My friend Bi Yi’an is a free, easy-going, optimistic and straightforward man. He is also fat and has a thick beard. He is well-known among men of letters. When his uncle, Bi Jiyou, served as a prefect, he often visited him at his villa.
He learned that the villa was once haunted by foxes. After he read the “Story of the Black Pheonix“, he became all the more eager to meet the fox fairy. So he stayed in a building at the villa, deep in thought.
When he returned to the study, it was already dark. It was summer and the weather was very hot and muggy. So he slept facing the door. In his dream, someone pushed him. He woke up and found a woman who looked to be in her forties but still seemed sprite and youthfully. Bi Yian was taken aback and stood up, asking who she was. The woman smiled:”I’m a fox fairy and grateful that you’ve always thought of me.” Bi was happy to hear this and began to seduce her with frivolous words. The woman said: “I’m too old. Even if others are not tired of me,I feel ashamed anyway. I have a daughter who is fifteen years old. She can serve you in your life. Make sure no one will stay with you tomorrow night so that she can come.” So saying, she left.
The next evening, Bi lit incense and waited for the girl. As promised, the woman brought her daughter over. The fox girl was exceptionally beautiful and elegant. The woman said to her daughter:”Mr. Bi and you are destined to be together. Stay here tonight and go back early tomorrow morning. Don’t sleep late.” Bi took the girl to bed and they really enjoyed each other. When it was over, the fox girl said with a smile:”Gosh, you’re really heavy!” Before daybreak the next morning, she left.
After dusk, the fox girl returned, saying: “My sisters want to celebrate my marriage with you. Come with me tomorrow for a banquet.” Bi asked where it would be held and she replied:”My elder sister is going to play hostess. Her place is not far from here.” The next day Bi waited for the fox girl, but she did not come. When he was too tired, he fell asleep at the desk. Just then, the girl came in and said:”Sorry to keep you waiting.” She pulled at his hand and he no longer felt sleepy. In almost no time, they were in a spacious courtyard. They went right into the main hall, which was as bright as daylight. Soon the hostess came in. She looked about twenty years old, elegantly dressed and was extremely beautiful. They greeted each other and just as they were about to sit down at the table, a maid announced:”Second sister is here.”
A girl of about eighteen or nineteen entered. She smiled and said to the fox girl: “So, you’re married! Are you satisfied with your husband?” The fox girl hid behind a fan, batting her eyes. The second sister said:”I remember that when we played together years ago, my little sister was afraid of being tickled. So I stretched out my arm as if I were going to tickle her and that always sent her laughing. She then would be angry with me and would say I should marry the prince in the kingdom of dwarves. I told her that she would marry somebody with a heavy beard that would prick at her little mouth. So what I said then has turned out true.” The elder sister put in with a smile:”I don’t blame my third sister if she is angry with you. Why do you tease her in front of her husband?” People toasted each other and then sat down. They talked and laughed as they ate. Just then a little girl came with a cat. She seemed to be eleven or twelve years old. Though still a child, she was nevertheless a great beauty.
The elder sister said: “So our fourth sister wants to meet her brother-in-law, but we don’t have a seat for you.” So saying, she put the girl on her lap and fed her the food on the table. A while later, she pushed the little sister into the arm of the second sister, saying: “She is too heavy to sit on my lap all the time.” The second sister remarked:”A girl this old can be as heavy as a mountain. I’m too weak for you. Since you came to see your brother-in-law who is fat and strong, why don’t you sit on his lap.” She put the girl into Bi’s arms. Bi found the girl to be soft and fragrant and he felt no weight on him at all. He began drinking together with the girl from the same cup. The elder sister said to the little girl: “You should not drink too much or you will make yourself a joke in your brother-in-law’s eyes.” The girl smiled and brushed the cat with her little hand.
