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

Overview

A maiden carried away by a cyclone wakes on the summit of a ruined pagoda near Lo Yang beside a polite young man dressed as a student. He asks her to marry him, but she repeatedly refuses. He keeps her confined high above the ground, removing steps and blocking openings, while bringing provisions, fine clothes, cosmetics and jewels. A luminous stone lights the summit at night. His gifts do not change her wish to escape.

When he once forgets to close a window, she observes his departure. The student becomes an ogre with red hair, a coal-black face, protruding eyes, a blood-red mouth and crooked white fangs. Wings emerge from his shoulders; he flies to the ground and resumes human form. The girl attracts a passer-by’s attention by dropping her old clothes from the tower. He recognizes a possible connection with his neighbour’s missing daughter and takes them to her parents.

Her brother waits in hiding and wounds the captor’s arm with an axe as it again changes into the winged form. The ogre roars and flees to the western hills. With neighbours and a ladder, the brother bridges the missing stairway and brings his sister home. The ending does not say that the ogre was killed. The source note identifies this particular being as a Yakscha or Fe Tian Ya Tscha; those edition spellings are retained without inventing Chinese characters or making its exact anatomy universal to all yakshas.

Human student disguiseWinged red-haired ogre formFlees wounded, not reported dead
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 Maiden Who Was Stolen Away, pp.196–199; 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 Maiden Who Was Stolen Away, pp.196–199

Full narrative/ending/note read in wilhelm-LVII.txt and29939.html. Witnessed appearances separated from pursuer accusation and inferred outcome; no anatomy borrowed from adjacent story.

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 Maiden Who Was Stolen Away, pp.196–199Research access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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

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