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Overview

A teacher temporarily housed outside a village near Sutschoufu sees a light beside the river and discovers that it comes from a coffin. Imagining valuable burial jewels, he breaks its lid. Inside lies a young man with a paper-white face, a mourning turban, hempen clothing and straw sandals. The corpse sits up and pursues the frightened teacher back to his lodging.

After locking the door, the teacher looks from an upstairs window and sees the corpse against the wall below. It notices the open window and leaps inside. The teacher falls down the stairs and loses consciousness, while the corpse falls onto the upper room’s floor. The account does not describe a bite, blood-drinking, rigid hopping or the use of a talisman; its movement is a chase followed by a single leap into the room.

When pupils arrive the next morning, they break into the silent house and eventually revive their teacher. The corpse is removed and burned beyond the village, and its remaining bones are placed back in the coffin. The teacher resigns and returns home, resolving against greed. An attached note attributes the account to Su Tsi Hia and explains the dead youth’s mourning clothes through a local custom for children who die before their parents. That explanation is the edition’s reported funerary context, not proof that the clothing itself caused the corpse to move.

Rises from a disturbed coffinPursues and leaps through a windowWears mourning clothes
01

Origins & earliest records

Chinese tales mediated by Richard Wilhelm and Frederick H. Martens

02

Records & interpretation

Complete tale and its attached source note read in the retained1921-edition transcription.

Selected bibliography

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

  1. 01

    The Chinese Fairy Book

    Richard Wilhelm, editor; Frederick H. Martens, translator · 1921

    The Punishment of Greed, pp.184–186; New York, Frederick A. Stokes Company

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 historical translated tale

Richard Wilhelm/Frederick H. Martens, The Chinese Fairy Book (Stokes1921)

Ghost Stories. The Punishment of Greed, pp.184–186

Complete source ending/note read in wilhelm-LIV.txt and29939.html. No assumed fixed species anatomy, independently verified Chinese text, or additional ending.

Inspect the digitized plate · Source collection manifest

References

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

  1. Historical translated taleWilhelm/Martens, The Chinese Fairy Book, The Punishment of Greed, pp.184–186Research access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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