Ah Choon and the Sorcerer (1878)

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A of for many days had cast his nets only to draw them to land empty. Walking the streets that he might there-by forget in some degree the hunger that assailed him, he encountered a figure that arrested his attention. It was that of a beggar apparently in the most abject destitution. His skin was filthy, and he was clothed in rags; There was a weird strange look in his eyes, and a gleam of intelligence at variance with his condition shone through the dirt that encrusted his face. Ah Choon, the fisherman, felt that somewhere before he had met the beggar when he presented a very different aspect. At last it who had probably chosen this disguise that he might walk the streets undisturbed by the prayers and solicitations of those who believed in his powers.

This great magician was said to know all things known to man or devils. He could foretell deaths, and the rise and fall of empires, so great was his knowledge that the spirits of the air had limited him in his prophecies. If he told all he knew, fierce lightning would burst from the sky and devour him in its fire.

Ah Choon bowed his head to the ground before the sorcerer and cried “give me something, I beseech you! Give me something, I beseech you, or I will implore you forever!”

“Rise my son,” said the sorcerer, “How can I give you what I have not myself? You see I am but a wretched beggar; it is you who must give to me.”

Ah Choon still besought him until the old man losing patience thrust him on one side. As he did so, Ah Choon snatched from his breast a handful of the beggar’s rags and ran to cast his nets, throwing into them as he did a scrap of the rags.

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The nets came up bursting with fine large fish.

Ah Choon hied him to the market where he soon disposed of his fish for a good sum and went home his pockets heavy with cash.

The next day he cast his nets again with the same good luck. But when he went to the market to sell his fish a jabbering crowd surrounded him. “Cheat! Swindler!” they cried, “Who sold us enchanted fish that were fat and large when we bought them, and but empty air when we opened our baskets!”

The Fisherman turned pale. "Here, my friends," he cried. "Choose from those I have caught today, and if the same thing happens again you will help me to find and punish the wicked sorcerer who has put a cheat both upon you and me!” And he told his story to the gaping crowd.

When they turned to fill their baskets, no fish were there; only a few fresh leaves. Ah Choon felt a chill at his back. Turning he beheld the sorcerer in his beggar’s garb. All perceived him at the same moment.

“Tis he!” They cried, “Tear him to pieces!” And rushed forward to attack him. He smiled. “One moment my children.” he said, “and you may do with me as you will. Let me amuse you first.” As he said this he spat on the ground a black spittle into which he dipped the end of his long finger and drew figures upon a white wall. As he drew the figures sprang from under his fingers, writhing over the wall in a hideous manner. The gaze of all who waited upon the little friends who leered at the spectators changed heads with each other, spread their mouths from ear to ear in demonish glee, struck at each other, and contorted their limbs. So frightful an exhibition did it finally become that the mob with one accord turned and fled. Some of the boldest looking back saw the sorcerer, still serenely smiling, strike the figures dead with his staff, wrap with rags about him and melt into a light gray cloud, which gradually dissolved into the air. After that time the fisherman’s luck was variable, but he tried no more magic arts to increase his gains.

[Note: In the published iteration of this story, Ah Choon (called Chy Lung) escapes from the crowd with the aid of the sorcerer and finds employment in the kitchens of a nearby castle. He faces a conflict with a pair of "mermaidens" before finding his happy ending.]