Cats Speak Human Language
This Qing Dynasty comic tells a funny folk tale about two old cats.
In Chinese #folklore, a cat living past twelve years becomes a demon, speaking human language.
yaoguai
Encountering a Dragon at Sea and Shooting it in the Eye.
This Qing Dynasty comic tells the story of people encountering a dragon at sea and shooting it in the eye.
Yu/顒
In the mountains, there is a bird that looks like an owl. It has a human face, four eyes, and ears. Its name is 顒(Yu). The sound it makes is like it is calling its own name. Whenever it appears, there will be a drought in the world.
又東四百裏，曰令丘之山，無草木，多火。其南有谷焉，曰中谷，條風自是出。有鳥焉，其狀如梟，人面四目而有耳，其名曰顒，其鳴自號也，見則天下大旱。
《山海經 南次三經》
Zhu/鴸
There is a bird that looks like a hawk, but it has human hands. Its voice sounds like the buzzing of a fly. Its name is 鴸(Zhu). It calls out, as if it is calling its own name. Wherever this bird appears, many people in that county will be exiled.
有鳥焉，其狀如鴟而人手，其音如痺，其名曰鴸，其鳴自號也，見則其縣多放士。
《山海經 南次二經》
NiaoShuTongXue/鳥鼠同穴
In the Classic of Mountains and Seas, it is written: 'A mountain where birds and mice live together, and where the Wei River flows out.' It is named after the birds and mice that live together in the same hole.
Nine-Tailed Snake
There was a man named Mao Ba(茅八) who, in his youth, went to Jiangxi to trade paper. In the deep mountains of Jiangxi, there were many paper mills. The people in the mills would close the doors as the sun set and warned Mao Ba not to go out, telling him, ‘There are many strange things in the mountains, not just ordinary tigers and wolves.’
One night, the moonlight was very bright, and Mao Ba couldn’t sleep.
The Spirit of Flowers
A scholar named Xie from Wuyuan(婺源) was studying on Mount Zhanggong(張公山). One morning, he heard the chirping of birds in the woods, resembling the cries of parrots. Upon approaching, he discovered a beautiful woman, about five inches tall, naked and without feathers, her entire body pure white like jade. Between her eyebrows, there was a look of sadness. Xie captured her and brought her home. Surprisingly, the woman showed no sign of fear.
The Fox Immortal Keeps Accounts
A man named Zhang from Hezhou traveled to Yangzhou(揚州) and stayed at the Xingjiao Temple(興教寺). The monks’ quarters in the temple were haunted by a fox immortal, so no one dared to stay there. Zhang, with his carefree personality, decided to reside in the monk’s room.
Not long after Zhang moved in, an old man claiming to be Wu Gangzi(吳剛子) came to visit. After exchanging greetings with a bow, they began to converse.
The Horizontal Inscribed Board Yaoguai
In Hangzhou, there was a scholar named Sun who, on a summer night, was reading in his study. He felt something crawling on his forehead and, upon brushing it with his hand, saw countless strands of white beard hanging down from the plaque on the ceiling. On the plaque was a large face, about the size of a seven-stone jar, with eyebrows and eyes like an ordinary person, smiling and looking down.
The Thunder God is Defiled
Shen Yutan(沈雨潭) also said, on a day in the twenty-seventh year of Qianlong, thunder and lightning raged, and thunderbolts spun over the Huai’an(淮安) Orphanage. It was about to strike an old woman in the courtyard. At that time, this old woman was urinating. Suddenly, a loud thunder directly struck above her head. The old woman panicked, immediately lifted the chamber pot, and threw it in the direction of the thunder. Afterwards, a golden-armored Thunder God circled around the roof for a few rounds and then landed on the ground.
ChaoFeng/嘲风: Danger-Loving Watcher on the Eaves
ChaoFeng is a mythical creature in ancient Chinese mythology, known as the third son among the dragon's nine sons. It is enjoys danger and also delights in vigilance, often depicted adorning the corners of temples with its distinctive form.
The Fox Daoist
In the maternal family of Fa Jiasun(法嘉蓀)’s grandmother, there was a nephew named Sun who was a wealthy man in the local area. In the early Qing Dynasty, piracy was rampant along the coastal areas, so Sun moved his family to Jintan(金壇). One day, an old man surnamed Hu, accompanied by dozens of descendants and servants, along with some valuable luggage, passed by Sun’s house. The old man claimed to be from Shanxi(山西) and, due to the chaos of war, couldn’t proceed further, requesting to borrow an empty room in Sun’s house for temporary residence.