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

Overview

Feng frees an enormous captured turtle marked with a white spot on its forehead. He later meets a drunken, belligerent stranger who claims to have been magistrate of Nan-tu. On learning Feng's name, the stranger turns respectful and takes him home, where servants call him Eighth Prince. The prince blames his imperial disgrace and banishment on his past heavy drinking.

In repayment, the prince spits out a tiny man an inch high and presses it into a scratch on Feng's arm, which heals into a scar. When Feng leaves, the house, the village and his host all vanish, and a great turtle enters the water. Feng can now see buried treasure, and even down into hell, and knows the names of unfamiliar objects. He grows rich from his finds.

Feng also finds a mirror that holds the reflected faces of women. His capture of a princess's likeness draws him into a dangerous marriage dispute, though the story does not say the prince made the mirror. In a later dream, the prince says he has given up wine for three years on Feng's advice. He takes back the gift because keeping it would threaten Feng's life, and Feng wakes to find the scar gone.

Enormous turtle with a white forehead markHuman guise as a drunken, disgraced princeGrants and later withdraws a treasure-seeing gift
01

Origins & earliest records

A narrative from Pu Songling's collection, read in Herbert A. Giles's 1880 English translation, Volume II, story LXVI.

02

Records & interpretation

A single public-domain translation with Giles's editorial notes. No earlier manuscript or oral source was examined.

Selected bibliography

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

  1. 01

    Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio

    Pu Songling; translated by Herbert A. Giles · 1880

    Selected bibliography; primary translation, Volume II, pp. 28–35.

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.

References

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

  1. Primary text, public-domain translationStrange Stories from a Chinese Studio, volumes I and II (plain text)Research access: 2026-10-06
  2. Catalogue recordStrange Stories from a Chinese Studio, catalogue recordResearch access: 2026-10-06

Image credits

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

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