3 pieces from Strange Tales — each retold in modern English and traced to its source.
A pampered young man from an old family climbs Lao Mountain to study with an immortal, then balks at the chores. When he finally bullies the master into teaching him one trick, he learns the cost of wanting magic without the work behind it. Pure Pu Songling.
A Daoist monk in rags asks a market merchant for a single pear. The merchant refuses — rudely, repeatedly. So the monk borrows a pip from a stranger's charity, plants it in the road, and grows a pear tree on the spot. The crowd gets the fruit. The merchant gets the lesson.
A butcher heading home with nothing but bones finds two wolves on his trail. He throws, they follow, and when the bones run out he has to think fast. A tight little fable about what happens when cunning meets a man who is just as cunning — and has a cleaver.