Help in Need

The tale places the Lake of the Maidens about twenty miles east of Gingdschou. It is several miles across, ringed by thick green thickets and tall forests, and its water is clear and dark blue. All kinds of strange creatures are sometimes seen in it. The local people built a temple there to the Dragon Princess, and in times of drought they all go there to pray for rain. Two hundred miles west of the city is another lake, whose god is called Tschauna and who works many wonders.

In the days of the Tang dynasty a magistrate named Dschou Bau governed Gingdschou. One summer, in the fifth month, clouds suddenly piled up in the sky like mountains, with dragons and serpents twisting among them as they rolled back and forth between the two lakes. Storms of wind and rain, thunder and lightning broke out; houses fell down, trees were torn up by the roots and the crops were badly damaged. Dschou Bau took the blame on himself and prayed to heaven to forgive his people.

On the fifth day of the sixth month he was sitting in his hall, hearing cases, when he suddenly felt very sleepy. He took off his hat and lay down on the cushions. The moment he closed his eyes, he saw a warrior in helmet and armour standing on the steps with a halberd in his hand. “A lady is waiting outside who wishes to come in,” said the warrior. “Who are you?” asked Dschou Bau. “I am your doorkeeper,” said the warrior. “I have done this duty in the invisible world for many years.”

Then two figures dressed in green came up the steps, knelt and said, “Our mistress has come to visit you.” Lovely clouds appeared, a fine rain fell and a wonderful scent filled the air. A lady of great beauty, in a simple gown, floated down from above with many servants, who waited on her as if she were a princess. Dschou Bau welcomed her, offered her a seat and served wine and food. But the lady sat staring in front of her with a sad, worried face.

At last she stood up and said, blushing, “I have lived near here for many years. A wrong has been done to me, and it makes me bold enough to ask you a favour, though I do not know whether you will help me.” “Tell me what it is,” said Dschou Bau. “If I can help, I will gladly do so.”

“For hundreds of years my family lived deep in the Eastern Sea,” she said, “but our treasures made men jealous, and our enemies drove us to the distant West. My father has done much good for people there and is greatly honoured. I am his ninth daughter. At sixteen I married the youngest son of the Rock Dragon, but my husband had a fiery temper, and within a year heaven punished him and he died. I went home to my parents. My father wanted me to marry again, but I had vowed to stay true to my husband’s memory. My parents were angry, so three years ago I came to live here.”

“Then that contemptible dragon Tschauna, who was looking for a wife for his youngest brother, tried to force his wedding gifts on me. I refused, but Tschauna won my father over, and my father promised me to him against my will. Tschauna came with his brother to carry me off by force. I met him with fifty faithful followers on the meadow outside the city, and we were beaten. I am afraid he will come again and drag me away. So I have found the courage to ask you to lend me your soldiers, so that I can drive off my enemies.”

“You come from a great family,” said Dschou Bau. “Have you no relatives who could help you, that you must turn to a mortal man?” “My relatives are many and famous,” she said. “If they came, they would rub out that scaly scoundrel like a clove of garlic. But my husband offended heaven and has not yet been pardoned, and my parents are against me, so I dare not call on my family.” Then Dschou Bau promised to help. The princess thanked him and left, and he woke up and sighed for a long time over his strange dream. The next day he sent fifteen hundred soldiers to guard the Lake of the Maidens.

On the seventh day of the month Dschou Bau rose early, while it was still dark, and seemed to glimpse a man outside his curtain. “I am the princess’s adviser,” said the man. “Thank you for sending soldiers to help us. But they are living men, and living men cannot fight invisible spirits. If you want to help us, you must send us the soldiers of yours who have died.”

Dschou Bau saw that this must be so. He had his secretary check the army rolls for soldiers who had fallen in battle, and they counted about two thousand foot soldiers and five hundred horsemen. He named Mong Yuan, an officer who had died, as their leader, wrote out the orders and burned the paper, to send them to the princess. The living soldiers he called back.

As the returning soldiers were lined up in the courtyard, one of them suddenly fell down unconscious and did not wake until the next morning. Then he said, “A man in red took me to the temple. The princess said: ‘I thank your master with all my heart for the ghost soldiers, but their leader Mong Yuan is no good. Yesterday the robbers came with three thousand men and beat him. Ask your master to send me a good general.’”

Since this fitted his dream so strangely, Dschou Bau decided to test it. He chose his best general, Dschong Tschong-Fu, to replace Mong Yuan. That evening he burned incense, poured out wine and gave the general’s soul into the princess’s service. On the twenty-sixth of the month news came from the general’s camp that he had suddenly died at midnight on the thirteenth. Dschou Bau was frightened and sent a man to find out more. He reported that though the weather was hot, the general’s body showed no sign of decay. So orders were given not to bury him.

