The Punishment of Greed

A man from the country south of the Yangtze-kiang once accepted a teaching post in Sutschoufu, near the Shantung border. When he arrived, he learned that the new schoolhouse was not finished. Meanwhile a two-story house nearby had been rented for him to live in and to keep school in until the building was ready. It stood outside the village, a short way from the riverbank, with a wide plain of tangled scrub stretching away around it on every side. The teacher liked the view very much.

One evening he stood in his doorway watching the sunset. Smoke from the village chimneys slowly melted into the dusk, and every sound of the day had faded. Suddenly, far off along the riverbank, he caught sight of a fiery glow, and he hurried over to find out what it was.

On the bank lay a wooden coffin, and the light was shining out of it. The teacher thought, “The jewels that are buried with the dead to adorn them on their last journey glow in the dark. Maybe there are gems inside!” Greed woke in his heart, and he forgot that a coffin is the resting place of the dead and deserves respect. He picked up a big stone, smashed the lid, and leaned over to look.

Inside lay a young man. His face was white as paper. He wore a mourning band around his head, a garment of coarse hemp around his body, and straw sandals on his feet. The teacher was terrified and turned to go, but the corpse had already sat up. Now fear took hold of him completely, and he ran. The corpse climbed out of its coffin and ran after him.

Luckily the house was close by. The teacher raced to it as fast as his legs would carry him, flew up the stairs and bolted the door behind him. Little by little he got his breath back. Outside everything was silent, and he began to think that perhaps the corpse had not followed him all the way. He opened the window and looked down. There was the corpse, leaning against the wall of the house.

The moment it saw the open window, it sprang up in a single bound and came in through it. Mad with terror, the teacher pitched down the stairs and rolled senseless to the bottom. At the same instant the corpse dropped to the floor of the room above.

By then the pupils had long since gone home, and the owner of the house lived somewhere else, so no one knew what had happened. The next morning the children arrived for school as usual. They found the door locked, and nobody answered when they called. So they broke the door down and found their teacher lying on the floor, unconscious. They sprinkled him with ginger, but it was a long while before he came out of his stupor. When they asked him what had happened, he told them everything.

Then they all went upstairs and carried the corpse away. It was taken beyond the edge of the village and burned, and the bones that were left were laid back in the coffin. But the teacher sighed and said, “A moment of greed nearly cost me my life!” He gave up his post and went home, and for the rest of his days he never once spoke of profit.

Where this story comes from

“The Punishment of Greed” is chapter LIV of Richard Wilhelm’s The Chinese Fairy Book, translated by Frederick H. Martens (New York: Frederick A. Stokes, 1921), among his ghost stories. Wilhelm’s note gives its source as the Su Tsi Hia.

Wilhelm also explains the dead youth’s clothing. The historical note describes a local custom in which young people who died before their parents were dressed for burial in mourning clothes, so that even in death they can do their duty and mourn their parents when the time comes.

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

Best for older readers with an adult — includes grave violation, a pursuing corpse, a serious fall and the burning of a body.

Reading the story closely

The teacher first reads the coffin’s glow as a promise of wealth. After the corpse moves, every opening becomes a danger: breaking the coffin releases the pursuer, and opening the upstairs window admits it again. The pattern gives the chase its shape while reversing his original eagerness to look inside.

Track the doors, lid and window in order and note who opens each. What changes when the pupils finally break into the house? Their opening leads to discovery and help rather than pursuit. The ginger episode is part of the historical ghost story, not first-aid guidance, and the ending’s rejection of all profit is the frightened teacher’s response—not proof that ordinary paid work is greedy.

Think about it

• What makes the teacher open the coffin, and what does he forget when he does?
• Why do you think the corpse falls down at the same moment the teacher falls?
• How does the teacher change after his fright?

You may also like

• The Night on the Battlefield — the ghost story that follows this one in Wilhelm’s book
• Retribution — another Wilhelm ghost story about wrongdoing paid back
• The Magic Cask — a short Wilhelm tale of greed that backfires