Pei Xing was a Tang official who rose to the position of Deputy Military Commissioner of Chengdu in 878. His Chuanqi tale collection contains two of the most famous Tang fantasy tales, “Kunlun nu” and “Nie Yinniang,” and its title was adopted in modern scholarship as a name for the genre of Tang tales as a whole.

Considering that the medieval Chinese labeled as “Kunlun” a variety of foreign peoples whose common characteristic was their “black” (i.e., very dark) skin, it is striking how closely Mo’le’s character resembles the “magical Negro” stereotype in American cinema. He is endowed with exceptional intelligence and martial prowess and can even fly over walls, but he inexplicably chooses not to use these powers for his own benefit. Instead, he keeps them hidden until his lovesick young literatus master (Cui) needs help getting to a rendezvous with the courtesan who has caught his fancy. Mo’le helps Cui to free the courtesan from a heavily guarded mansion, and Cui then takes her as his wife or concubine. But he does not reward Mo’le’s invaluable service by manumitting him, nor does Mo’le even request it. The tale would have us believe that Mo’le is content with life as a slave in a way that the courtesan, unjustly deprived of her free-born elite status, could never be. When he finally uses his powers to flee the Cui household two years later, it is only to evade the chief minister’s wrath, from which his high-born master has selfishly chosen not to shield him.

An illustrated version of the translation below can be found here.

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In the Dali era (766-779) of the Tang, there was a Master Cui whose father was a prominent official on close terms with one of the highest-ranking ministers of the time. Cui was then an officer in the imperial guard. His father sent him to call on the high-ranking minister, who was ill. Master Cui was a young man with a handsome face, as white as jade. He had a proud and aloof personality, a serene manner, and great eloquence in speech. The minister ordered his courtesans to roll up the curtain and invite Master Cui into the hall. Cui bowed and conveyed his father’s greetings. The minister was delighted with this impressive young man and asked him to sit and chat.

At that moment, three matchlessly beautiful courtesans¹ were standing nearby with golden bowls filled with cherries; they cut the cherries and dipped them in sweet yogurt before serving them. The minister ordered the courtesan dressed in red to serve a bowl to Cui. Being young, Cui was bashful in front of the courtesans and declined to eat. The minister then ordered the red-dressed courtesan to feed him with a spoon, and he had no choice but to eat. When he had finished, the courtesan smiled at him and took her leave. The minister said, “Young man, do come and visit when you’re free; don’t stand on ceremony with an old fellow like me.” He then had the red-dressed courtesan see Cui out of the house. When Cui looked back at her, she held up three fingers, flipped her palm three times, and then pointed at a small mirror hanging over her chest, saying, “Remember!” She said nothing more.

Cui went home and conveyed the minister’s regards to his father. He then retired to his study but was unable to concentrate on anything. He grew distracted, withdrawn, and melancholy, always seeming deep in thought, not even making time to eat. All he did was intone a poem:

Rashly, I climbed to the peak of an Immortal Isle

Where a jade-white girl with pearl earrings blinked her starry eyes.

Vermilion gates half conceal the moon deep in its palace,

But that moon should be shining on this sad jade fungus in the snow.²

None of his attendants could discern the meaning behind it.

In the young man’s home there was a Kunlun slave named Mo’le³ who looked him in the eye and asked, “What is on your mind that fills you with such regret? Why don’t you tell me?” Cui said, “How would someone like you understand what’s in my heart?” Mo’le replied, “Just say it, master, and I will solve the problem for you. Whatever the distance I must go, I will surely get it done.” Cui was surprised by his confident words and told him everything.

Mo’le said, “That’s an easy matter to solve. Why didn’t you tell me earlier and waste so much time being miserable?” Cui also told him about the courtesan’s cryptic code. Mo’le said, “What’s so hard about that? The three fingers mean that hers is the third courtyard out of the ten courtyards for courtesans in the minister’s home. Flipping a palm thrice means fifteen fingers, which stands for fifteen days. The mirror at her chest is the full moon on the fifteenth day of the month. That’s when she wants you to visit her!” Cui was overjoyed and asked Mo’le, “Do you have a plan to help me fulfil my longing?”

Mo’le laughed and said, “Tomorrow is the night of the fifteenth day. Let me get two bolts of black silk and make a tight-fitting suit for you.⁴ The minister’s house has ferocious dogs guarding the courtesans’ quarters. They are trained not to let strangers in and will bite and kill any who try to enter. They are as vigilant as gods and as fierce as tigers; this breed of dog was created by Meng Hai of Caozhou, and I am the only one in the world who can kill them.⁵ Tonight, I shall slay them for you.” Cui then treated Mo’le to a meal of wine and meat. Close to midnight, Mo’le left armed with a blacksmith’s hammer.⁶

Shortly after, he returned and said, “I’ve killed the dogs, so nothing now stands in your way.” At midnight, he got Cui dressed in the black suit and carried him over ten layers of walls to the courtesans’ quarters. They stopped at the third gate, which was unlocked. The lamps inside were dimly lit, and they heard the courtesan sitting and sighing, as if waiting for someone. She had just removed her earrings and makeup, and was lamenting her life and intoning a poem:

An oriole cries in a deep cavern, pining for its missing mate⁷;

I’ve stolen away to a place beneath the flowers to take my pearl earrings off.

