Not the Sayings of Confucius袁枚《子不语》选段四则trans by F.A.King(1838)
Not the Sayings of Confucius 袁枚《子不语》选段四则
trans by F.A.King
(来源：The_Chinese_Repository，1838)
Art. VII. Tsze Puh Yu, or Not the Sayings of Confucius : a Chinese book of stories; in eight volumes; without date.
Strange and marvelous tales, feats of chivalry, acts of rebellion, and the conduct of the gods, were four classes of subjects on which Confucius never conversed : at least, so it is boldly affirmed by one of his disciples. His successors, however, who have lived in less virtuous time. have not been so circumspect in their writings, as their great master was in his conversation. Probably, works of fiction are more numerous, voluminous, and varied, among the Chinese, than among any other people in the world. For the present, we will not attempt to canvass their merits, nor institute any comparison between these and similar productions in the western hemisphere. Sure we are, that if Cervantes, Lesage, and their compeers, were introduced to any valiant son of Han, he would not hesitate to declare that China has, or has had, their equals一Day their superiors. These writings are called, by the Chinese, Seaau Shwŏ Shoo “Books of Small Talk” a term equally appropriate, perhaps, as that of Novel or Romance. The whole number of stories in the Tsze Puh Yu, is above seven hundred : the following, and others like them, are the themes of these stories which are not the sayings of Confucius :* viz.: ghost of a fortune-teller, a stolen thunder-bolt, the literary fox advising men to become fairies, elves begging fish, the man with three heads, the devil turned matchmaker, & pig acting the priest of Taou, the enchanted tower, the ass of a Mohammedan lady, a demon buying children, Vulcan’s tongs, &c. This book of stories has been brought to our notice by a resident sinologue一a lad twelve years old, who has been engaged in studying the language about fourteen months. The subjoined translations were made by him, and may serve as specimens of his scholarship, and of Chinese books of small talk.
The Sagacious Pig. In the district of Suhchow in Keangnan, a man was murdered and his body thrown into & well. One of the officers, having long sought in vain for the murderer, was riding by the well one day, when a pig came before his horse and set up a most bitter cry. His attendants, not being able to drive the pig away, the officer said to them, what does the pig want ? Whereupon the pig kneeled before him, and made the kow-tow. The officer then bid his attendants to follow the pig, which immediately rose up and led them to a house, and entering the door crawled under a bed, and began rooting up the ground, and continued doing so until he had uncovered a bloody knife. The attendants immediately seized the master of the house, who, on examination, proved to be the murderer. The villagers, having deliberated on the case, took the pig and supported him in one of the temples of Budha; visitors came frequently to see him, and gave money for his support, saying, such a sagacious pig deserves to be rewarded. After more than ten years, he died, and the priests of the temple, having procured for him a coffin, buried him with due formality.
The enchanted box. On the banks of the lake Kanning, in the province of Yunnan, some husbandmen, while digging up the ground, discovered a small iron box, on which characters were written in the ancient form (used in the time of the Han dynasty). The husbandmen did not understand this writing, but the characters by the side of it were intelligible to them, and were as follow: (Given by a fairy, in the first year of Cheching’. The husbandmen, not knowing what the box was, broke it open, when they found a small worm, about au inch in length, apparently dead. The buys collecting, threw water on it. The worm then began to stretch itself, until it became quite long, and then it darted into the air. A hurricane soon came on; the rain fell in torrents; the heavens and earth seemed enveloped in black clouds, in the midst of which appeared a horned monster, fighting with two yellow dragons. Hail, mingled with dew, descended ; and the houses, and all property of the husbandmen, were destroyed.
The black pillar. Once in the district of Shaouhing, there lived a man, whose surname was Yen, who was married into the family of Wang, and was taken home by his father-in-law, who had no son of his own. After the ceremony, Yen returned to visit his family. His wife having been suddenly taken ill after his departure, & messenger was dispatched by his father-in-law to inform him of it. Yen immediately left his father's house, although it was in the middle of the night. By the light of a candle, he was proceeding along the road. when a black cloud, resembling the pillar of a temple, descended between him and the candle. If he moved the candle to the east, the pillar also moved to the east; if he moved the candle westward, the pillar moved with it, as if trying to obstruct the way, and not to permit him to proceed. Yen being very much frightened, entered the house of a friend, and having procured & servant and another candle proceeded, and the black pillar gradually disappeared, while he hasten- ed to his wife’s house. On entering, his father-in-law met him and said, you arrived a long time ago, where have you come from now? Yen replied, most certainly I have not been in before! Yen and the whole family fled in astonishment to his wife’s room, where they found & man seated on her bed holding her hand. As he proceeded to his wife’s side the stranger disappeared, and his lady soon expired.
Fidelity of eats. In Heängning, there lived a lad whose surname was Wang. His father had an old concubine, upwards of seventy years old, who, being extremely fond of cats, kept thirteen in her house, and loved and cherished them as children. Each one had a nickname, and came immediately at her call. In the reign of Keen- lung, this old woman died. The poor cats gathered round her coffin, crying bitterly, and refused fish, rice and every kind of food; and after three days, they all died!