Then one night an icy, ghostly wind blew up. It whirled sand and stones, broke trees and blew down houses, and flattened the corn in the fields. The storm raged all day, until a tremendous crash of thunder sounded and the sky cleared. At that very hour the general began to breathe again on his bed, and when his servants came running, he was alive.

“First,” he told them, “a man in a purple gown on a black horse came with a great escort and handed me a letter of appointment. ‘Our princess respectfully asks you to be her general,’ he said, and he piled up gifts in the courtyard: jade, brocade, silk clothes, saddles, horses, helmets and armour. I tried to refuse, but he would not hear of it. We drove a hundred miles, met three hundred armoured horsemen sent to escort me, and came to a great city where crowds packed the streets. We passed through more than a dozen gates before we reached the princess, who sat in great beauty among her attendants and asked me to command her army. I promised to obey.”

“While we were at the banquet a messenger burst in: ‘The robber Tschauna has invaded with ten thousand soldiers on foot and on horseback! Columns of fire and smoke mark his path!’ The guests went pale. The princess gave me two war horses, golden armour and the badges of a commander, and bowed to me. I called the captains together, mustered the army and rode out. I hid troops in ambush at several places. The enemy came on carelessly, proud of his last victory. I sent out my weakest soldiers first and let them be beaten to lure him on. Then light troops skirmished and fell back, and so he walked into the trap.”

“Drums and kettledrums sounded together, the ring closed round them on every side and the robber army was badly defeated. Only young Tschauna broke out of the circle, but my horsemen chased him and caught him. The princess reviewed the prisoners, and all her people came out to cheer her. Young Tschauna was about to be executed when a messenger galloped up with an order from the princess’s father to pardon him. She did not dare disobey, so he was sent home after swearing to give up his wicked plans.”

“I was given an estate with three thousand farmers, a palace, horses, jewels, servants, gardens and forests, and my officers were rewarded too. At a banquet the next day the princess sent me a cup of wine and said, ‘Without your master’s kindness and your courage, my fate would have been hard.’ Then she thanked me with tears. I asked for leave to see my family. She gave me a month and sent me off with a splendid escort. When I reached our own gate, thunder crashed, and I woke up.”

The general wrote an account of everything for Dschou Bau and passed on the princess’s thanks. After that he cared no more for worldly matters. He put his house in order and handed it over to his wife and son, and when the month had passed, he died without any sign of illness.

That same day one of his officers was out walking when he saw a great cloud of dust on the highway and flags and banners that darkened the sun. A thousand horsemen were escorting a man who rode proudly like a hero. When the officer looked at his face, it was General Dschong Tschong-Fu. He stepped quickly to the roadside to let them pass and watched them ride by. The horsemen took the road to the Lake of the Maidens, and there they vanished.

Where this story comes from

“Help in Need” is in Richard Wilhelm’s The Chinese Fairy Book (English by Frederick H. Martens, 1921). Wilhelm’s note connects Dschou Bau’s self-blame to the idea that a magistrate answered for his district’s welfare. It also interprets the combined drums and kettledrums as a battlefield deception. These explain the story’s setting and imagery; the storms, soul appointments and return from death remain supernatural elements.

So Pi-Lo and Lo-Dsi-Tschun, mentioned in the princess’s family history in the source, are the messengers of the tale The Dragon-Princess. This page leaves that part of her speech out.

Read the original: Richard Wilhelm, The Chinese Fairy Book (Project Gutenberg)

For older readers: attempted forced marriage, war, a threatened execution and a general whose soul is sent away without his consent before his eventual death. The story depicts supernatural service, not a reassuring account of bereavement.

Reading the story closely

The princess seeks control over her marriage, yet her father can still override her after her military victory. The general also tries to refuse his appointment, but the envoy will not accept refusal. The tale therefore rescues one person from coercion partly by placing another under obligation. Dschou Bau’s promise is not costless kindness when someone else’s life supplies the means.

Track how the mortal world receives news: a dream, an adviser, an unconscious soldier’s report, the general’s account and an officer’s final sighting. Each seems to corroborate the others inside the narrative, but none is an ordinary public record. Then list what each victory changes and what it leaves in place, including the princess’s father’s authority and the general’s separation from his family.

Questions to ask

• Why does the Dragon Princess ask a mortal man for help?
• Why couldn’t the living soldiers fight for her?
• What do you think happened to the general at the end?

More stories like this

• The Dragon-Princess — the dragon tale this one follows in Wilhelm’s book
• The Monk of the Yangtze-Kiang — another Wilhelm tale of spirits
• The King of Huai Nan — Chinese magic and immortals