Strange Tales from Liaozhai Studio: Planting Pears is a concise yet profound fable. Through its fantastical plot–“selling pears,” “begging for a pear,” and “magically growing a pear-tree”–it delivers biting satire on human greed, stinginess, and karmic retribution.
From Stinginess to Nothingness: A Caustic Reversal
The tale opens with two central figures: a stingy pear-seller and a mysterious Daoist priest. When the ragged priest begs for a single pear, the seller refuses cruelly, even insulting him. Later, the priest uses “pear-planting” magic to grow a tree and distributes all the seller’s pears to the crowd.
This “lose the herd for saving a calf” twist blends folk humor with sharp irony. Pu Songling mocks real-world counterparts: those who cling to petty gains, blinded by narrow self-interest, ultimately court their own ruin.
Metaphor for Karmic Justice and Moral Enlightenment
The priest symbolizes cosmic fairness. His “magic” is not mere trickery but a dramatization of karmic principles:
- Stinginess begets loss;
- Cruelty invites divine retribution.
Broadly, the magic also deconstructs material obsession:
- The seller fixates on “tangible pears,”
- The priest dissolves them with “intangible art,” revealing that hoarding enslaves, while detachment liberates.
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