Mandrill (pronounced xiāo) is a spirit in the mountains. Some people say it is a mountain god. It can often be seen in ghost novels about mountains.

Written records about mandrills were first seen in the Western Han Dynasty. In the "Shenyi Jing·Xihuang Jing" written by Dongfang Shuo, the general idea is: There is a human-like monster in the mountains of the West, called Shanxi (mandrill), thirty to forty centimeters tall, naked, and it catches shrimps and crabs in mountain streams. It is food-oriented and is not afraid of people by nature. When someone makes a fire in the mountains, it likes to come over and borrow the fire to grill shrimps and crabs. Its habits are also similar to humans, and it knows how to steal people's salt and use it as condiment to accompany the shrimps and crabs. It is estimated that because he is not afraid of people, he borrowed fire as a cover and stole salt to eat, which shows that he is a bit clever. They have their own unique language. Someone once played a prank and put bamboo sticks into the fire. When the bamboo sticks burned, they easily made a crackling sound (the origin of "firecrackers"). As a result, Shan Xin was very frightened. If someone violates it, that person will suffer from strange diseases that are either cold or hot and difficult to cure.

Maybe it’s not so magical. It’s that this big monkey-like animal doesn’t regard itself as an outsider (maybe because it’s in its own territory). However, it has lived in the mountains for a long time and is covered with harmful substances that are harmless to itself but easy to Bacteria that make people sick, and some people got sick because they interacted too much with it out of curiosity. They thought they had offended the mandrill and were cast a spell. In short, the mandrills recorded in the "Shen Yi Jing" are still very kind.

But by the Jin Dynasty and the Jin Dynasty, this mandrill had mutated. Ge Hong said in "Baopuzi·Dengshe" that mandrills look like children, with only one leg and it grows backwards. They like to harass people at night.

It is still the habit of a naughty monkey, but it has become one leg and grows backwards. It also likes to actively provoke people, but it is not evil enough.

"The mountain spirit is shaped like a child, with one leg backward. It is happy to convict at night, and is called a mandrill."

In the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the image of the mandrill became more and more obvious, with a human face and a monkey body. , and only grew one arm and one foot, and can also speak human language; and has new skills, not only can it change, but also learned the art of curses.

Zu Chongzhi of the Southern Dynasties recorded in "Shu Yi Ji·Fuyang People" that during the Liu and Song Dynasties, a boss Wang from Fuyang installed a bamboo fence in the river to catch crabs. In order to steal crabs and eat them, a mandrill transformed into The wood repeatedly damaged the fence. Lao Wang saw the clue, so he put the wood into the crab pot and said he would burn it when he went home. As a result, Mu Mu was so frightened that he quickly revealed his original form with "a human face and a monkey body, one hand and one foot". He voluntarily admitted that he repeatedly broke Lao Wang's fence because he was greedy and secretly eaten. He also said that he was a mountain god and asked Boss Wang to forgive him and let him go. He promised to help Lao Wang every time he goes down the fence to be filled with big crabs. Lao Wang thought to himself: I believe you are a ghost! Why do you need to steal my crabs if you have that ability? So the monster begged pitifully again and again, but Lao Wang refused and was determined to kill him. The monster was helpless and asked Lao Wang his last name several times. Lao Wang stopped paying attention to him and burned him to ashes when he returned home. Since then, Lao Wang has never encountered anything strange.

Straight-tempered and forthright, ruthless!

The last record in the book is that people already had this idea at that time: this monster is the legendary mandrill. If he knows the name of the person who wants to harm him, he can cast a spell to kill that person first to save himself. .

The magic that looks very evil is actually very good. There are many demons and ghosts in folklore who can do such magic. Zhang Guifang in "The Romance of the Gods" is like this, Mr. Lu Xun's "From Baicao Garden to Sanwei Bookhouse" is like this, the red chain snake is like this, "Journey to the West" Taishang Laojun's purple gold is like this The same goes for gourds and jade bottles. You can only cast spells if you know the person's name, and you need someone to respond.

In the early Tang Dynasty, mandrills underwent new changes. From the "Guang Yi Ji" written by Dai Fu of the Tang Dynasty, we can see that the mandrills in the Lingnan area are characterized by one arm and one leg, similar to many mountain gods in "The Classic of Mountains and Seas"; they are more similar to humans in terms of words and deeds, and men are greedy for money. The woman likes to dress up, and she also cares about face. She speaks eloquently and is willing to get along with others peacefully. The only thing that is "inferior" is that he is not very good at bullying others, and he particularly values ​​reputation and face. Its special skills are good at driving away tigers and bringing down natural disasters to punish those who violate it.

