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

Overview

After Tse-ring deliberately harms a nestling and then nurses it to imitate his fortunate neighbour, the bird brings grain. He plants it expecting jewels. Instead, a fierce-looking man appears in the growing bed with a bundle of documents. He identifies himself as a creditor from one of Tse-ring’s former existences and takes his house, animals, land and possessions, making the man a slave in his household.

The story calls the claimant an apparition and gives the debt a previous-life setting, but it does not say that he is a particular named deity, a judge of all the dead or a transformed sparrow. The later supposed transformation of Tse-ring’s son into a monkey is a separate trick staged by Cham-ba, not another act of this apparition.

Apparition produced by a punitive crop who enforces an old debtSpecific translated narrative
01

Origins & earliest records

Tibet; collected historical narrative

02

Records & interpretation

Full relevant tale and collection preface directly read.

Selected bibliography

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

  1. 01

    Folk Tales from Tibet

    W. F. O’Connor, collector and translator · 1906

    IV, The Story of the Two Neighbours, pp.20–25

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

Direct primary record

W. F. O’Connor, Folk Tales from Tibet (1906)

IV, The Story of the Two Neighbours. pp.20–25

Entire tale and collection preface read. First sparrow explicitly fairy in disguise; second parallels its speaking grain gift. Creditor appears from crop and claims past-life debt. Later monkey substitution explicitly a human trick. Original paraphrase; historical colonial collector mediation retained.

Inspect the digitized plate · Source collection manifest

References

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

  1. Historical tale collectionO’Connor, Folk Tales from Tibet, IV, The Story of the Two Neighbours, pp.20–25Research access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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

FT·1533 · RESEARCH EDITION 01Back to top ↑