ZHŌNG Kuí 钟馗 = a promising young scholar
His sister
DÙ Píng 杜平 = his friend and neighbor
Various devils
Emperors of the Living and the Dead
ZHŌNG Kuí 钟馗 and his friend and neighbor DÙ Píng 杜平 were promising young scholars, who studied together for the imperial examinations. Zhōng had been orphaned at an early age, and lived with his younger sister. Dù and Zhōng and the sister all looked forward to the day when both the scholars would succeed in imperial examinations, and then Dù Píng would marry the sister, and Zhōng Kuí would find a wife, and all of them would live happily ever after.
Finally the examination day came, and Zhōng and Dù set off for to be examined. On the long journey to the capital, Zhōng fell ill, and in confusion became separated from Dù and wandered into a lair of devils (guǐkū 鬼窟), from which he emerged hideously transformed into the ugliest of men.
Zhōng and Dù did well in the examination, and indeed Zhōng was at the very top, and both were summoned to the palace for the final decision of the emperor. But on seeing how ugly Zhōng was, the emperor disqualified him, since it would never do to have the emperor’s beautiful government representated but such an ugly person. Zhōng, disconsolate, committed suicide, and his faithful friend Dù buried him.
When he appeared before the Jade Emperor (Yùhuáng Dàdì 玉皇大帝), in the land of the dead, Zhōng was seen for the talented person he was, and was given the title “General for the Expulsion of Demons and the Destruction of Disaster” (Qūxié Zhǎnsuì Jiāngjūn 驱邪斩祟将军), and was placed in charge of frightening away evil spirits and assisting virtuous people who had been wronged.
One bit of unfinished business of his own, however, was the marriage of his younger sister to his friend Dù. In fact, his sister was still unaware that he was dead. So one night he returned to her house, with a host of accompanying demons carrying the requisite wedding supplies —gifts, clothing, and so on —and, after explaining the situation to her, accompanied her in the procession of demons to the house of Dù, saw them happily married, and then returned to his duties in the land of the dead.
[Zhōng Kuí is a popular spirit widely worshipped as the patron of students and scholars. Painters enjoy producing pictures of him because his ugliness provides great play for the imagination. Not surprisingly, the story told here appears in many forms and many places, and the wedding procession has become a relatively common art motif. For another story about Zhōng Kuí, and a picture of him, click here.]