A Comment on “The Monster in the Buckwheat Field”

At first glance, Pu Songling’s tale of The Monster in the Buckwheat Field is a straightforward supernatural horror story: a farmer fights a monster, holds it off several times, but eventually lets his guard down and pays with his life. Yet beneath the eerie surface lies a surprisingly practical lesson in tactics, human fallibility, and the timeless principle of “never underestimate an enemy who learns from his defeats.”

The Four Encounters – A Battle of Wits

If we treat the story as a miniature military campaign, Old Man An and the buckwheat monster engage in exactly four skirmishes:

1st Encounter

• An lies in the field, spear in hand, and spots the monster first. He springs up and thrusts fiercely.
• An wins – the monster flees in terror.

2nd Encounter

• An hears the creature approaching, has time to react, and escapes to safety.
• An withdraws unharmed – he avoids confrontation.

3rd Encounter

• An is with his tenants, armed with crossbows. They shoot together and drive the monster away.
• An wins again – teamwork and preparation pay off.

4th Encounter

• An climbs alone onto a tall pile of straw, without weapons, separated from his helpers, with no escape route.
• An is killed – the monster seizes the perfect moment.

What changed? Not the monster’s strength, but An’s vigilance. In the first three encounters, he was alert, prepared, and either well‑armed or able to flee. In the final, fatal clash, he was isolated, unarmed, and trapped. The monster, far from being a mindless brute, had apparently observed An’s behaviour and waited for the moment of maximum vulnerability.

The Wisdom of Ancient Strategists

The monster’s tactics perfectly echo two famous maxims from Sun Tzu’s The Art of War (Sunzi Bingfa):

“Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected.”
(攻其无备，出其不意)

The creature did not charge blindly. It retreated after each defeat, only to return when An was distracted—on the third day it came again after a pause, and on the final day it struck precisely when An was on top of the heap, alone and defenceless.

“Thus one who is skilled in warfare avoids the enemy’s sharp spirit and strikes when his energy is dull and he is returning home.”
(避其锐气，击其惰归)

The monster avoided An when he was alert and well‑supported. It waited until he was exhausted, complacent, and separated from his allies – then delivered the fatal blow.

The Folk Proverb – A Warning for All

There is a common Chinese saying:

“It is not the thief stealing that you should fear, but the thief who keeps you in his mind.”
(不怕贼偷，就怕贼惦记)

This captures the essence of the story. Losses from a‑one‑time theft are limited. What is far more dangerous is being targeted long‑term by ill‑intentioned people. Once they figure out your vulnerabilities, they will scheme against you repeatedly, leading to far graver consequences.

Old Man An successfully repelled the monster three times, yet he relaxed his guard because he thought the danger had passed. He failed to realise that the monster had not given up – it was merely biding its time, studying his habits, and waiting for the one moment when he was most vulnerable. In life, as in warfare, a persistent adversary who learns from each encounter is far more dangerous than one who attacks head‑on and gives up easily.

What Can We Learn?

1. Never become complacent after a victory.
   Successive wins can breed a false sense of security. An defeated the monster thrice, but that did not mean he had won the war. Complacency led him to climb that straw pile alone and unarmed.
2. Stay with your team.
   In the third encounter, the tenants and crossbows made the difference. In the fourth, An isolated himself—and paid the price. Strength lies in numbers and mutual support.
3. Always prepare an escape route.
   Being trapped on a high, narrow pile of straw with no way down meant that even if he had seen the monster coming, he could not flee. In any dangerous situation, always leave yourself a way out.
4. Know your enemy’s tactics.
   The monster adapted. It did not repeat the same failed charge; it changed its approach. A wise person learns from each engagement and adjusts accordingly.

A Final Thought

Pu Songling’s story is, as the author himself would say, a mere record of the strange – a ghost tale meant to entertain. But even within such a tale, we can find echoes of universal truths. The struggle between Old Man An and the buckwheat monster is not so different from the struggles we face in daily life: against persistent problems, cunning rivals, or even our own habits of carelessness. The monster may be supernatural, but the lesson is thoroughly human: vigilance, preparation, and humility are the best defences against any foe – whether ghost or flesh and blood.

As the ancient strategists taught, victory often belongs not to the strongest, but to the one who outlasts the other’s attention. And in that sense, the monster won not by brute force, but by patience – a quality that even the bravest farmer underestimated.