DUAN, Chengshi.

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Youyang zazu (Miscellaneous Morsels from Youyang). First Japanese edition. This ninth-century collection, telling tales of the weird and wonderful, includes the first appearance of "Ye Xian", a story closely resembling the tale of "Cinderella" in the European storytelling tradition.The Youyang zazu (Japanese: Yuyo zasso) was compiled in manuscript form by the literatus Duan Chengshi (803-863). The 30 parts, split into a main collection and a 10-part supplement, tell stories of immortal beings, Buddhas, ghosts, Taoist magic, strange animals, and unusual places. Set around the time of Confucius, "Ye Xian" describes the beautiful but downtrodden daughter of a village chief. Forced to work as a servant for her evil stepmother, she attends new-year festivities with the help of a fish spirit, leaving behind a golden slipper. Like her European counterpart, Ye overcomes adversity and familial scheming during the search for the slipper's owner, and true love prevails.Besides "Ye Xian", the most well-known section is the "Nuogaoji" ("Chronicles of the Strange"), which is an important early record of everyday folklore and belief in the supernatural. Duan both gathered stories popular at the time and composed some of his own. The first printed editions appeared during the Song dynasty (960-1279), and the text proliferated in the following centuries. In this finely engraved Japanese edition, "Ye Xian" begins on the third leaf of Part 21.

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