Stories · The Quiet Temple

The Dream Beneath the Huai Tree

14 min · China · Wisdom · Letting go

In an abandoned garden said to be haunted, a wandering scholar naps beneath an ancient huai tree and lives a whole glittering lifetime as a governor in a kingdom no wider than a rice bowl, waking to warm wine, unmoved sunlight, and the quiet relief of being small.

Retold from The Chinese Fairy Book, edited by Richard Wilhelm.

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Story 15 of The Quiet Temple, starting at 3:11:31.