Wairme the other day on the subject of amateur sinology we noticed its present remarkable ardour in the study of Chinese Folk-lore. Unfortunately the amateur sinologue though often a very fair scholar of colloquial Chinese is not always equally well versed in the book Tang, having possibly followed too faithfully Sir T. Wade's celebrated advice "not to be led away by the fascinations of the written character." Hence although a large collection of popular sayings and of the quaint superstitions of boys and amahs been made, one great storehouse of folk-lore treasures, the olla podrida column of a native newspaper, has been little drawn upon. Indeed it is easier, and in many respects pleasanter, to lie in a long chair with a, pipe and a glass of and listen lazily to a fairy tale told in very simple mandarin, or it may be pidgin Boglish, by a garrulous teacher or Tomestc, than to try one's eyes and patience by spelling out a very literary story in a badly printed paper, crowded with allusions which Mayers' Reader's Manual seems hopeless to solve. But a conscientious folk-lore gatherer should not shrink from any expenditure of temper or eyesight; and in this particular quest he will certainly not fail of reward. 'The stories to which we would direct his attention may to a Europeanized Chinaman seem to be old wives' may tales, valuable only for their moral (your Chinaman loves a moral though he may never reduce it to practice), but by the vast majority of native readers these stories are doubtless implicitly accepted as conforming to their immemorial be-of them as hin examples of the whole. liefs. We propose here to examine two The first is introduced by five or six sentences of weighty advice against the practice of idle jesting, which the author condemns on the ground that if it does not provoke the resentment of men, it wilmot fail to move the feelings of ghosts. The whole tale is an illustration of this important truth, and should not fail to carry conviction home. The one weak point about it is that the names of the actors are suppressed, and the sceptical may, especially as the story is professedly told as a blow to scoffers'
inclined to believe that it was invented for the occasion, like the accounts of superhumanly good boys in an ex-tempora sermon for children. A man named, let us say, Robinson, had lost his only child, a daughter, in early infancy. He had " business acquaint ance, young Jones, with whom he became so intimate that he dubbed him one day in jest'my dear son-in-law.' Jones fell in with the joke, and took to addressing his elderly friend as ' father-in-law to the great amusement of their acquaintance (who by the way seem to have been very easily amused.) But Nemesis was waiting for him. One day after a supper in Robinson's village, Jones returned home. He had no sooner got there than his hands began to tremble, his head grew dizzy, and he presently became delirious. His pulse, however, continued steady and the doctors concluded accordingly that he must be possessed. They were confirmed unexpectedly by the patient himself. As his mother drew near to ask him how he was the patient shouted " I'm Robinson's daughter who died years ago, a lovely spirit without a protector.
father has taken pity on me, though, and has arranged with young Jones to marry me. But all of you declare that I'm a spirit and not a human being; so as I am a spirit I'm going to take him has before Yen-mo (Pluto; 5 and get justice done." The unhappy mother was, naturally, startled and to soothe the offended ghost, promising that when her son got well he should marry it whereupon the delirium subsided. Messengers were sent to Robinson who at first treated the thing as a joke (Robinson's disposition was consistently frivolous) but as soon as he realized that the poor deluded ghost had taken seriously what he only meant as a jest, he grew grave for once and made preparations for the wedding. It was not till these were completed, adds the veracious chronicler, that the invalid finally recovered.
In the second story names dates and laces are given with a circumstantial ity that leaves nothing to be desired, and the Society for Paychical Research consequently (if it has not done with researching) accept it as evidence without hesitation. One Feng of Teng-kung had many yearsago partner named Cheng Tze-ya, a Foochow man, Cheng died leaving a wife and child, but Feng appropriated his share of the business so that the widow was obliged (dreadful alternative) to marry again. For several years Feng remained childless, but last spring, when he and his wife were nearing the no doubts' age [40,—at which Confucius had no doubt') his wife conceived. The night on which the child was born Feng was awakened by seeing Cheng enter the room. Cheng observed. "I come to beg a lodging of you; think of our old friendship and don't refuse me," and so saying vanished just as the attendants entered to tell Feng that a son was born to him, The baby is now two years [or as we should say, one year] old, and though it is pleasant enough when with its mother or other people, whenever if catches sight of Feng it scowls and frowns as though it would comfort its soul to get at him. Its character strongly resembles that of the late Cheng, and Feng is uncertain whether he ought not to get rid of it. His wife dissuaded him, pointing out that if the baby is Cheng, time may moderate it rancour if it is kindly treated; but if its is killed, it will have a double reason for vengeance. On the other hand if it isn't Cheng, but Féngs' veritable flesh and blood, it would be somewhat foolish to act in so decidedly hostile a manner towards his own child. "We have noted this down," says the writer, after moralizing a bit about uneasy consciences, " in order to see what the sequel will be."
Both these stories turn, it will be observed, on the question of the possession, or rather usurpation, of a body by a soul that doesn't belong to it. In this connection the first tale is peculiarly valuable. The disease has, it would appear, certain clearly defined and well known symptoms from which it was readily diagnosed by the doctors assembled. " These symptoms are a trembling of the hands, dizziness of the head, hot and cold fits, and incoherent mutterings, with a steady pulse; but unfortunately the only effectual treatment, as far as can be gathered, would seem to consist in humour ing the spirit or in wheedling it into a better frame of mind or another person's body. Possession can take place at any pees of life; though one would think that the ghost of a man of "no-doubts" age would find the body of a newly born infant a rather uncomfortable misfit. There is indeed a certain awkwardness in the situation (such as must have been felt by Mr. Bultitude when he unexpectedly found himself to be his own son) that makes us feel gratefully towards the writer who ' noted the story down,' and look with a certain breathlessness for the sequel.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.