The Eight Immortals (II)

Once there was a poor man who ended up with no roof over his head and nothing at all to eat. Tired and worn out, he lay down beside a little roadside temple of the field-god and fell asleep. In a dream, the old white-bearded field-god stepped out of his small shrine and said, “I know a way to help you. Tomorrow the Eight Immortals will come along this road. Throw yourself down in front of them and beg for their help!”

When the man woke, he sat down under the big tree beside the little temple and waited all day for his dream to come true. At last, as the sun was almost down, eight figures came along the road, and the beggar knew at once that they were the Eight Immortals. Seven of them were hurrying as fast as they could, while the eighth, who had a lame leg, limped along behind.

The man flung himself on the ground before Li Tia Guai, who was Li Tia Guai. The Immortal did not want to be bothered and told him to go away. But the poor man kept begging to go with them and become an Immortal too. “That is impossible,” said Li Tia Guai. Still the man would not stop pleading or let him go, until finally Li Tia Guai said, “Very well, then. Hold on to my coat!”

The man grabbed the coat, and away they flew over paths and fields, on and on and farther still, until suddenly they stood high on the tower of Pong-lai-schan, the spirit mountain by the Eastern Sea. And there stood the other Immortals as well! They were not at all pleased with the companion Li Tia Guai had brought, but the poor man pleaded so hard that they too were moved. “Very well,” they told him. “We are going to jump down into the sea. If you follow us, you may become an Immortal too.”

One after another, seven of them leaped into the sea. But when the man’s turn came, he was frightened and did not dare to jump. “If you are afraid,” said Li Tia Guai, “you cannot become an Immortal.”

“But what shall I do now?” wailed the man. “I’m far from home, and I have no money!”

The lame Immortal broke a piece off the tower’s battlement and pressed it into the man’s hand. Then he too jumped from the tower and vanished into the sea like his seven companions.

When the man looked closely at the stone in his hand, he saw that it was the purest silver. It paid his way during the many weeks it took him to walk home. But by the time he got there, the silver was all spent, and he was every bit as poor as he had been at the start.

Where this story comes from

This is the second of two Eight Immortals chapters in Richard Wilhelm’s The Chinese Fairy Book, an English version of which by Frederick H. Martens was brought out by Frederick A. Stokes, New York, in 1921. It comes right after the chapter introducing all eight Immortals one by one.

Wilhelm’s note describes Tu Di Miau as small stone shrines to field-gods. His broad statement about their presence at villages belongs to this historical edition, not a current survey.

Read the original: Wilhelm’s collection in English (Project Gutenberg)

Best for older readers with an adult — supernatural figures demand a dangerous leap from a tower. This fantasy is not advice to risk injury to prove courage or worth.

Reading the story closely

The man begins by asking for relief from hunger and homelessness, then asks to become an Immortal. These are different wishes. The journey gives him a glimpse of a supernatural world, but its rules do not supply a lasting answer to his ordinary needs. Even the silver pays only for returning from a place he could not otherwise leave.

Trace the journey on a simple route with two costs beside it: getting there and getting home. At which point does assistance create a new dependency? The ending can prompt questions about what useful help would look like. It need not mean that poverty results from cowardice, or that refusing an unexplained danger is wrong.

Questions to ask

• Why did Li Tia Guai finally agree to take the poor man along?
• Why does the man hesitate at the sea, and what does he know about what will happen if he jumps?
• Why do you think the man ended up just as poor as he was at the beginning?

More stories like this

• The Eight Immortals (I) — meet all eight Immortals, including Li of the Iron Crutch
• How Greed for a Trifling Thing Led a Man to Lose a Great One — another poor man who misses a great chance
• The Favorite of Fortune and the Child of Ill Luck — a nursery tale about luck and fortune