It is said in "Guang Yi Ji·Ban Zi" that Lingnan The mandrill still has one leg with the heel pointing forward, but its palms and soles have only three branches. It makes a nest in a tree hole and uses branches to cover it. Moreover, the male mandrill is called a monkey, and he likes to ask people for money, while the female mandrill is called a mountain girl, and she likes to ask people for makeup. If people meet their demands, they are protected. This so-called protection means that you will not be harmed by tigers when walking in the mountains, because they can repel tigers. What's even more amazing is that they have an upright temperament and will share the harvest equally with the people near the mountainous areas. If someone is clever and gets too much, they will encounter natural disasters!

"Guang Yi Ji·Liu Jian" also records another incident of encountering a Lingnan mandrill. It is said that the Lingnan judge encountered a mandrill playing while walking on the mountain road, so he called him a monster, which annoyed the good-looking mandrill. He said, "I'm playing with mine, you can go yours, what's wrong with you, why are you doing this to me!" Then he stood on a branch and whistled, and soon a tiger came in response and pounced on Liu Jian at the mandrill's command. . Liu Jian still wants to run away, but how can he run away? Soon he was knocked down by the tiger and sat on his butt. Mandrill laughed at Liu Jian: "How dare you scold me?" Liu Jian and his men quickly apologized and begged for mercy, and Mandrill asked the tiger to let him go. Liu Jian was so frightened by this incident that his legs continued to shake for several days, and he became seriously ill as a result.

With the continuous expansion of the scope of human activities, the Mid-Tang Dynasty The mandrill has been widely known to people, and people have given it many random names based on its appearance, specialties and other characteristics. At this time, the mandrill was both good and evil. He had begun to drift away from people, and his methods of retaliating against those who violated him became more and more aggressive. Not only would he drive away tigers and harm people, he would also set people's houses on fire (still causing natural disasters). Almost the same number of ways).

Duan Chengshi recorded in "Youyang Zazu": Shan Xiao, also called Shan Xi, is called Shan 㺑 (sound cán) in "Shen Yi Jing", and is called Shan in "Yongjia County Records" Charming also has other names such as Shanluo, Jiao or Bao, Zhuo (sound zhuó) meat, hot meat, Hui, Feilong and so on. It looks like a dove, is black, and is also called Zhiwu. Its nest is as big as a container that can hold five buckets (50 liters now), and is decorated with white soil. When it emerged from the cave, it looked like a target in black and white. If someone violates it, it can drive the tiger to harm people and set fire to people's houses. Its common name is Mandrill.

Mandrills before the Tang Dynasty were still a bit friendly and cute, not He took the initiative to do evil, and the image of the mandrill began to polarize. One kind is still both good and evil, and maintains a childlike charm, but people are not very friendly to it, and always want to teach it a lesson or even kill it. One type was gradually demonized and began to actively attack humans, becoming the incarnation of evil.

The mandrill in Yuan Mei's book belongs to the first category. The mandrill in "Zi Buyu·Binding the Mandrill" likes to steal people's hats, and is very funny about the behavior of humans drinking, but he does not harm anyone, and he is beaten up by everyone. In "Xu Zi Bu Yu: Mandrills Are Afraid of the Mulberry Knife", the mandrill is called a one-legged ghost and likes to listen to people singing. Only a wooden knife made from an old mulberry tree can chop him to death.

In Liu Bowen's "Yu Lion: The Art of Transforming Iron", mandrills and many ghosts maliciously obstructed Yu Lion's alchemy to save the world. In Pu Songling's "Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio: Mandrill", the mandrill becomes an evil spirit that comes to people's homes to eat people. These all fall into the second category.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, no ghosts appeared in the world (whether it went underground is unknown), and the mandrill only became a topic of conversation after dinner.

Attachment: Duan Chengshi's "Youyang Zazu·Volume" The original text of "Mandrill" No. 13 of "The Chronicles of Nuo Gao" in the 15th century:

Shan Xiao, a mountain smeller, is named Shan 㺑 in "Shen Yi Jing", and is Shan Mei, a mountain luo in "Yongjia County Chronicles". One is Jiao, one is Zhurou, one is Hotrou, one is Hui, and one is Feilong. Like a dove, it is green, also called Zhiwu. The nest is as big as five buckets, decorated with clay, red and white, and looks like a shooting marquis. Offenders can use tigers to harm people, burn down people's houses, and are known as mandrills.