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The country of the
cannibals (1)
At Chiao-chou there lived a man named Hsu, who gained his
living by trading across the sea. On one occasion he was
carried far out of his course by a violent tempest, and
reached a country of high hills and dense jungle, where,
after making fast his boat and taking provisions with him,
he landed, hoping to meet with some of the inhabitants. He
then saw that the rocks were covered with large holes, like
the cells of bees; and, hearing the sound of voices from
within, he stopped in front of one of them and peeped in. To
his infinite horror he beheld two hideous beings, with thick
rows of horrid fangs, and eyes that glared like lamps,
engaged in tearing to pieces and devouring some raw deer's
flesh; and, turning round, he would have fled instantly from the spot, had not
the cannibals already espied him; and, leaving their food, they
seized him and dragged him in.
Thereupon ensued a chattering between them, resembling the
noise of birds or beasts, and they proceeded to pull off Hsu's
clothes as if about to eat him; but Hsu, who was frightened
almost to death, offered them the food he had in his wallet,
which they ate up with great relish, and looked inside for more.
Hsu waved his hand to show it was all finished, and then they
angrily seized him again; at which he cried out, "I have a saucepan in my boat,
and can cook you some." The cannibals did not understand
what he said; but, by dint of gesticulating freely, they at
length seemed to have an idea of what he meant; and, having
taken him down to the shore to fetch the saucepan, they
returned with him to the cave, where he lighted a fire and
cooked the remainder of the deer, with the flavour of which they appeared to
be mightily pleased.
At night they rolled a big stone to the mouth of the
cave, fearing lest he should try to escape; and Hsu himself lay down at a
distance from them in doubt as to whether his life would be
spared. At daybreak the cannibals went out, leaving the entrance
blocked, and by-and-by came back with a deer, which they gave
to Hsu to cook. Hsu flayed the carcass, and from a remote corner of the cave took some water and prepared a large quantity,
which was no sooner ready than several other cannibals arrived to
join in the feast. When they had finished all there was, they made
signs that Hsu's saucepan was too small; and three or four days
afterwards they brought him a large one, of the same shape as
those in common use amongst men, subsequently furnishing him
with constant supplies of wolf and deer of which they always
invited him to partake.
By degrees they began to treat him kindly, and not to shut him
up when they went out; and Hsu, too, gradually learnt to under-
stand, and even to speak, a little of their language, which pleased
them so much that they finally gave him a cannibal woman for
his wife. Hsu was horribly afraid of her; but, as she treated him
with great consideration, always reserving tit-bits of food for
him, they lived very happily together.
One day all the cannibals got up early in the morning, and,
having adorned themselves with strings of fine pearls, they went
forth as if to meet some honoured guest, giving orders to Hsu to
cook an extra quantity of meat that day. "It is the birthday of
our King," said Hsu's wife to him; and then, running out, she
informed the other cannibals that her husband had no pearls. So
each gave five from his own string, and Hsu's wife added ten to
these, making in all fifty, which she threaded on a hempen fibre
and hung around his neck, each pearl being worth over a hundred
ounces of silver. Then they went away, and as soon as Hsu had
finished his cooking his wife appeared and invited him to come
and receive the King.
So off they went to a huge cavern, covering about a mow'
of ground, in which was a huge stone, smoothed away at the
top like a table, with stone seats at the four sides. At the
upper end was a dais, over which was spread a leopard's
skin, the other seats having only deer-skins; and within the
cavern some twenty or thirty cannibals ranged themselves on
the seats. After a short interval a great wind began to stir
up the dust, and they all rushed out to a creature very much
resembling themselves, which hurried into the cave, and,
squatting down cross-legged, cocked its head and looked
about like a cormorant. The other cannibals then filed in
and took up their positions right and left of the dais,
where they stood gazing up at the King with their arms
folded be- fore them in the form of a cross.
The King counted them one by one, and asked if they were
all present; and when they replied in the affirmative, he
looked at Hsu and inquired who he was. Thereupon Hsu's wife
stepped forward and said he was her husband, and the others
all loudly extolled his skill in cookery, two of them
running out and bringing back some cooked meat, which they set before the King. His
Majesty swallowed it by handfuls, and found it so nice that he
gave orders to be supplied regularly; and then, turning to Hsu he
asked him why his string of beads was so short. "He has but
recently arrived among us," replied the cannibals, "and hasn't
got a complete set;" upon which the King drew ten pearls from
the string round his own neck and bestowed them upon Hsu. Each
was as big as the top of one's finger and as round as a bullet; and
Hsu's wife threaded them for him and hung them round his neck.
Hsu himself crossed his arms and thanked the King in the language of the country, after which His Majesty went off in a gust
of wind as rapidly as a bird, can fly, and the cannibals sat down and finished what was left of the banquet.
Four years afterwards Hsu's wife gave birth to a triplet of two
boys and one girl, all of whom were ordinary human beings, and
not at all like the mother; at which the other cannibals were de-
lighted, and would often play with them and caress them. Three
years passed away, and the children could walk about, after
which their father taught them to speak his own tongue; and in
their early babblings their human origin was manifested. The
boys, as mere children, could climb about on the mountains as
easily as though walking upon a level road; and between them
and their father there grew up a mutual feeling of attachment.
On reaching home Hsu found that his wife had married
again; so he sold two of his pearls for an enormous sum of
money, and set up a splendid establishment. His son was
called Piao, and at fourteen or fifteen years of age the boy
could lift a weight of three thousand catties (4000 lb). He
was extremely fond of athletics of all kinds, and thus
attracted the notice of the Commander- in-Chief, who gave
him a commission as sub-lieutenant. Just at that time there
happened to be some trouble on the frontier, and young Piao,
having covered himself with glory, was made a colonel at the
age of eighteen.
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