Folklore Basis of Three Late Tang Period Stories About the Intrusion into Another’s Dream

Abstract

The article aims to explore alleged folklore basis of three Chinese chuanqi tales about a husband's intrusion into his wife's dream written during the middle-late Tang period, namely, the first episode of “A Record of Three Dreams”  by Bai Xingjian, “Student Zhang” by Li Mei, and “Dugu Xiashu” by Xue Yusi. The psychologism inherent in these stories masks their closeness to folklore and literature tales about supernatural or uncommon road encounters. The use of Chinese and foreign comparative material allows us to show that these stories originate in belief in the night feasts of spirits and in the possibility of humans participating in those feasts. Two of the three tales, “Student Zhang” and “Dugu Xiashu”, also contain the international motif of a musician engaged to entertain spirits or devils during their night revels. All three chuanqi are based on a fairy-tale concept of rescuing a spouse: by interrupting his wife’s sleep, the hero thus saves her from spirit possession that could end badly for her. It is possible to conclude that the international tale type of the three tales about a husband's intrusion into his wife's dream come, in some respects, closest to is “The Danced-out Shoes”. About a dozen Chinese narratives of the 8th – 10th centuries in the centre of which is the participation of a woman in the night feasts of spirits including even Daoist immortals, which should be assigned to the same group. Such plots, which have no close analogues in previous and subsequent Chinese tradition, most likely owe their appearance to the influence of folklore and beliefs of the Iranian peoples.