The picture horse

Overview

A black horse marked with white repeatedly enters Mr. Ts’ui’s neglected garden in Pu Songling’s story, here read in Giles’s1880 translation. Its shortened tail looks scorched. Too poor to own a mount for a long journey, Ts’ui saddles the visitor and rides it to a friend in Shansi. It travels unusually fast and shows little interest in food; when he restrains its pace out of concern, it kicks and foams until allowed to run. The narrative does not give it speech or claim that it flies.

After initially refusing to sell another person’s possible property, Ts’ui accepts eight hundred ounces of silver from a prince when six months pass without a claimant. Later the horse escapes while on business near its original home. Its pursuing keeper sees it enter the neighbouring Tsêng household and disappear. There he finds a painting attributed in the translation to Tzŭ-ang, showing the same horse with part of its tail burned by an incense stick. The matching damage supplies the story’s connection between picture and living mount; no artist’s act of enchantment is described.

The keeper threatens proceedings because he cannot return with the horse. Ts’ui, whose sale proceeds have meanwhile increased greatly, refunds the original price and saves his neighbour from trouble. Tsêng thanks him without knowing of his earlier sale. The ending thus resolves an ownership problem rather than destroying the supernatural horse. Giles’s short comparison of the painter to Landseer is a translator’s analogy, not an identification of a Western artist or evidence that this particular painting survives.

Origins & earliest records

Pu Songling’s literary collection, in Giles’s selected English translation.

Records & interpretation

Complete English story and attached notes read; full introduction and transcriber notice checked.

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 and annotated by Herbert A. Giles · 1880

   Volume II, pp.286–288; CXXXVIII, The Picture Horse; electronic notes627–629; complete story and all attached notes read.

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

References

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

1. Historical literary translationStrange Stories from a Chinese Studio — II, pp.286–288; CXXXVIII, The Picture Horse; electronic notes627–629Research access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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