“Tao Xian” belongs to a genre of written tales that became popular in the late Tang period; most of these anecdotes were originally transmitted orally and exchanged at literati gatherings for purposes of entertainment. The author of the Ganze yao collection, Yuan Jiao, was an official who rose to the rank of Hanlin Academician; eight stories from the collection are preserved in the early Song tale anthology Taiping guangji. This tale reflects the trope of Kunlun slaves as excellent divers, but also the callousness with which the Tang elite could regard the lives of their slaves.

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Tao Xian was a descendant of the Magistrate of Pengze county.¹ In the Kaiyuan era (713-741), his family lived in Kunshan and was wealthy, owning many fields. He chose a relative who was honest and dependable and entrusted the household’s management to him. He himself then traveled through all the rivers and lakes of the subcelestial realm, often staying away from home for years on end. When he saw his grown sons and grandsons, he could not even remember their names…. He had three boats made for himself, all extremely solidly and cleverly constructed. One boat was for carrying him, one was for carrying his guests, and one was for carrying [alcoholic] beverages to serve his guests. The jinshi examination graduate Meng Yanshen (who had not yet received a government appointment), the jinshi graduate Meng Yunqing, and the commoner Jiao Sui traveled with him, each accompanied by his own retinue of servants and concubines…. 

Tao Xian had a relative who served as Prefect of Nanhai (Guangzhou). Once, during a trip to Mount Shaoshi², he went to visit the Prefect who, delighted that he had come from afar, gave him a million coins, as well as the following gifts: an ancient sword that was two feet long, a jade ring with a four-inch diameter, and a Kunlun slave named Mohe, [bought from] a foreign seagoing ship, who was a good swimmer and brave and strong. Tao Xian left with the gifts he had received, saying, “These are my family’s three treasures.” On his return journey, he passed through Baizhi and sailed down the Xiang River. Whenever he came across a stretch of beautiful-colored water, he would throw the ring and the sword in and order Mohe to dive down and retrieve them for the sake of entertainment. This went on for several years.

Once, when crossing Lake Chao³, he again threw the ring and sword into the water and ordered Mohe to retrieve them. No sooner had Mohe dived in and picked up the sword and ring when he jumped out through the waves and said, “I was bitten by a venomous snake!” He hurriedly cut off one of his fingers [to stop the venom from spreading] and thus survived. Jiao Sui asked, “Could Mohe’s injury be due to angering a ghost?” They illuminated the water by burning a rhinoceros horn⁴, and it was as he had surmised. Presumably, the watery realm did not wish to be disturbed by human beings. Tao Xian said, “I respectfully take your point. But I have always admired Xie Kangle for saying, ‘In the end, I want to die happy among the mountains and rivers.’⁵ I wish only to pursue my passion; nothing else matters to me….” He ordered the boats to change course, saying, “We must go to see the scenery in Xiangyang, and then I will go home and spend the rest of my days in Wu commandery.”

They arrived at Mount Xisai (Huangshi, Hubei) and moored the boats at Jixiang Monastery. Tao Xian saw that the river water was black and stagnant and said, “There must be some strange thing down there.” He threw the ring and sword in and ordered Mohe to dive in and retrieve them. Mohe remained underwater for a long time, and when he finally surfaced, he was exhausted and could barely continue swimming. He said, “I can’t get the ring and sword! There is a dragon about twenty feet tall, and the ring and sword are right in front of it. When I reach my hand out to get them, the dragon glares at me angrily.” Tao Xian said, “You, the ring, and the sword are my three treasures. Now if I lose the ring and sword, what use are you to me? You must fight hard to get them back.” Mohe had no choice but to obey. His hair disheveled, he cried out until blood flowed from his eye sockets, then dove back down into the depths and did not reappear. After a long time, they saw Mohe’s dismembered body floating on the water, as though meant as a message to Tao Xian. Tao Xian wept by the water’s side and then ordered the boats to head home. He wrote a poem to express his decision never to travel the rivers and lakes again.

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1. The Magistrate of Pengze county was the famous Eastern Jin/Liu-Song poet and recluse Tao Yuanming, also known as Tao Qian (d. 427). ↩︎
2. A scenic mountain in the Danxia Range of Guangdong. ↩︎
3. A large lake near Hefei, in modern Anhui province. ↩︎
4. In Chinese lore, a burning rhinoceros horn would cast a bright light over a great distance. ↩︎
5. Xie Kangle was Xie Lingyun (385-433), a famous poet and nature lover. ↩︎