Mandrill (pronounced xiāo), that is, the spirit of the mountain, is also said to be a mountain god, and it can often be seen in all the ghosts and spirits about the mountain in Chi Wei novels.
The written record of mandrills was earlier found in the "Divine Miracle Classic, Western Wilderness Classic" written by Dongfang Shuo of the Western Han Dynasty, which roughly means: There is a human-like monster in the deep mountains of the West, called Shanzhen (mandrill), thirty or forty centimeters tall, naked, feeding on shrimp and crabs in mountain streams, born not afraid of people, and most like to come over and borrow the fire to grill shrimp and crabs to eat when someone is staying in the mountains to make a fire. Its habits are also human-like, and he always likes to steal people's salt as a condiment and eat shrimp and crab. It is estimated that because he is not afraid of people, he borrows fire as a pretense, and stealing salt to eat is the goal, which shows that he is a little clever. They have their own unique language. Someone once put bamboo strips into the fire in a prank, and the bamboo strips were easy to make a crackling sound when they burned (the origin of "cannon bamboo"), and Shan Zhan was very frightened when he heard it. If someone violates it, that person will get a disease that is difficult to cure either cold or hot.
In fact, it may not be so amazing, that is, this monkey-like animal does not regard itself as an outsider (perhaps because it is in its own territory), but it has lived in the mountains for a long time, and its body is stained with bacteria that are harmless to him but easy to make people sick, and some people get sick because they are curious and interact with him too much, and they think that they have offended this mandrill and have been cast a spell. In short, the mandrills recorded in the Divine Miracle Scripture are still very kind and ordinary.
But by the time of the two Jins, this mandrill has mutated. Ge Hong of the Eastern Jin Dynasty said in "Holding Puzi Dengsheng" that mandrills look like children, with only one foot and backwards, and like to harass people at night.
It is still the habit of a mischievous monkey, but it has become one-legged and backwards, and it also likes to take the initiative to provoke people, but it is not evil.
"The mountain spirit is shaped like a child, with one foot backwards, and the night is happy with the prisoner, and the name is fish."
In the Southern and Northern Dynasties period, the image of the mandrill became more and more distinct: the face monkey body, and only one hand and one foot, can also speak human language; And with new skills, not only can I change, but I also learn the art of cursing.
Zu Chongzhi of the Southern Dynasty recorded in "Shu Yiji Fuyang People": During the Liu and Song Dynasties, there was a boss Wang of Fuyang who planted a bamboo fence in a small river to catch crabs, and a mandrill turned into wood to repeatedly damage the fence in order to steal crabs to eat. Lao Wang saw the clue, so he put the wood in a crab cage and said that he would go home and burn it. As a result, the wood was so frightened that he quickly appeared in the original form of "human-faced monkey body, one hand and one foot", and took the initiative to admit that he had repeatedly damaged Lao Wang's fence because he was greedy and stealing, and said that he was a mountain god, and asked Boss Wang to forgive him and release him, and he promised to help Lao Wang catch big crabs every time he went down the fence in the future. Lao Wang thought to himself: I believe you are a ghost! Do you have the skills to steal my crabs? So the monster pitifully begged again and again, but the old king insisted on not allowing it, and he was determined to kill him. The monster was helpless, and asked Lao Wang several times who his surname was, but Lao Wang no longer paid attention to him, and burned him to ashes when he returned home. Since then, Lao Wang has not encountered anything strange.
Straight and bold and ruthless!
At the end of the book, it is recorded that there was already a saying among the people at that time: this monster is the legendary mandrill, and if he knows the name of the person who wants to kill him, he can cast a spell to kill that person first to save himself.
It seems to be a very evil spell, but it is actually very dish. Folklore and ancient book records have many people or demons and monsters who can do such spells, such as Zhang Guifang in "Romance of the Gods", and the red chain snake in Mr. Lu Xun's "From the Hundred Herb Garden to the Sanwei Bookhouse". There are also some magic weapons that have such functions, such as the purple-gold gourd and jade jing bottle of Taishang Laojun in "Journey to the West" can only cast spells if they know the name of the person, and they must be answered.
At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, the image of the mandrill underwent new changes. Through Tang Dai Fu's "Guang Yi Ji", we can see that the appearance of the mandrill in the Lingnan area is still one-armed and one-legged, similar to many mountain gods in the "Classic of Mountains and Seas"; In terms of words and deeds, they are closer to people, men are greedy for money and women love to smell beautiful, and they also want face, "human words" are very slippery, and they are willing to live in peace with people. The only thing that is "inferior" is that he is not very good at adultery, and he is particularly famous for good reputation. The special skill is to be good at driving away tigers and sending disasters to punish those who violate it.
