Stone Eeating: A Tale of Transformation and Solitude in Mount Laoshan: subtitle

The story of Wang Qinwen, a Daoist who consumed stones and pine nuts, and his journey from Mount Laoshan to his home and back to the mountains.

In the home of the esteemed Mr. Wang Qinwen in Xincheng, there was a coachman surnamed Wang. When he was young, he entered Mount Laoshan to study Daoism. As he continued his Daoist studies, he no longer ate cooked food but instead consumed pine nuts and white stones. His body became covered in hair. After several years, he felt homesick for his elderly mother and returned home. Gradually, he resumed eating cooked food but continued to consume stones as before. He would pick up a stone and look at it in the sunlight to determine if it was sweet or bitter, sour or salty. Eating them was like eating yams. After his mother’s passing, he returned to the deep mountains, and it has been seventeen or eighteen years since.

《龁石》

新城王钦文太翁家，有圉人王姓，幼入劳山学道。久之，不火食，惟啖松子及白石。遍体生毛。既数年，念母老归里，渐复火食，犹啖石如故。向日视之，即知石之甘苦酸咸，如啖芋然。母死，复入山，今又十七八年矣。