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Overview
After delivering a letter between the Lord of the Great Mountain and the river-god, Hu-Wu-Bau receives shoes that enable tireless travel and sight of spirits. On a later visit to the Mountain Lord’s palace he recognizes his deceased father among chained labourers. The father says he was punished for treading on bread and asks his son to secure release and appointment as field-god of their home village. The lord hears the request but warns that the living and the dead should not dwell together permanently.
Within about a year, nearly all Hu-Wu-Bau’s children die. He appeals again, and the lord summons his father. The resulting interrogation explicitly confirms that the former prisoner had indeed received the requested village office. Asked why he brought death rather than happiness, the father explains that he was delighted to return home and had abundant food and drink, so he called his grandchildren to join him. His affectionate intention therefore has a fatal consequence for the living children.
The Lord of the Great Mountain replaces him as the village’s field-god and assigns him elsewhere; the family suffers no further misfortune. The ending does not restore the dead grandchildren or say that every ancestral or field deity acts in this way. The unnamed father is an individual spirit whose office changes during the tale, distinct from the red-robed messenger, the green-clothed river attendant and the gods who direct them. The narrative records a particular account of dangerous proximity between living relatives and the dead.
Origins & earliest records
Chinese tales mediated by Richard Wilhelm and Frederick H. Martens
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.
- 01
The Chinese Fairy Book
The Dangerous Reward, pp.174–177; New York, Frederick A. Stokes Company
Family, evolution & connections
Hu-Wu-Bau’s field-god father — Wilhelm/Martens LI
Complete The Dangerous Reward narrative and accompanying note, pp.174–177.
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- Hu-Wu-Bau
- His unnamed children, nearly all later dead
Explicit father–son identification and the Mountain Lord’s express identification of grandchildren. The father and grandchildren have no personal names, and the children’s number and sexes are unstated. The text says nearly all children die, not all. The Mountain Lord and river-god’s separate family is not joined to this pedigree.
Hu-Wu-Bau
Hu-Wu-Bau recognizes the deceased man as his father and petitions for his release. The father later receives a field-god appointment; neither his personal name nor Hu-Wu-Bau’s mother is supplied.
Hu-Wu-Bau’s unnamed children
The Mountain Lord expressly calls Hu-Wu-Bau’s children the field-god’s grandchildren. Nearly all die after the grandfather calls them to him; the text does not name or count them, and does not say every child died.
Primary records and illustrations
Richard Wilhelm/Frederick H. Martens, The Chinese Fairy Book (Stokes1921)
Ghost Stories. The Dangerous Reward, pp.174–177
Complete tale including ending/source note read in wilhelm-LI.txt and29939.html. Religious offices and reported narrative identities distinguished; no uninspected original-language version claimed.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- Historical translated taleWilhelm/Martens, The Chinese Fairy Book, The Dangerous Reward, pp.174–177Research access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.