1. Wu Song, a brawny fellow from Qinghe County in Shandong, was on his way home to see his brother after a long absence. Feeling famished as he reached Jingyang Ridge in Guyang County, Wu stopped at an inn. The owner served him three large bowls of liquor and a huge helping of beef.
2. Wu guzzled down the whole lot. "Lovely stuff!" he bellowed, and called for more drink. "I can bring you more beef, sir," smiled the innkeeper, "but nothing more to drink I'm afraid. You see, this is known hereabouts as our 'hit-the-deck' brew, because after three bowls, that's what happens to most customers when they try to get up and leave."
3. Not impressed, Wu insisted on more liquor. After fifteen bowls he took up his stick and staggered out into the dusk. The innkeeper hurried after him, saying: "Sir, it's getting late. You'd better spend the night here. There's a tiger on the ridge and it's killed several dozen people. Wait till tomorrow and you can cross the ridge in a group with other travelers.
4. "Come off it!" snorted Wu Song. "Anyway, who cares about a blasted tiger!" The innkeeper could only shake his head and watch as Wu wobbled off up the road. After a while Wu passed an official notice warning about the tiger, and realized that the innkeeper had spoken the truth. He considered turning round but then thought better of it, worried that he'd look stupid if he went back to the inn.
5. A little further down the road, the alcohol began to overcome him, so he stretched out on a slab of rock for a snooze. Just then he heard a sinister rustling. He looked up to see a huge tiger, with bulging eyes and white fur on its forehead, emerge from the undergrowth. Suddenly Wu felt rather sober. Then the beast sprang.
6. Wu dodged just in time, but the creature attacked again, clawing and batting as it tried to bring Wu down. Again Wu jumped aside, and again the tiger leapt at him. Wu grabbed his stick and tried with all his might to smash it down on the tiger's head. Unfortunately he missed, and the stick broke on the slab of rock. With an angry roar, the tiger pounced again.
7. This time Wu caught the tiger by the head and started pummeling it with his fists and feet. After being hit by 50 or 60 hammer-like blows the beast lay sprawled on the ground, blood oozing from every orifice. Wu grabbed a branch and pounded the tiger some more, only stopping when he was sure it had breathed its last.
8. With what little strength he had left, Wu began to drag himself back down the ridge. Then he spotted two more tigers crouching in the tall grass. "Oh no!" he cried. "I'm history." But then the creatures stood up. It turned out they were hunters sent to kill the marauding tiger.
9. Wu told the hunters what had happened, and they carried him down from the ridge on a stretcher. Wu Song became famous throughout Guyang County as the man who had beaten a tiger to death, and the county magistrate appointed him to a command post in the army. Soon after that Wu ran into his brother, Wu Da, who had recently moved to Guyang to sell flat-bread. It was two blessings in one for Wu Song, but who could have guessed at the tragic events that would ensue?
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