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Overview

The unnamed bonze in Macgowan’s fourth tale arrives at the wealthy merchant Meng’s house as an elderly pilgrim requesting a few nights’ hospitality. His cultivated manners and kindness win the household’s affection, and he stays for months. He especially befriends Meng’s son Chin, teaching him moral lessons during walks and private conversations. In unused garden buildings, he has Chin collect unusually shaped tiles and bury them in the earthen floors. Chin finds the task childish but obeys because he respects his visitor.

When the bonze departs, he refuses Meng’s offered money. The narrator then identifies him as a fairy sent by the rulers of the Western Heaven to prepare for a coming family disaster. Meng subsequently loses his fortune through commercial failures and dies. His son’s proposed father-in-law repudiates their marriage agreement, but the daughter Water-Lily disguises herself as a beggar and eventually joins Chin and his widowed mother. When Chin considers selling the outbuildings, he discovers that all the buried tiles have become silver. The household regains prosperity; the fairy does not return to restore Meng to life.

This is an explicitly supernatural visitor in a monk’s guise, not a claim that Buddhist monks generally are fairies. Macgowan gives no personal name, Chinese original term or individual oral narrator for the figure. Water-Lily’s beggar appearance is an ordinary human disguise and is not treated as another transformation.

Appears as an elderly Buddhist pilgrimDeclines payment from his hostArranges buried tiles that become silverPrepares assistance before the household’s ruin
01

Origins & earliest records

China, as presented in J. Macgowan’s English literary retelling; individual teller unspecified

02

Records & interpretation

Complete chapter and ending read in the 1910 edition’s Gutenberg transcription; title and contents checked.

Selected bibliography

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

  1. 01

    Chinese Folk-Lore Tales

    J. Macgowan · 1910

    Chapter IV, THE FAIRY BONZE; complete chapter through restored fortune. Printed pagination unverified.

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 chapter and ending read; master title and contents checked

J. Macgowan, Chinese Folk-Lore Tales (Macmillan, 1910)

1910 English edition. Chapter IV, THE FAIRY BONZE; HTML heading #id00219; printed pagination unverified

Cache macgowan-4.txt. Explicit fairy disguised as monk, prospective tile arrangement and eventual silver discovery. Meng dies; only survivors’ fortune restored. Water-Lily ordinary disguise not supernatural.

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References

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

  1. Historical English literary retellingMacgowan, IV: The Fairy BonzeResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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