This is a short and sweet story about a traveling magician who carried a tiny person in a wine bottle. The original story was only 91 characters, less than a tweet! These words conveyed lots of details with a dramatic turn at the end - a very exciting piece to read.

STORY

During the reign of Emperor Kang Xi (1654-1722), there was a magician who carried a wine bottle. Inside the bottle there was a tiny person who was a couple of inches tall. When someone tossed a coin and opened the bottle, the tiny person would come out, sing a song and return back into the bottle.

When the magician traveled to the town of Ye, the mayor of Ye took the bottle into his office and asked for the origin of the tiny person. At first the magician did not dare to talk. It was not until when the mayor interrogated him did the magician tell the truth.

The tiny person was a schoolboy. The magician poisoned him on his way home. The poison made his body shrink drastically. The magician then took him as a prop on his tour.

The chief officer was furious and sentenced the magician to death.

WHY IT IS COOL

In general, many Chinese mythology stories of this era took the opposite stance from the mainstream. For example, characters of smart and independent women, virtuous prostitutes and kind-hearted animal spirits were portrayed in these stories. They became really popular due to their novelty and unique point of view. This story of Xiao Ren is a good example.

Xiao Ren in Chinese means a physically small person, but also refers to a mean person. The Chinese equivalent of voodoo dolls roughly translates to "pricking the tiny person.“ So you can imagine that the phrase Xiao Ren has a negative connotation.

However, Xiao Ren is an innocent schoolboy who was poisoned on his way home by an evil magician, and have since been taken advantage of as a prop. Here Xiao Ren is a 100% victim, whereas the magician is the criminal mastermind. The person whom we would assume to be mean turned out to be the innocent one. I personally enjoy the sudden switch of perspective. Don’t you?

ORIGIN

Xiao Ren from Liao Zhai Zhi Yi (Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio). Vol 5, pp.317, Zhong Zhou Gu Ji Press.

Above is the original translation of the entire story.

