Chinese Fairy Tales and Legends

Chinese Fairy Tales and Legends
Richard Wilhelm & Frederick H. Martens
Bloomsbury China, 2019

A lovely new thing from Bloomsbury China: this hardcover illustrated reprint of Richard Wilhelm’s century-old collection of Chines fairy tales, folk tales, and ghost stories. Wilhelm went to China as a missionary and promptly felt the enchantment of the place; he began translating the literature of his newly-adopted homeland. By far the most famous, most reprinted, and most critically acclaimed was his translation of the I Ching, which makes the choice of the folks at Bloomsbury China to reprint something other than that all the more refreshing. 

The book’s quick, uncredited Introduction does the requisite hand-wringing about some of the ways Wilhelm’s social or political views might have dated over the decades (under the no doubt correct assumption, one presumes, that otherwise somebody out there online somewhere might have the spare time in their lives to “take offense” to the reprinting of this volume), describing him as “a German taking a stand against a West dominated by the English-speaking peoples.” And the original Preface of Wilhelm’s collaborator Frederick Martens could, read closely, also alarm just a bit, since he goes out of his way a couple of times to assure potential readers that the dozens of tales presented in this volume can be enjoyed equally by readers of all ages - an advertisement usually made by people specifically because they know it’s not true. 

Fortunately, once Wilhelm has his feet on the ground and no busy-bodies between himself and the reader, all such worrying falls by the wayside. Every page of this beautifully-produced edition demonstrates to the reader why this book sold the way it did a century ago. The section on ghost stories is by far the most effective, but in all the other sub-genres presented here, Wilhelm shifts his narrative register to highlight the nature of the story. The high fantasy elements shine with vitality:

Notscha answered: “The Triton wanted to slay me, so I killed him. What difference does it make?” The man attacked with his halberd. But Notscha said: “Tell me who you are before we fight.” “I am the son of the Dragon King,” was the reply. Notscha countered: “Do not rouse my anger with your violence, or I will skin you, together with that old mudfish your father!” Then the dragon grew wild with rage, and stormed towards him in a fury. But Notscha cast his crimson cloth into the air, so it flashed like a ball of fire, and cast the dragon-youth from his breast. Then Notscha took his golden armlet and struck him on the forehead with it, and the assailant was revealed in his true form as a golden dragon before he fell down dead.

It’s a real pleasure to see Chinese Fairy Tales and Legends produced so handsomely and offered again to a reading audience. Wilhelm’s I Ching will always be in print, but it’s great that it now has some company.

—Steve Donoghue is a founding editor of Open Letters Monthly. His book criticism has appeared in The Boston Globe, The Wall Street Journal, The Historical Novel Society, and The American Conservative. He writes regularly for The National, The Washington Post, The Vineyard Gazette, and The Christian Science Monitor. His website is http://www.stevedonoghue.com.