New Liaozhai: The Charred Paulownia
A poor scholar buys a charred, broken-stringed qin; a woman's voice from within teaches him 'Flowing Water,' and at the county gathering a weeping guest knows the piece as his late sister's.
New Liaozhai: The Charred Paulownia
In the town lived a poor scholar, Fang Gao, who loved the qin. In the depths of winter he pawned his clothes to buy a charred paulownia qin from the market; the body bore a burn mark and three of its strings were broken.
Fang strung it and drew the bow, but the sound was harsh and would not tune. One night as he sat by the lamp, a woman's voice came from within the qin: "Would you hear 'Flowing Water'? I shall complete it for you." Fang was struck with fear; he looked around — no one. The voice was indeed within the wood.
Thence every night the woman in the qin taught him a piece, and Fang practiced, his skill growing daily. She said her surname was Ji; her father had been a fine qin-maker, and she had attended him as a child. When he died she took up his craft, and passed unmarried, her spirit bound to this paulownia.
Fang pitied her and practiced the harder. A year on, at the county gathering, Fang played "Flowing Water"; the hall fell silent. When the piece ended a guest wept and said, "This was my late sister's composition. Before she died she would string her qin beneath the paulownia; now I hear her voice and see her face."
Fang went home and told the qin, "You may meet your kin." The qin was silent. At dawn he looked: where the burn mark lay, a new tassel had formed, like a tassel, like a tear.
When Fang rose in the world he kept the charred paulownia by him. If asked its wonder, he only smiled and said nothing.
It is said: the silk and the wood have no feeling, but a man's feeling can reach the hidden. Those who break faith — how do they compare with this qin?