Hu Dagu
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| "Hu Dagu" | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Short story by Pu Songling | |||
 Illustration from Xiangzhu liaozhai zhiyi tuyong (Liaozhai Zhiyi with commentary and illustrations; 1886) | |||
| Original title | 胡大姑 (Hu Dagu) | ||
| Translator | Sidney L. Sondergard (2008) | ||
| Country | China | ||
| Language | Chinese | ||
| Genres | |||
| Publication | |||
| Published in | Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio | ||
| Publication date | 1740 | ||
| Published in English | 2008 | ||
| Chronology | |||
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"Hu Dagu" (Chinese: 胡大姑; pinyin: Hú Dàgū) is a short story by Pu Songling first published in Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio (first published 1740). The story follows a Shandong family that is terrorised by the title character—a malevolent fox spirit—who wishes to betroth the patriarch's son. Pu modelled the antagonist after a female latrine spirit worshipped in ancient Chinese folk religion.
In Yidu, Shandong, the Yue (岳) family is tormented by an evil fox spirit. One day, the fox metamorphosises into a pleasant-looking lady and the family's patriarch, Yujiu (于九), attempts to broker peace by proposing that she join the family as his daughter. She rejects this but agrees to be his sister, who is henceforth referred to as Great Aunt Hu (胡大姑). Nevertheless, she continues to provoke others, especially Yue's daughter-in-law. Hu announces that she will only desist if his son divorces his current wife and marries her instead, to which Yue's daughter-in-law angrily rebukes her. While trying to coerce him into following her proposal, the fox spirit strikes Yue's son in the head, killing him.
Yue enlists the help of exorcist Li Chengyao (李成爻), who gathers the family's livestock and identifies a chicken amongst them as the Zigu (紫姑) spirit. The family admits to inviting the Zigu into their household three years ago; Li entraps the chicken in a wine bottle, while Yue burns the mannequin used to invoke the spirit. However, instead of killing the spirit, Li adds it to his home collection of fox spirits; it is alleged that Li systematically releases them into other households in order that he is hired to exorcise them.
Publication history
Originally titled "Hu Dagu" (胡大姑), the story was first published in Pu Songling's anthology of close to five hundred short stories, Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio or Liaozhai Zhiyi. The story has been translated into English, including in the third volume of Sidney L. Sondergard's Strange Tales from Liaozhai (2008) as "Elder Sister Hu".[1]
Sources
The "Hu" (胡) in "Hu Dagu" is homophonous with the Chinese word for "fox" (狐).[2] According to traditional Anhui and northern Jiangsu lore, fox spirits manifested themselves as three sisters, referred to as Dagu (大姑; eldest aunt), Ergu (二姑; second aunt), and Sangu (三姑; third aunt). Similarly, in Beijing, fox spirits were believed to appear as a group of three aunts collectively known as Sangu (三姑; three aunts) or Xiangulaotai (仙姑老太; divine grannies).[3] The Yanshan conglu or Complete Records of Yanshan (燕山叢錄), published in 1602, includes a brief account of "destructive haunting" amidst its collection of fox tales.[4]
The fox spirit in Pu's story is identified as the Zigu (紫姑; literally "Purple Maiden"),[5] first described during the Six Dynasties as a concubine named He Mei (何媚) who was abused by her husband's wife and died in the latrine;[6][7] according to Xu Dishan, the name "Zigu" itself was borrowed from Taoist fox spirit nomenclature during the Six Dynasties.[8] In rural north China, female villagers would "invite" the Zigu as part of New Year festivities, by praying to a mannequin of her in the latrine. By the Ming dynasty, the Zigu had become three sisters who commandeered the "celestial equivalent of a toilet bowl" and the supposed birthplace of all living things, the hunyuan jindou (混元金斗).[7]
