Ghost Story Review: "The Tale of the Porcelain God" by Lafcadio Hearn

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The language of the sad tale is beautiful and lyric. “Who first of men discovered the secret of the Kao-ling, of the Pe-tun-tse—the bones and the flesh, the skeletons and the skin, of the beauteous Vase? Who first discovered the virtue of curd-white clay? … Unto whom was it first given to discover the divine art of porcelain? “Unto Pu, once a man, now a god …” Pu was, among men, the most talented artisan. He sent a gift to the “Celestial and August,” of a vase imitating ore-rock. The emperor was pleased, rewarding Pu with five thousand liang. Here is where the trouble starts. The Celestial and August (such folk are never pleased) wants a vase having the tint and the aspect of living flesh. “Mark well our desire!—of flesh made to creep by the utterance of such words as poets utter—flesh moved by an Idea, flesh horripilated by a Thought! Obey, and answer not! We have spoken.” Not a tall order at all. Pu, despite being rich, is downcast. He goes back to his workshop and begins fiddling around. He addresses the Spirit of Fire: “How shall I—a miserable man, unable to breath into clay a living soul—how shall I render in this inanimate substance the aspect of flesh made to creep by the utterance of a Word, sentient to the horripilation of a Thought?” The Spirit of the Furnace answers him, “Has Thought feet that man may perceive the traces of its passing? Canst measure me the blast of the Wind?” More question and cryptic responses from the Spirit of the Furnace follow until Pu realizes the way out of his situation. The tale is heavy and sad. It will not be to everyone’s liking. Author Lafcadio Hearn was born in the Greek Isles, educated in Ireland, the native land of his father, but spent much of his adult life in Asia, eventually becoming a naturalized Japanese citizen and assuming a Japanese name. He also lived in New Orleans for ten years. This short story is available in the collection Some Chinese Ghosts at Project Gutenberg. ______ Title: “The Tale of the Porcelain God” Author: Lafcadio Hearn (1850-1904) First published: in Some Chinese Ghosts 1887 Source: ISFDB