The Seal in the River | 河中之豹

A subordinate's prophetic dream about a pleading old man coincides with the capture of a seal. De...

The Meng Jiu Bird | 蒙鸠

The Meng Jiu bird's meticulously crafted nest fails because it is attached to fragile reeds, not ...

Down to Hell | 下地狱去

An old lady in heaven is horrified by the painful process of getting wings and a halo, so she dec...

The Golden Plate | 金盘子

Two merchants in Seri find a poor family's sooty plate is solid gold. The greedy one lies to get ...

Knock Knock | 敲门笑话

A classic knock-knock joke playing on the homophone "lettuce" (lettuce/let us). | 一个经典的敲门笑话,利用了 "...

The Man and the Satyr | 人与萨堤尔

A man warms his hands and cools his food by blowing with his mouth, leading a satyr to renounce t...

One or Two | 一还是二

A customer complains about having only one piece of meat, to which the waiter humorously offers t...

The Great Sage Raids the Peach Banquet | 大闹蟠桃会

The Jade Emperor puts Sun Wukong in charge of the immortal Peach Orchard. When not invited to the...

The Perfect Dog | 完美的狗

A volunteer at a vet clinic helps a funny-looking, unwanted dog named Minnie find a new home. A b...

The Jade Refusal | 子罕拒玉

A Song farmer offers a jade-containing stone to Prime Minister Zi Han, who declines it, valuing t...

The Tie and Water | 领带与水

A dying man in the desert is offered a tie instead of water, only to later be denied entry to a h...

The Grandsons | 半斤八两

A profligate prime minister's grandson, having lost his fortune, hires a ragged man to carry a bo...

The Colt Crosses the River | 小马过河

A young colt hesitates to cross a river after receiving conflicting advice from a cow and a squir...

Bill, Bingo and Bram 3 | 比尔、宾果与布拉姆 3

The narrator fondly recalls Bill, an elderly neighbor with a wealth of stories and opinions. From...

The Cartwheel Trick | 横翻筋斗的把戏

A little girl earns money from a boy for doing cartwheels. After her mother warns her about his m...

Broken Mirror Rejoined | 破镜重圆

This article recounts the ancient Chinese story behind the idiom "Broken Mirror Rejoined," where ...

The Ghost and the Ancestral Home | 鬼魂与祖宅

A skeptical young man confronts the ghost haunting his ancestral home. By cleverly using the ghos...

The Extra Charge | 额外收费

A dentist explains an unusually high charge for a tooth extraction by stating the patient's loud ...

Who Is Talking? | 谁在说话?

A general calls his unit, but a soldier who doesn't recognize his voice answers casually. After t...

The Four Ages of Humanity | 人类历史的四个时期

This text outlines the mythological four ages of humanity—Golden, Silver, Bronze, and Iron—each d...