A Breakfast at an Inn Turned Its Guests into Donkeys

After the second watch, the guests at Banqiao Inn were asleep. Only Zhao Jihe was still awake. Hearing a rustle next door, he peered through a crack in the wall and saw the landlady light a candle and open a chest.

Inside was a set of tiny farming tools, along with wooden people and a wooden ox. Lady Sanniang took them out.

1. An Inexpensive Mount at Banqiao Inn

The story appears in volume 286 of Extensive Records of the Taiping Era, quoted from the Tang work Records of Hedong. The inn stood at Banqiao, west of Bianzhou. Its landlady, a widow in her thirties, had no children or relatives with her. People called her Lady Sanniang of Banqiao.

She managed a few rooms on her own and welcomed travelers. The inn served meals and was quite prosperous; it kept many donkeys in particular. When guests lacked a riding animal, she provided one cheaply, earning a reputation for generosity.

During the Yuanhe era, Zhao Jihe, a traveler from Xuzhou, was heading to the eastern capital, Luoyang. He arrived at the inn at dusk. Six or seven guests had checked in before him, and as the last arrival he was given a couch at the back, right beside the landlady’s room.

Lady Sanniang welcomed everyone warmly and brought out food and wine. Zhao Jihe did not usually drink, so he sat with the others and chatted. When the other guests fell asleep, drowsy and drunk, he heard the sounds next door.

2. A Meal Grew from a Patch of Floor

The wooden ox and people were only six or seven cun tall. Lady Sanniang set them and the farming tools before the stove, took a mouthful of water, and sprayed it over them.

The wooden people came to life. They led the wooden ox to plow a patch of floor in front of the bed, no larger than a sleeping mat. Lady Sanniang took out buckwheat seed and gave it to them to sow. In that small plot, shoots quickly appeared, flowered, and bore grain.

Then came the harvest and threshing. In a flash, they had seven or eight sheng of buckwheat. Lady Sanniang brought out a small mill, ground the fresh grain into flour, put away the wooden people and ox, and made several baked cakes herself.

Work that normally took seasons and many hands, from sowing to baking, had all been packed into one night in that room. Zhao Jihe watched the whole process through the wall.

At daybreak, Lady Sanniang served the cakes to the guests who were about to leave. Zhao Jihe felt uneasy and pretended to set off first, but he did not go far. He hid outside the door and kept watching.

The guests ate the cakes, then suddenly fell to the ground together, braying like donkeys. In an instant they had all turned into donkeys. Lady Sanniang drove them toward the rear of the inn and took their luggage and valuables. Hidden outside, Zhao Jihe saw it all clearly.

3. Zhao Jihe Swapped One of the Cakes

After escaping, Zhao Jihe told no one what had happened. The Records of Hedong says he ‘privately admired her art’; what stayed on his mind was Lady Sanniang’s skill.

A little over a month later, Zhao Jihe passed through Banqiao on his way back. In advance, he had made buckwheat cakes matching the size and shape of those he had seen. This time, he was the inn’s only guest.

At night, he again watched Lady Sanniang use the wooden people and ox to sow grain, mill it, and make cakes. At dawn she brought him refreshments, then stepped away to fetch something. Zhao Jihe took one cake he had brought and swapped it for one on the plate.

When Lady Sanniang returned, he said he had his own food and asked her to save the inn’s cakes for other guests. He ate one of his own cakes, then offered her the one he had just swapped, asking her to try it.

Lady Sanniang ate it and immediately turned into a sturdy donkey. Zhao Jihe not only led her away, but also took the wooden people, wooden ox, and all the tools.

Only after acquiring the tools did Zhao Jihe discover that, although he had watched twice, he did not know how to operate them. The wooden objects were right in front of him, but no matter how he tried, he could not make them work.

He seized the tools but not the method, and yet gained a donkey he could ride at will. Lady Sanniang could travel a hundred li a day, and Zhao Jihe rode her from place to place for four years.

4. Four Years Later, Someone Called Her by Name

Four years later, Zhao Jihe entered the pass. Five or six li east of Huayue Temple, he met an old man. Seeing the donkey, the old man clapped and laughed: “Lady Sanniang of Banqiao, how did you end up looking like this?”

He turned to Zhao Jihe and said, “She may have done wrong, but what you have put her through is too much!” He asked Zhao Jihe to release her from then on.

Then the old man tore open the donkey’s muzzle with his hands. Lady Sanniang leapt out of the donkey’s hide and returned to human form. She bowed to the old man in thanks, then left. No one knew where she went.