It is said in "Guang Yi Ji Banzi" that the mandrill in Lingnan has a single leg with a heel forward, but the palm and the sole of the foot have only three forks, making nests in tree holes, and knowing to use branches to cover it. Moreover, the mandrill of the male is called the mountain gong, and he likes to ask people for money, and the mother's mandrill is called the mountain girl, and he likes to ask people for fat powder. If people meet their demands, they are protected. This so-called protection is that walking in the mountains will not be harmed by tigers, because they can repel tigers. What's more amazing is that they have a straight temperament and will farm with people near the mountains to divide the harvest equally, and if someone plays a little clever, they will encounter natural disasters!
"Guangyi Ji Liu Ji" also recorded another incident of chance encounter with Lingnan mandrills, saying that when the Lingnan judge encountered mandrills playing with him when he was walking on the mountain road, he called him a demon, and as a result, the good-faced mandrill annoyed: "I play mine, you go yours, what hinders you, you trample me like this!" Then he stood on a branch and whistled, and soon a tiger responded and pounced on Liu Jian at the command of the mandrill. Liu Xuan still wants to run, so how can he run? Soon he was pounced on by the tiger and sat under his ass. The mandrill ridiculed Liu Xian: "Do you still dare to scold me?" Liu Xuan and his men quickly made amends and begged for mercy, and the mandrill let the tiger release him. After this incident, Liu Xuan was frightened, and his legs and stomach were still shaking for several days, and he became seriously ill because of this.
With the continuous expansion of the scope of human activities, the mandrill of the Middle Tang period has been widely known, and people have given him many messy names according to the characteristics of the mandrill such as appearance and characteristics. At this time, the mandrill is also good and evil, and has begun to drift away from people, and the means of retaliation against those who violate him are becoming more and more radical, not only driving tigers and harming people, but also setting fire to people's houses (still the same number as natural disasters).
Duan Chengshi recorded in the "Youyang Miscellaneous Tricks": 山琐, also known as 山臊, called 山㺑 (pronounced cán) in the "Divine Miracle Classic", called mountain charm in the "Yongjia County Record", and also called mountain luo, jiao or called 魃, 濯 (pronounced zhuó) meat, hot meat, hui, flying dragon. It looks like a dove, black, also known as Zhiwu. Its nest was the size of a container that could hold five buckets (now fifty liters), decorated with white earth, and when it drilled out of the cave, it looked like an arrow target. If someone violates it, it can drive tigers to harm people and set fire to people's houses. Its common name is mandrill.
The mandrill before Tang was still a little friendly and cute, and did not take the initiative to act evil, and the image of the mandrill after that began to polarize. One is still good and evil, and maintains childlike fun, but people are not very kind to it, always trying to teach it a lesson or even kill it. One class is gradually demonized and begins to actively attack humans and become the embodiment of evil.
The mandrills in Yuan's book belong to the first category. The mandrill in "Zi Silent Binding Mandrill" likes to steal people's hats, and is funny about human drinking, but it is not harmful, and as a result, he is beaten by everyone. In "Continued Son Silent Mountain Drill Afraid of Mulberry Knife", the mandrill is called a one-legged ghost and likes to listen to people sing, and only a wooden knife cut from an old mulberry tree can hack him to death.
In Liu Bowen's "The Art of Yu Ion and Iron", mandrills and many ghosts maliciously obstruct Yu Ion's alchemy. In Pu Songling's "Liaozhai Zhiyi Mandrill", the mandrill has become an evil ghost who runs to people's homes to eat people. This all falls into the second category.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, there were no ghosts in the world (whether it turned underground is unknown), and mandrills only became the talk of people after tea.
Attached: The original text of the 13th "mandrill" of Duan Chengshi's "Youyang Miscellaneous Tricks, Volume 15, Nuogao Notes":
Shan Xiao, a mountain zheng, "Divine Miracle Sutra" as mountain 㺑, "Yongjia County Record" as mountain charm, a mountain luo, a jiao (一曰蛂), a pure, a hot meat, a hui, a flying dragon. Such as dove, cyan, also known as Zhiwu. The nest is as large as a five-bucket vessel, decorated with chalk, red and white, and shaped like a shooting marquis. The prisoner can use the tiger to harm people, burn people's houses, and as the saying goes.