The Frog God

Plot

The pious people who reside in the Han river region in Hubei, China, live in fear of the almighty Frog God, who is worshipped at a frog-filled temple specially dedicated to him. The Frog God possesses divine powers and can communicate with others in their dreams. Xue Kunsheng (薛昆生), a young bachelor, is selected by the Frog God to be his daughter's future spouse; the Xue family disregards this and some time later arrange for Kunsheng to take the Jiang family's daughter as his wife. The Frog God is infuriated and the Jiang family, fearful of retribution, cancel the wedding plans.

After making an offering at the Frog God temple, Xue is summoned to meet the Frog God, who takes on the form of an old man. At that point he is introduced to his daughter, Shiniang (十娘), a frog spirit who similarly passes off as a beautiful girl who Xue instantly falls in love with. Xue's parents disapprove of the arrangement initially, but there is no conflict on the day of marriage. Xue's parents-in-law occasionally visit the household afterwards and their attire is indicative of what prosperity the Xue family is to reap – red for "happy events" and white for greater wealth. Many of Shiniang's frog relatives, in their original form, now frequent the Xue residence too.

The peace enjoyed in the family fizzles out one day, however, when Xue, in a bout of bad temper, kills a handful of frogs and criticises the Frog God for imposing a reign of terror on the Hubei people. Shiniang chastises her husband for being insensitive and ungrateful, then storms off. She returns after Xue atones for his mistakes but soon afterwards leaves again – this time after being chased away by Xue, who regards Shiniang as an unfilial wife. He protests this to the Frog God and threatens to commit arson to his temple. The Frog God, in return, offers to build a house for Xue and Shiniang reunites with him.

Yet Xue Kunsheng succeeds at driving his wife away for the third time after using snakes, traditional predators of frogs, to play a prank on her. This time she does not return, despite the Xue family's best efforts at winning her back. A year goes by and Xue receives information that Shiniang is being betrothed to the Yuan family. He is grief-stricken and becomes emaciated, until he realises Shiniang is standing by his side; she explains that she had already rejected the Yuans' dowry and gifts and had longed yearned to be back with him, against the wishes of her father, the Frog God. They reflect on their personal growth during the course of their marriage, and Shiniang reaffirms her wedding vows to Xue. The villagers start to venerate Xue, Shiniang gives birth to twin sons, and the human-amphibious lineage thrives.

Background

Written by Pu Songling and originally titled "Qingwashen" (青蛙神), "The Frog God" was first collected in the 1740 publication Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio (Liaozhai), and fully translated into English by Sidney L. Sondergard in 2014. "The Frog God" is followed by "Another Frog God Tale", a separate encounter featuring the same Frog God. In the original version of Liaozhai, it has the nondescript title of "You" (Chinese: 又; literally: "Again") which indicates a continuation, to some extent, of the previous story. The Martin Bodmer Foundation Library houses a 19th-century Liaozhai manuscript, silk-printed and bound leporello-style, that contains three tales including "The Bookworm", "The Great Sage, Heaven's Equal", and "The Frog God".

Reception

The story, described as a piece of "sacred-profane love fiction", was discussed alongside "Zhu-qing", another entry in Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, at the 5th Hawaii International Conference on Arts and Humanities in 2007; Grace Lau Yinping posits that "The Frog God" is a reflection of "realistic ... (and) different marital problems such as without posterity, marital disharmony and difficult paths of personal development."