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The man who was thrown down
a well (2)
They then invited Tai to go with them; and when he said
he couldn't because of the water, they bore him along over
it so that he hardly seemed to walk. After twisting and
turning about for nearly a quarter of a mile, he reached a
place at which the Wills bade him walk by himself; and then
he appeared to mount a flight of steps, at the top of which
he found himself in an apartment lighted by a candle as thick as one's arm.
Not having seen the light of fire for some time, he was
overjoyed and walked in; but observing an old man in a scholar's dress
and cap seated in the post of honor, he stopped, not liking to
advance further. But the old man had already caught sight of
him, and asked him how he, a living man, had come there. Tai
threw himself on the ground at his feet, and told him all; where-
upon the old man cried out, "My great-grandson!" He then bade
him get up; and offering him a seat, explained that his own name
was Tai Chien, and that he was otherwise known as Lung-fei. He
said, moreover, that in days gone by a worthless grandson of his
named Tang had associated himself with a lot of scoundrels and
sunk a well near his grave, disturbing the peace of his everlasting
night; and that therefore he had flooded the place with salt water
and drowned them. He then inquired as to the general condition
of the family at that time.
Now Tai was a descendant of one of five brothers, from the
eldest of whom Tang himself was also descended; and an influential man of the place had bribed Tang to open a mine alongside
the family grave. His brothers were afraid to interfere; and by-
and-by the water rose and drowned all the workmen; whereupon
actions for damages were commenced by the relatives of the
deceased, and Tang and his friend were reduced to poverty, and
Tang's descendants to absolute destitution. Tai was a son of one
of Tang's brothers, and having heard this story from his seniors,
now repeated it to the old man. "How could they be otherwise
than unfortunate," cried the latter, "with such an unfilial
progenitor ? But since you have come hither, you must on no
account neglect your studies."
The old man then provided him with food and wine, and
spreading a volume of essays according to the old style before
him, bade him study it most carefully. He also gave him themes
for composition, and corrected his essays as if he had been his
tutor. The candle remained always burning in the room, never
needing to be snuffed and never decreasing. When he was tired he
went to sleep, but he never knew day from night. The old man
occasionally went out, leaving a boy to attend his great-
grandson's wants.
It seemed that several years passed away thus, but Tai
had no troubles of any kind to annoy him. He had no other
book except the volume of essays, one hundred in all, which
he read through more than four thousand times. One day the
old man said to him, "Your term of expiation is nearly
completed, and you will be able to return to the world
above. My grave is near the coal-mine, and the grosser
breeze plays upon my bones. Remember to remove them to the
eastern plain."' Tai promised he would see to this; and then
the old man summoned all the shades together and instructed
them to escort Tai back to the place where they had found
him. The shades now bowed one after the other, and begged Tai to think of them as well, while Tai himself was quite at a
loss to guess how he was going to get out.
Meanwhile, Tai's family had searched for him everywhere,
and his mother had brought his case to the notice of the
officials, thereby implicating a large number of persons;
but without finding any trace of the missing man. Three or
four years passed away, and there was a change of
magistrate; in consequence of which the search was relaxed,
and Tai's wife, not being happy where she was, married
another husband. Just then an inhabitant of the place set
about repairing the old well, and found Tai's body in the
cave at the bottom. Touching it, he found it was not dead,
and at once gave information to the family. Tai was promptly conveyed home, and within a day he could tell his own story.
Since he had been down the well, the neighbor who pushed
him in had beaten his own wife to death; and his
father-in-law having brought an action against him, he had
been in confinement for more than a year while the case was being investigated.
When released he was a mere bag of bones; and then hearing Tai
had come back to life, he was terribly alarmed and fled away.
The family tried to persuade Tai to take proceedings against him,
but this he would not do, alleging that what had befallen him was
a proper punishment for his own bad behavior, and had nothing
to do with the neighbor.
Upon this, the said neighbor ventured to return; and when the
water in the well had dried up, Tai hired men to go down and
collect the bones, which he put in coffins and buried all together in
one place. He next hunted up Mr. Lung-fei's name in the family
tables of genealogy, and proceeded to sacrifice all kinds of nice
things at his tomb. By-and-by the Literary Chancellor` heard this
strange story, and was also very pleased with Tai's compositions;
accordingly, Tai passed successfully through his examinations,
and, having taken his master's degree, returned home and reburied
Mr. Lung-fei on the eastern plain, repairing thither regularly every
spring without fail.
Tai promised that if he had the luck to escape he would do as
they wished; "but how," cried he, "situated as I am, can I ever
hope to look again upon the light of day?" He then began to
teach the Wills to say their prayers, making for them beads' out
of bits of mud, in order to keep record of the number of invocations uttered. He could not tell night from morning; he slept
when he felt tired, and when he waked he sat up. Suddenly, he
perceived in the distance the light of lamps, at which the shades
all rejoiced, and said, "It is Mr. Lung-fei with our food."
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