In Luoyuan county of Fuzhou, there was a village called Guankeng. A woodcutter often went to the separate village of Chouyang to gather firewood, going back and forth many times. One day he returned rather late; as he came to a small cove he met a man coming down the mountain who called to him: “It has been a long time since we met.”
The woodcutter realized this was a man who had died; his expression fell. Slowly he managed to speak: “You are dead — why are you here?”
The man said: “I was not fated to die yet; now I live here no differently than before.” Pointing into the dense woods, he said: “I just live in there; you could come and talk.”
The woodcutter refused: “The day is near dusk; I fear my family waiting at the gate.” So the dead man said: “If you go to my home, give a message to my mother: I live here just as in life, she need not worry or long for me; only when there is wine or food, set it out at the door, and I will come and enjoy it.”
The woodcutter hurriedly bowed and went. The next day he told all to the ghost’s mother; she wept and burned paper money, set out wine and meat, closed the door and prayed; after a short while she came out to look — only the empty vessels remained.
While the man lived he had a wife and three sons; after his death his wife took the sons and remarried, and they were often beaten by the stepfather. The father, often walking alone over the ridge, was blocked on the path by the ghost, who cursed him: “What can be done about your wickedness? You took my wife and now abuse my children — what right is this?” And he raised his fists and struck him.
The man fought back; they chased each other to the cave mouth, where a passer-by happened by, wondered, and asked, and the ghost vanished. When the man got home he was covered in green bruises, and from then on dared not pass that way again.
