The Dangerous Reward

Near the Great Mountain lived a man named Hu-Wu-Bau. Walking there one day, he met a messenger in a red robe under a tree. “The Lord of the Great Mountain wishes to see you,” the messenger called. Fear jumped in Hu-Wu-Bau’s chest, yet he dared not refuse. “Shut your eyes,” said the messenger. When Hu-Wu-Bau opened them again, a tall palace stood before him, and he was led in to meet the god.

Food was already waiting. The mountain lord said, “I sent for you because I heard you mean to travel west. Carry a letter to my daughter.” Hu-Wu-Bau asked where she lived. “She is married to the river-god. Take the letter on the table. When your boat reaches the middle of the Yellow River, strike the side and shout ‘Greencoat!’ Someone will rise and take it from you.”

Hu-Wu-Bau accepted the letter and found himself back on ordinary ground. On his westward journey, at midstream, he beat the hull and cried the name. A girl in green rose from the water, took his hand, and told him to close his eyes. She brought him into the river-god’s halls. He delivered the message. The river-god feasted him well and, at parting, offered a pair of green silk shoes. “Wear these,” he said, “and walking will not tire you. They will also let you see spirits and gods.”

Hu-Wu-Bau thanked him and finished his travels. A year later he came home by way of the Great Mountain and thought it proper to report. He knocked at the tree, spoke his name, and the red-clad messenger led him again before the lord. He described the river court and the delivery of the letter. The god thanked him and set another meal.

Stepping aside for a quiet moment—now able to see what ordinary eyes miss—Hu-Wu-Bau caught sight of his own dead father among hundreds of chained workers. Tears rose. “Father, why are you here?” The old man said that in life he had once stepped on bread, and for that he had suffered two bitter years of labor already. “You know the Lord of the Mountain,” he begged. “Ask him to free me and make me field-god of our village.”

The son promised and returned to plead. The mountain lord seemed willing, yet warned him clearly: “The living and the dead walk different roads. It is not well for them to share one place for long.”

Hu-Wu-Bau went home. About a year later nearly all his children had died. In terror he climbed the mountain again, beat upon the tree, and begged for protection. The lord smiled a hard smile. “Did I not tell you from the start that the living and the dead should not dwell side by side forever? Now you see what followed.” Still he sent his messenger to fetch the father.

When the spirit arrived, the god spoke sternly. “I forgave your offense and sent you home as field-god. Your duty was to bring the family happiness. Instead the grandchildren are dying. Why?” The father answered that after so long away he had been overjoyed to return, and with meat and drink in plenty he had called the little grandchildren to him. The mountain lord then appointed another field-god for that village and gave the father a different post. From that time no further misfortune struck Hu-Wu-Bau’s household.

Where this tale comes from

“The Dangerous Reward” is collected in Richard Wilhelm’s The Chinese Fairy Book (Martens English, Stokes, 1921; Project Gutenberg ebook 29939). A mortal carries a mountain god’s letter to the mountain god’s daughter, who is married to the river-god, receives green shoes that never tire, and encounters the tale’s imagined danger of bringing the dead among the living. Wilhelm’s note identifies the Lord of the Great Mountain with Huang Fe-Hu, who became overlord of underworld princes after serving King Wu.

The shoes are a splendid gift; the second sight they give leads into trouble when a family draws a dead father too close to living children.

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

Best for older readers with an adult — includes forced labor after death and the deaths of nearly all a father’s children. Its supernatural explanation is not a claim about real bereavement.

Reading the story closely

The shoes first seem an uncomplicated reward: less fatigue and the power to see spirits. That second gift reveals suffering Hu-Wu-Bau could not otherwise see, prompting a compassionate request. The danger comes from the grandfather’s inability to distinguish welcoming children from drawing them into death.

Track what each person intends and what occurs: the son seeks release for his father, the father seeks his grandchildren’s company, and the mountain lord reassigns him. Good intentions and harmful effects coexist. The story does not show that remembering or loving a dead relative harms living children, and its invented punishment for stepping on bread need not be accepted as just.

Talk about it

• What must Hu-Wu-Bau shout in midstream on the Yellow River?
• What two powers do the green shoes give him?
• What warning does the mountain lord give, and how does the story connect it to what happens next?

More stories like this

• The Two Scholars — another Wilhelm Chinese tale of other worlds and time
• How the River-God’s Wedding Was Broken Off — another Wilhelm Chinese tale about the god of the Yellow River
• The Spirits of the Yellow River — more about the river spirits that people met on the Yellow River