Drevo, ki je krvavelo

Besedilo

Drevo, ki je krvavelo

Under the Wei dynasty, Zhang Liao of Jiangxia, courtesy name Shugao, served as Administrator of Guiyang. After leaving Yanling, he settled at home and bought some farmland. In the fields stood an enormous tree, more than ten armspans in girth, whose luxuriant branches and leaves shaded several mu of ground where no grain would grow. He sent a retainer to cut it down. After only a few strokes of the axe, six or seven dou of red sap poured out. Terrified, the retainer returned and reported this to Shugao. Shugao flew into a rage. “When a tree is old, its sap turns red. What is so uncanny about that?” He made ready and went himself to resume the cutting. Blood streamed out and spattered everywhere. Shugao ordered the branches cut off first. There was a hollow high in the tree, and from it a white-haired old man, some four or five feet tall, suddenly sprang out and rushed at him. Shugao met the creature with his sword and struck it down. In this way he killed four or five of them, and all lay dead. Everyone around him fell to the ground in terror, but Shugao remained as calm and composed as ever. Looking closely at the creatures, he saw that they were neither human nor beast. He then had the tree felled. Could these have been the kui and wangliang, those uncanny beings said to dwell in wood and stone? That same year, he accepted a summons to serve under the Minister of Works, and went on to become an Imperial Censor and Inspector of Yanzhou. With the dignity of an official of two-thousand-shi rank, he passed through his native district and offered sacrifices and prayers to his forebears. Returning in glory, like a man displaying embroidered robes in broad daylight, he was admired and envied by all, and never suffered any further uncanny visitation.