Like drifting clouds that break apart, no word or letter comes;

In vain I lean against my jade flute, waiting for the phoenix to arrive.⁸

The guards had gone to sleep and all was quiet. Cui slowly drew the curtains back and went in.

After a while, the courtesan realized it was him.⁹ She leapt off her bed and held his hands, saying, “I knew you were clever and would surely understand, so I used those hand signals to communicate. But what magic powers do you have that could get you all the way here?” Cui told her all about Mo’le’s plan and how he had come over the walls on Mo’le’s back. She asked, “Where is Mo’le now?” He said, “Right outside the curtain.” She invited him in and served him wine in a golden bowl.

Then she told Cui, “My family used to be wealthy and lived in Shuofang.¹⁰ My master used his army to coerce me into becoming his courtesan. I failed to kill myself and have clung on to life until now. Though my face is adorned with white powder, my heart is filled with sorrow. I eat with jade chopsticks, perfume myself with incense burned in a golden censer, and live and sleep among folding screens of mica and embroidered silk blankets. Yet none of this is my desire, and I might as well be a prisoner in chains. Since your worthy servant has magical powers, couldn’t he help me escape from this prison? If I could fulfil this wish, I would die without regrets! I would happily be your servant if I could remain by your side. What do you think of this?”

Cui’s expression became solemn and he did not speak. Mo’le said, “Since my lady is so determined, it is but an easy thing to do.” The courtesan was beside herself with joy. Mo’le first carried the courtesan’s belongings out, going back and forth three times. Then he said, “It’s getting too close to dawn.” So he carried both Cui and the courtesan on his back and flew over the ten layers of walls. Not one of the minister’s guards detected them. They returned to Cui’s study and hid the courtesan there.

At dawn, the minister’s household discovered that she was gone and saw that the dogs were dead. The minister was shocked and said, “My house’s walls have always been impassable and the gates are always securely locked. Whoever got in seems to have flown over them without leaving a trace. A man of great prowess must have taken her. Don’t report this or let word of it get out, or it may bring us more trouble.”

The courtesan secretly lived in Cui’s home for two years. One day, because it was the season for viewing flowers, they rode a small carriage out for an excursion to the Serpentine Lake.¹¹ A member of the minister’s household saw and recognized the courtesan and reported it to him. The minister found this strange and summoned Cui to question him on this matter. Cui was frightened and dared not cover things up, so he told the story in detail and revealed that it was all due to his slave, Mo’le, who had carried them both on his back.

The minister said, “My courtesan has committed a grave offense, but since she has served you for more than a year by now, I won’t pursue the matter. I must, however, eliminate this menace to the world.” He commanded fifty armored and heavily armed soldiers to surround Cui’s house and capture Mo’le. Mo’le, wielding a dagger, flew over the wall, light as a feather and swift as a falcon. Showers of arrows flew up, but none could hit him. In a flash, he was gone—no one knew where.

The Cui family was terrified. The minister also came to regret his decision, fearing for his life. Every night, he made sure to be escorted by manservants armed with swords and halberds. After a year, he finally felt secure and stopped taking precautions.

More than ten years later, a member of the Cui household saw Mo’le selling medicine at the marketplace in Luoyang. He looked the same as before and had not aged a bit.

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1. These were “house courtesans,” female slave-entertainers bought and owned by elite men. ↩︎
2. “Vermilion gates” was a term for the mansions of the rich and powerful. The moon here symbolizes the courtesan, while the jade fungus represents Cui. ↩︎
3. For an interesting discussion of different etymological theories on the origin of this name, see this thread from 2021 on the Penn Language Log. ↩︎
4. The suit was presumably meant to make the pale-skinned Cui invisible at night. Mo’le, being dark-skinned, needed no camouflage. ↩︎
5. Some scholars have identified Meng Hai as Meng Haigong, a rebel leader based in Caozhou during the fall of the Sui dynasty. ↩︎
6. The word here translated as “blacksmith’s hammer,” lianzhui 鍊椎, could also mean “hammer on a chain.” ↩︎
7. More literally, “pining for Master Ruan,” an allusion to the legend of Ruan Zhao and Liu Chen, who encountered a pair of beautiful transcendent/immortal women on Mount Tiantai and spent half a year with them, returning home to find that centuries had passed in the mortal world. They eventually disappeared, presumably to reunite with their immortal lovers. “Master Ruan” later became a colloquial expression for a beautiful woman’s lover. ↩︎
8. This alludes to the legend of Xiao Shi and Nongyu. Xiao Shi, a talented flute player, married Nongyu, a daughter of Lord Mu of Qin (r. 659-621 BCE), and taught her how to summon phoenixes with flute music. Eventually, the two ascended into the heavens on the backs of a phoenix and a dragon and became immortal. Here, the phoenix symbolizes both Cui and the courtesan’s hope of escape. ↩︎
9. Cui was probably wearing a face mask as part of his black suit, hence the courtesan’s inability to recognize him at first. ↩︎
10. Shuofang was a Tang military region corresponding to the Ordos Plateau. ↩︎
11. The Serpentine Lake (Qujiang chi) was a scenic site at the southeastern corner of Chang’an,  popular with the literati elite. ↩︎