During the Kaiyuan period of the Tang Dynasty, Wang Changling, a famous frontier poet, returned to the capital city from Wu Prefecture by sea. When the boat sailed to Madang Mountain, a sudden gust of wind caused it to shudder violently and tip to the side so that it was impossible to continue the journey. The boatman said to everyone: “We have a noble person aboard!” and signaled that they should all go to the local temple to make offerings to the god of travelers for protection for the remainder of the sea voyage.
Wang Changling didn’t want to go ashore himself, but he had already prepared some offerings for the deity in advance. So he told the boatman: “Quickly send someone to bring my gifts, including wine, meat, and paper horses to the temple on the mountain dedicated to the god. In addition, send a pair of straw sandals to the lady of the god.”
Furthermore, he took the occasion to write a special poem and asked the servant in charge of carrying the offerings to dedicate the words to the god along with the gifts. After the servant finished the offering ritual, the boat carrying Wang Changling passed peacefully through the sea in that area.
A carp returned the golden-handled file to Wang Changling
After the ship had sailed on for some time, Wang Changling suddenly remembered that when he purchased the straw shoes, he also bought a file with a gold handle.
So he looked for it around the boat, but failed to find it. After thinking about it, he recalled initially putting it in the straw slippers for safekeeping. But while giving the straw sandals to the servant, he forgot to take the file out The servant didn’t find a precious file in the shoes, and thus it became an offering placed at the altar with the straw sandals.
The golden-handled file was something precious, but the boat had left, and it had been dedicated to the god. So Wang Changling had no choice but to accept the matter.
After the ship sailed for several leagues, a red carp, approximately three feet long, suddenly jumped out of the water and fell onto the boat he rode. When seeing such a rare and fantastic phenomenon, Wang Changling pleasantly said: “Here a great delicacy comes by itself!” and asked the chef on the boat to cook it immediately.
But when cutting the fish open, surprisingly, the chef found a golden-handled file and brought it to Wang Changling. On seeing the file in front of him, Wang Changling realized it was the one he had put in the straw shoes. Wang Changling emotionally said: “When gods accept offerings, their choice is clear and principled with no hint of greed.”
Translated by Joseph Wu
