The Story of the Stone (Barry Hughart)
First ed. hardcover dust jacket
Left to right: Master Li, Moon Boy, Grief of Dawn, Number Ten Ox. |
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| Author | Barry Hughart |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Mark Harrison |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| Series | Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox |
| Subject | China -- Fiction |
| Genre | Historical Fiction, Fantastic Fiction |
| Publisher | Doubleday |
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Publication date
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1988 |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 236 |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 17261525 |
| 813/.54 19 | |
| LC Class | PS3558.U347 S7 1988 |
| Preceded by | Bridge of Birds |
| Followed by | Also published in omnibus edition: The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox. |
The Story of the Stone (Chinese: 石頭記; pinyin: Shítóu jì) is a novel by Barry Hughart, first published in 1988. It is part of a series set in a version of ancient China that began with Bridge of Birds and continues with Eight Skilled Gentlemen. The story begins on the twelfth day of the seventh moon in the Year of the Snake 3,339 (AD 650).
The abbot of a humble monastery in the Valley of Sorrows calls upon Master Li and Number Ten Ox to investigate the killing of a monk and the theft of a seemingly inconsequential manuscript from its library. Suspicion soon lands on the infamous Laughing Prince Liu Sheng—who has been dead for about 750 years. To solve this mystery and others, the incongruous duo will have to travel across China, outwit a half-barbarian king, and saunter into (and out of) Hell itself.
A wild funeral and a storm presage an attempt on Li Kao's life by a man disguised as a gambler. Number Ten Ox dumps the body in a canal. A footnote remarks that volumes two through five of the Memoirs of Number Ten Ox were seized and burnt by the Imperial Censors. Later in the Wineshop of One-eyed Wong, a low dive where classes mix, they encounter Lady Hou, a poet whose poems have been "attributed" to Yang Wan-Li. She attempts to murder a bureaucrat, but is knocked out by Wong. The trembling abbot of a humble monastery in the Valley of Sorrows approaches and asks them to investigate the killing of a monk and the theft of a strange manuscript from its library. He also says that The Laughing Prince, who has been dead for about 750 years, has arisen from his grave.
Later, they walk through the part of Peking known as Heaven's Bride, a crime filled area. Master Li spots a robbery in progress and makes a detour to Fire Horse Park, specifically to the Eye of Tranquility, a small lake surrounded by old sinners hoping for salvation, following the tradition of Chiang Taikung, a Taoist who fished without worms. Li Kao wrings a confession about the mushrooms from a toadish fellow named Hsiang. He identifies the manuscript fragment as a Ssu-ma Ch'ien, but an obvious forgery. It has also been traced recently.
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