Moss Roberts

Chinese Fairy Tales and Fantasies
Moss Roberts
September 15, 2016
A lovely Folio book, consisting of usually brief stories, sometimes a paragraph or epigram, concerning ghosts, justice served, ironic outcomes, and imaginings of the natural world. Many are moral tales, proverbs and sayings of the philosophers. The introduction is by a Chinese novelist who recalls her grandfather, even in the years of the Cultural Revolution, reading and enjoying tales from Pu Songling, the Record of Things Strange from a Makeshift Studio.

Wagging My Tail in the Mud
The hermit poet Chuang Tzu was angling in the River Pu. The king of Ch'u sent two noblemen to invite Chuang to come before him. 'We were hoping you would take on certain affairs of state' they said. Holding his pole steady and without looking at them, Chuang Tzu said, 'I hear that Ch'u has a sacred tortoise that has been dead three thousand years, and the king has it enshrined in a cushioned box in the ancestral hall. Do you think the tortoise would be happier wagging his tail in the mud than having his shell honored?' 'Of course' replied the two nobleman. 'Then begone,' said Chuang Tzu. 'I mean to keep wagging my tail in the mud.'… (mehr)