Chinese Fairy Tales and Fantasies (Pantheon Fairy Tale and Folklore Library) (37 page)

Initial consonants may require a little explanation.
p’, t’, k’, ch’
, and
ts
’ come before vowels with a strong puff of breath:
p
’ as in
p
ooh;
t
’ as in
t
attle;
k
’ as in
kh
aki;
ch
’ as in
ch
alk;
ts
’ as in lo
ts
of. When pronounced without the strong puff or breath, these sounds are written without the ’:
p
as in s
p
ot;
t
as in s
t
all;
k
as in s
k
y; ch like the
g
in
g
em;
ts
is like the
ds
in wor
ds; j
at the beginning of a word resembles the final
ih
mentioned above. (Again the
rr
of whi
rr
is a close approximation, but the lips are not rounded as they always are to pronounce the English
r
.)
hs
is the same as
sh
, coming only before
i
and
ü
. Thus,
hsi
sounds like
she
with the lips retracted.

Other initial consonants and the final consonants are pronounced as in English.

List of Sources

The Cricket (Ts’u Chih), Liao Chai Chih I (hereafter LCCI), early Ch’ing, late 17th century
A.D
.

The Waiting Maid’s Parrot (Ch’in Chi Liao), Ying Ch’üan I Ts’ao, Ch’ing, late 18th century
A.D
.

Sea Prince (Hai Kung Tzu), LCCI

A Girl in Green (Lü I Nü), LCCI

Butterfly Dreams, Chuang Tzu, Chan Kuo period, 4th century
B.C
.

Suited to Be a Fish (Hsüeh Wei/Yü Fu Chi), Hsü Hsüan Kuai Lu (hereafter HHKL), late T’ang, early 9th century
A.D
.

Li Ching and the Rain God (Li Wei Kung Ching), HHKL

Jade Leaves, Lieh Tzu, Chin, late 3rd-early 4th centuries
A.D
.

The Wizard’s Lesson (Tu Tzu-ch’un), HHKL

The Priest of Hardwork Mountains (Lao Shan Tao Shih), LCCI

White Lotus Magic (Pai Lien Chiao), LCCI

The Peach Thief (T’ou T’ao), LCCI

The Magic Pear Tree (Chung Li), LCCI

The Wine Well (Hsin Kao), Hsüeh T’ao Hsiao Shuo from Chiu Hsiao

Shuo, Ming

Gold, Gold, Lieh Tzu

Stump Watching, Han Fei Tzu, Chan Kuo period, 3rd century
B.C
.

Buying Shoes, Han Fei Tzu

The Missing Axe, Lieh Tzu

Overdoing It, Chan Kuo Ts’e, Chan Kuo period, 5th to 3rd centuries
B.C
.

The Horsetrader, Chan Kuo Ts’e

The Silver Swindle (Ch’i P’ien), Hsin Ch’i Hsieh from Li Tai Hsiao Shuo

Pi Chi Hsüan, Ch’ing, late 18th century
A.D
.

The Family’s Fortune (Wang Hsin), Hsüeh T’ao Hsiao Shuo

The Leaf, Hsiao Lin, San Kuo, Wei, 220-265
A.D
.

The Tiger Behind the Fox, Chan Kuo Ts’e

Rich Man of Sung, Han Fei Tzu

The Flying Bull (Niu Fei), LCCI

Social Connections (Lien Kuei Ku Huo), Shan Chai K’o T’an, Ch’ing

A Small Favor (Ting Ch’ien-hsi), LCCI

Pitted Loquats (Wu He P’i Pa), Ch’iu Teng Ts’ung Hua, Ch’ing

Memory Trouble (Ping Wang), Ai Tzu Hou Yü from Chiu Hsiao Shuo, Ming

Medical Techniques (I Shu), LCCI

The Lost Horse, Huai Han, Tzu, early Han 2nd century
B.C
.

