The talking pupils

Overview

In Pu Songling’s “The Talking Pupils,” followed here in Giles’s1880 English translation, Fang Tung loses his sight after persistently following and staring at a young woman in a carriage. Her attendant identifies her as the bride of a prince in the City of Immortals and throws dust into his eyes. Films grow over both pupils and remedies fail. Fang then repents of his conduct and studies a religious text with assistance, eventually achieving calm after a year. The later eye inhabitants arise within this moral and supernatural narrative; the story is not a medical explanation of blindness.

Fang hears a tiny voice complain of darkness from one eye, with an answer from the other suggesting a walk. He feels movement through his nostrils, and the voices later discuss the neglected flowers in his garden. His wife verifies that the flowers have withered, then watches two bean-sized people come down from his nose and run outside. On returning they fly up to his face, compared to insects entering their nests. This comparison describes their movement, not insect bodies or stated wings.

The inhabitants find the route inconvenient and discuss making a door. The right eye’s covering is too thick, but the left inhabitant opens its barrier, painfully restoring Fang’s sight on that side. Both pupils then occupy the left eye; the right remains blind, while the remaining eye sees better than both had previously. Fang thereafter gains a reputation for virtuous conduct. Giles’s concluding note generalizes the belief across China and proposes reflection in the pupil as its origin. Those are the translator’s broad claims, not independently established explanations or grounds for inventing a named species.

Origins & earliest records

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

Records & interpretation

Complete English story, attached notes and translator introduction read; no independent Chinese collation.

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

   II, The Talking Pupils, volume I pp.5–8; electronic notes41–43; 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, The Talking Pupils, volume I pp.5–8Research access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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