Stories about animals in Xu Xuan's Accounts of Inspecting Spirits (Xth century)

Abstract

The article presents an analysis of short stories concerning animals in one of the most famous fction collections from the Five Dynasties — Early Song era. The author proposes a preliminary classifcation for the animals as characters in the stories. Several groups of story plots have been defned, depending on types of relationships between animals and human beings. The abundance of stories about retribution and about good and bad omens leads us to conclude that Xu Xuan's eclectic worldview combines Buddhist and Confucian elements.