A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

Overview

Aduan, a sixteen-year-old festival performer, drowns and enters the underwater household of the Prince of the Dragon’s Cave without understanding that he has died. Trained as a dancer, he falls in love with Rose of Evening, a young singer and dancer who had likewise disappeared into the river. They meet secretly among the lotus plants until she is retained at another river king’s court. Separated from Aduan, she casts herself into the river and instead reaches its surface, where travellers rescue her.

Rose of Evening makes her way to Aduan’s mother and lives there as her daughter-in-law. Aduan later escapes the underwater realm through the river’s wall of water and rejoins her. His mother secretly opens his grave and finds his bones still inside: his return is not the recovery of his original body. Despite her fear that a departed spirit cannot have children, the couple have a son who looks like any other child.

Rose explains that garments from the dragon castle give departed spirits a dense covering that makes them appear alive. She says a special lime made from dragon horn could restore flesh over their bones, but they never obtain it. The couple become wealthy from selling Aduan’s jewel. When the Dragon Prince seeks to take Rose away, Aduan declares that they are both departed spirits. His lack of a shadow confirms his account in the narrative, and Rose is allowed to remain. Their final domestic life depends on these spirit forms, not on an accomplished bodily resurrection.

Drowned performers in an underwater courtSpirit clothing gives a living appearanceAduan casts no shadow; his original bones remain
01

Origins & earliest records

Chinese tales mediated by Richard Wilhelm and Frederick H. Martens

02

Records & interpretation

Complete tale and its attached source note read in the retained1921-edition transcription.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

  1. 01

    The Chinese Fairy Book

    Richard Wilhelm, editor; Frederick H. Martens, translator · 1921

    LXXIII, Rose of Evening, pp.284–292; New York, Frederick A. Stokes Company

Family & connections

A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.

Primary records and illustrations

Complete historical translated tale

Richard Wilhelm/Frederick H. Martens, The Chinese Fairy Book (Stokes1921)

Literary Fairy Tales. LXXIII, Rose of Evening, pp.284–292

Complete LXXIII/all notes read in wilhelm-LXXIII.txt and29939.html. Both dead identities explicitly established; proposed dragon-horn-lime restoration not carried out, son and shadow test retained.

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References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

  1. Historical translated taleWilhelm/Martens, The Chinese Fairy Book, LXXIII, Rose of Evening, pp.284–292Research access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

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