The Teapot Fairy
故事全文
Once upon a time, in a place called Jhuluo (present day Chiayi), there lived an old teacher by the surname of Zhang. As he was almost 70 years old, he did not have many students. He had a friend called Leng-qian, who worked as a librarian for the government. One day, Leng-qian went to visit Zhang. Zhang complained that he barely earned enough to make ends meet, let alone buy his favorite lychees. Leng-qian smiled and told Zhang to bring a plate and a towel, and he would fulfill Zhang’s wish. Leng-qian covered the plate with the towel and chanted a spell. When he unveiled the cover, Zhang saw that there were beautiful lychees that were round and sweet. Zhang then asked Leng-qian to conjure some gold as he was very poor and needed the money.
Leng-qian said,“You were a spendthrift in your past life, so you are destined to lead a poor life in this lifetime. I cannot go against the will of heaven. I will only help you if you promise not to be greedy. Or there will be fatal consequences.”Zhang nodded and agreed.
Leng-qian took a calligraphy brush and drew a door on the wall. He turned around and told Zhang,“There is a mountain of gold on the other side of this door. Knock thrice on the door whenever you need money, and the door will open. Remember to only take what you require, and no more than that.”Then, Leng-qian left.
Zhang immediately knocked thrice on the door, which opened to reveal a mountain of gold. His greediness overcame him, and he immediately forgot what Leng-qian warned him not to do. He took off his coat and began to fill it with gold. As he was getting ready to go home, someone yelled,“Thief! Come and catch the thief!”A group of police officers surrounded Zhang and brought him before the government official, who asked him how he managed to get into the heavily guarded treasury. The official then had Leng-qian arrested. Upon arriving at the courthouse, Leng-qian asked for a cup of tea. When he raised the teapot, he disappeared into the teapot.
The official asked someone to smash the teapot to get Leng-qian out, but they still could not see him. They only heard Leng-qian’s voice saying,“You cannot catch me!”The official had the teapot fragments pounded into dust in order to catch Leng-qian. But the dust floated upwards and transformed into a crane. Leng-qian sat on top of it and said,“Humans are really too greedy!”Then, he flew away and disappeared among the clouds.
