability and classroom-planning context
• Passage-specific claims should cite the exact /read/ URL for the relevant chapter or paragraph

More by Pu Songling

• Author's own Record
• Examination for the Post of Guardian Angel
• The Talking Pupils
• The Painted Wall
• Planting a Pear-Tree
• The Taoist Priest of Lao-Shan
• The Buddhist Priest of Ch‘Ang-Ch‘Ing
• The Marriage of the Fox's Daughter
• All works by Pu Songling