After a great deal of laughter and drinking, the second sister said to the little girl: “You’d better get back. If you make your brother-in-law tired, your third sister will be angry with you.” Then the girl left with her cat. Finding Bi to be a great drinker, the elder sister took her bun cup from her hair and with it poured wine into Bi’s cup. Bi found the holder could hold only a pint of wine but what was poured out from it was several pints. When he finished it, the holder turned into a huge lotus leaf. The second sister also offered to serve him wine, but he declined, saying he had already had too much. The second sister took out a tiny makeup box and filled it with wine. She offered it to Bi, saying: “Since you cannot drink more, just take this little drop.” Bi thought he could finish the wine with one gulp, but when he had drunk one hundred times, there was still more in the box.
The fox girl replaced the makeup box with a lotus cup, saying: “You’re being teased by cunning people!” She put the makeup box on the table and it turned into a huge jug. The second sister said to her younger sister:”You’ve married for just three days and you’re already protecting him. So this is love!” Bi finished the wine in the lotus cup in one mouthful. He played with the cup and felt it was very smooth. He examined it and realized that it was not a cup but an exquisitely embroidered shoe. The second sister snatched away the shoe and said:”You cunning girl! When did you steal my shoe? No wonder my foot felt cold.” She stood up and went inside to change her shoes. The fox girl told her husband it was time to say goodbye and go back to their home. She escorted him out of the village and told him to go back by himself. Suddenly Bi woke up and realized it had all happened in a dream. He, however, did find himself rather drunk and breathed heavily with the smell of wine. He was mystified. When the fox girl came in the evening, she asked him: “Did you drink yourself to death last night?” Bi said: “I was just thinking it was no more than a dream. The girl told him: “My sisters were afraid that you would talk loudly and make a lot of noise, so they made you feel like a dream. It wasn’t a dream at all.”
Whenever Bi played chess with the fox girl, he always lost. The girl said: “You liked playing chess everyday and I thought you must be very good at it. Now I realized that you’re not that well-versed.” Bi begged her to teach him. The girl said:”The skill can only be learned by oneself, how can I help you? But if we play more, perhaps you will improve.” Several months later, Bi felt he had made progress. The fox girl tested him and said: “Not bad, not bad.” Bi played with his old chess pals and they were surprised that Bi had improved so much. Bi had always been an honest and straightforward person, so he told the truth to his friends. When he got home, the fox girl already knew this. She reprimanded him, saying:”I’ve told you to keep our secret many times, but why don’t you listen to me?” She was so angry that she wanted to leave right away. Bi admitted his mistake and promised not to repeat it. Finally the girl calmed down, but she came to see him much less often.
One night a year later, the girl sat in front of Bi, silent. He wanted to play chess with her, but she refused. He wanted her to go to bed, but she also refused. After much silence, she asked: “How do you compare me with Black Phoenix?” Bi said: “You’re much better.” But the girl said: “I don’t think I’m her match. Anyway, your friend Pu Songling is writing Strange Tales from Liaozhai Studio. Please ask him to write a biography of me. I’m afraid a thousand years from now there will be no one who loves me as much as you do.” Bi said: “I’ve long thought about this, but I did not ask him to write about you, because you told me to keep our love a secret.”
The girl went on: “I’m being called upon together with my fourth sister to serve as envoys of birds and flowers by the Queen Mother of the West. I cannot come and see you anymore. I had a cousin before who was in love with your uncle’s son. They had two girls when they finally had to part from each other and the girls are still single today. Fortunately we don’t have any children to worry about.” Bi asked her to write some final words and the girl said: “Be modest and you won’t make mistakes.” She stood up, held Bi’s hand and said:”Come and see me off.” After they walked for some distance, the girl, tears in her eyes, said goodbye to Bi. She said to him:”If we truly love each other, there may be a day when we meet again.”
On the nineteenth day of the last month of 1682, Bi told me this strange story in great detail. I told him: “With the help of such a kind fox, my work, Strange Tales from the Liaozhai Studio, will be much more readable.” So here I tell you Bi’s secret.
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