P'ei Hang

During the reign of the T'ang emperor Mu Tsung (821--825) a young scholar named P'ei Hang was making his way back to the capital after failing the imperial examinations. On the same boat was a certain Madame Fan, a woman of exceptional beauty. Wishing to make her acquaintance, P'ei Hang wrote her some verses expressing his admiration.

A few days later the lady arranged for an interview with the young scholar. "My husband is in Hannan," she told him, "soon to retire from office into the mountains to practice the Way. He's sent for me to bid farewell. Troubled by these cares, I am in no mood for idle frivolity and trust you will refrain from making further sport of me." She then left him a poem of her own:

One sip of the precious elixir and a host of emotions arise.

The mysterious powder thoroughly pestled the Cloudy Petal appears.

Indigo Bridge is that immortal's dwelling.

What need to journey to the Jade Capital?

P'ei Hang was filled at once with shame and admiration, even though he didn't fully comprehend the poem's meaning.

At Hsianghan the lady had her servant pack her bags and left without a word. P'ei Hang tried to follow but she had vanished without a trace.

Later, passing by the post station at Indigo Bridge, he came upon a thatched cottage before which an old woman was weaving hemp. Thirsty, he greeted her and asked for some water. "Cloudy Petal," the old woman called, "fetch the gentleman a pot of tea!"

Just as P'ei Hang was recovering from his surprise at the name, he saw a pair of jade-smooth hands holding a cup of tea out through the doorway's rush curtain. The tea was as delicious as a precious elixir. As he handed back the cup, P'ei Hang suddenly lifted the curtain. There he saw a radiant young woman, lovely beyond words.

P'ei Hang begged the old woman to let him stay and rest from his travels. After a while he came to the point: "The young lady I saw just now is so startlingly beautiful I couldn't bring myself to leave. I pray you will accept a generous wedding gift and let me take her as my wife."

"I am old and infirm," the old woman said, "and have only this granddaughter to keep me company. But yesterday a fairy immortal gave me a magic drug. He said that I could take a dose of it if I ground it for a hundred days in a jade mortar. If you really want the girl, just give me a jade mortar and pestle. Silks and gold to me are nothing."

P'ei Hang thanked the old woman excitedly and promised to find what she wanted. Then he rushed straight to the capital, where he did nothing but ask after the jade mortar set. But day after day passed fruitlessly, and P'ei Hang became ever more desperate. At last he met an old jade seller who suggested he go to a distant town and seek out someone named "Old Pien."

P'ei Hang went there immediately, but the old man demanded an exorbitant price. P'ei Hang spent all his savings and sold his horse and his servant to conclude the sale. The goods in hand at last, he rushed back to Indigo Bridge.

When the old woman saw him, she laughed and agreed to the marriage at once. The girl smiled and said, "Please grind the powder a hundred days first and then we'll talk about the marriage."

The old woman gave P'ei Hang the powder and he pounded it in the mortar. When night fell she took it back inside, where the sound of pestling continued. Curious, P'ei Hang peeked through a crack in the door. Inside he saw a jade rabbit working the mortar in a room filled with brilliant light.

When the hundred days were over, the old woman drank the potion and said, "Wait here. We're going to the mountains to tell our relatives and prepare for the wedding."

Not long after, a carriage and servants came to take P'ei Hang up to the mountains. He arrived at a splendid building that soared into the clouds, with crimson doors glinting in the sun. Inside were folded screens and precious rarities and jewels. Led before the old woman, P'ei Hang bowed and wept with emotion.

"Master P'ei is a descendant of the Taoist adept P'ei the Clear and Cold," she told him. "You were destined to transcend the mortal world. Don't be amazed."

When P'ei Hang was taken to meet his new relatives, he found they were all celestial beings and immortals.

"Don't you recognize me?" one fairy in a rainbow dress asked. "We once rode the same boat together."

"That's your bride's elder sister," someone told him. "She's the wife of the Taoist Master Liu Kang and lady-in-waiting to the Jade Emperor." P'ei was thoroughly abashed.

The old woman then led him into the bridal chamber. Residing in bejeweled halls and supping on ambrosial elixirs, P'ei Hang gradually purified his corporeal substance until at last he too became an immortal.

A few years later P'ei Hang's old friend Lu Hao came across him near Indigo Bridge. They talked the whole day through. P'ei Hang gave his friend ten pounds of Blue Field jade, a piece of cloudy cinnabar from the Purple Mansion, and some letters to pass on to his friends and relatives.

"Now that you have achieved the Way, could you teach me?" Lu Hao asked.

"Lao Tzu said we must empty our minds and fill our stomachs," P'ei Hang replied. "People's minds today are so full of complications they can't attain the Way. But they can still achieve immortality by alchemical techniques. Only I can't tell you right now. We'll talk about it some other time." So saying P'ei Hang vanished.

This story, taken from the Lieh hsien ch'uan chuan, or Biographies of Various Immortals, is typical of many ancient Chinese tales about fairies and immortals in its rich imagination and dynamic movement. P'ei Hang's last words especially are worth reflecting on.