The Deer in the Dream, Lieh Tzu

Loss of Memory, Lieh Tzu

The Sun, Lieh Tzu

A Faithful Mouse (I Shu), LCCI

The Loyal Dog (I Ch’üan), LCCI

Black and White, Lieh Tzu

The Dog Goes to Court (I Ch’üan Chi), Yü Ch’u Hsin Chih, Ch’ing

The Tale of the Trusty Tiger (I Hu Chi), Chiu Hsiao Shuo, Ch’ing

The Repentant Tiger of Chaoch’eng (Chao Ch’eng Hu), LCCI

Tiger Boys (Hua Hu Chi), Yü Ch’u Hsin Chih

Human Bait (I Jen Wei Ni), Hsin Ch’i Hsieh

Educated Frogs and Martial Ants (Ha Ma Chiao Shu I P’ai Chen), Hsin

Ch’i Hsieh

The Snakeman (She Jen), LCCI

The North Country Wolf (Chung Shan Lang), Tung T’ien Man Kao, Ming

Counselor to the Wolves (Lang Chün Shih), Hsin Ch’i Hsieh

Monkey Keeper, Lieh Tzu

Man and Beast, Lieh Tzu

Man or Beast, Lieh Tzu

The Fish Rejoice, Chuang Tzu

Wagging My Tail in the Mud, Chuang Tzu

Li Chi Slays the Serpent, Sou Shen Chi, Chin

The Black General (Kuo Yüan-chen/Wu Chiang Chün), Hsüan Kuai

Lu, late T’ang

The Master and the Serving Maid (Liu Ch’ing), Luan Yang Hsü Lu from Chiu Hsiao Shuo, Ch’ing

A Cure for Jealousy (I Chi), Hsin Ch’i Hsieh

The Fortune Teller (Suan Ming Te Tzu), Cho Keng Lu from Li Tai Hsiao Shuo Pi Chi Hsüan, Yüan

A Dead Son, Lieh Tzu

The Golden Toothpick (Chin Pi Tz’u Jou), Cho Keng Lu

The King’s Favorite, Han Fei Tzu

The Divided Daughter (Li Hun Chi), T’ang Jen Hsiao Shuo, late T’ang

The Scholar’s Concubine (Kung-sun Hsia), LCCI

Three Former Lives (San Sheng), LCCI

The Monk from Everclear (Ch’ang Ch’ing Seng), LCCI

The Monk’s Sins (Seng Nieh), LCCI

The Truth About Ghosts (Ch’en Tsai-heng), Chin Hu Ch’i Mo, Ch’ing

Sung Ting-po Catches a Ghost (Sung Ting-po Cho Kuei), Sou Shen Chi, Chin

The Man Who Couldn’t Catch a Ghost (Kuei Pi Chiang San-mang), Yüeh Wei Ts’ao T’ang, Ch’ing

Ai Tzu and the Temple Ghost, Ai Tzu Tsa Shuo, Sung

Escaping Ghosts (Yü Ssu Pi Kuei), Ch’i Hsiu Lei Kao, Ming

Test of Conviction, Sou Shen Chi

Drinking Companions (Wang Liu-lang), LCCI

The Censor and the Tiger (Li Cheng), Hsüan Shih Chih, late T’ang

Underworld Justice (Hsi Fang-p’ing), LCCI

Sharp Sword (K’uai Tao), LCCI

The Skull, Chuang Tzu

The Sheep Butcher and His King, Chuang Tzu

The Prime Minister’s Coachman, Shih Chi, early Han

The Royal Jewel, Shih Chi

Country of Thieves, Shih Chi

Strategy, Tso Chuan, Spring and Autumn period, fifth century
B.C
.

Buying Loyalty, Chan Kuo Ts’e

The Groom’s Crimes, Yen Tzu Ch’un Ch’iu, Spring and Autumn period

The Chain, Shuo Yüan, early Han

Hearsay, Lieh Tzu

Dreams, Lieh Tzu

The Mortal Lord, Lieh Tzu

One Word Solves a Mystery (P’ien Yen Che Yü), Chih Shan Ch’ien Wen from Chiu Hsiao Shuo, Ming

A Wise Judge (Nieh Yi-tao), Shan Chü Hsin Hua from Chiu Hsiao Shuo, Yüan

A Clever Judge (Ch’en Shu-ku), Meng Chi Pi T’an, Sung

A Fine Phoenix, Hsiao Lin, San Kuo, Wei

Sun Tribute, Lieh Tzu

An Unofficial History of the Confucian Academy, chapter 1 of the Ju Lin Wai Shih, Ch’ing

Nature, Po Wu Chih, Chin

Civilization, Lieh Tzu

About the Translator

Moss Roberts is Associate Professor of Chinese and Director of East Asian Studies at New York University. He received his Ph.D. from Columbia University and also did advanced work in the Oriental Languages Department at Berkeley. He is the author of several articles on Chinese philosophy and philology, and has translated
Mao Zedong’s Critique of Soviet Economics
and the epic drama
Three Kingdoms
.