This is a cautionary tale, warning against looking where one shouldn’t.
In the story, the scholar Fang Dong is rather unfortunate. All he did was follow and sneak a look at the bride of the seventh son of Furong City, and yet he ended up with what can be described as "cataracts." Later, he sincerely repented and recited the "Bright Light Sutra," and was thus forgiven, regaining his sight.
Why is it that in Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio other frivolous men chasing women are portrayed romantically, yet Fang Dong alone is punished? The reasons likely fall into three main aspects: first, Fang Dong’s actions were not born of sincere love, but of frivolous lust; second, the woman he spied on was a high-ranking immortal; and third, and most importantly, the bride of Furong City was a married woman.
The most captivating part of the story is the description of the behavior and speech of the little pupils. For example, “A tiny figure crawled out of his nose, no bigger than a bean, buzzing as it left the house. As it traveled further, it disappeared from sight. After a while, it returned arm in arm with another, flying onto his face, just like bees or ants returning to their nest.” Or the passage: “A tiny voice from his left eye, like the buzzing of a fly, said, ‘It’s pitch black in here! It’s unbearable!’ A voice from his right eye responded, ‘We can go out together for a little walk to relieve this frustration.’” The descriptions are vivid and the language lively, giving the story a fairy tale-like quality.
From a medical perspective, this piece can also be seen as a folk explanation of “cataracts” in that era, with elements of shamanistic healing, from the causes of the condition to its treatment. While you may dismiss the idea that throwing a handful of dirt could cause someone to develop cataracts as absurd, or that "cataracts" transforming into double pupils as mere fantasy, you cannot help but admire Pu Songling’s brilliant literary depiction of an eye disease!
0 Comments