A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.
Overview
A scholar travelling to the Nanking examination meets three refined graduates in Pu Songling’s tale, here followed in Giles’s1880 translation. They introduce themselves as Chieh Ch’in-hêng, Ch’ang Fêng-lin and Ma Hsi-ch’ih. After he buys wine for them, Chieh offers hospitality at a nearby house beside flowing water. The four write essays on exchanged themes, and the traveller copies his companions’ exceptionally accomplished work before their drinking resumes.
He wakes with his servant in a hillside hollow rather than the furnished house. A hole and small stream remain, as do the copied essays in his pocket. Local inquiries identify the place as the grotto of three genii—crab, snake and frog—who sometimes appear to people. The final examination uses precisely the three themes, and the scholar finishes first. The account supports a grouped animal-spirit encounter and supernatural foreknowledge, but does not separately narrate the transformations or explicitly map each human name to one animal. The companions are not three ordinary graduates merely because they initially appear as such.
Origins & earliest records
Pu Songling’s literary collection in Giles’s selected translation.
Records & interpretation
Complete English account and all notes read; full introduction and transcriber notice checked.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio
Volume I, pp.214–216; XXVII, The Three Genii; electronic notes186–187; complete account 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
Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio
London: Thos. de la Rue,1880, two volumes. I, pp.214–216; XXVII, The Three Genii; electronic notes186–187
Cache giles-story-027.txt and master giles-studio-43629.html. Global name/motif dedup clear. No individual animal-name assignment or frog/deity identity supplied beyond source. Chinese not collated.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- Historical literary translationStrange Stories from a Chinese Studio — I, pp.214–216; XXVII, The Three Genii; electronic notes186–187Research access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.