ENG
Slender legs, a verdant sheen,
Each arm wields a sickle keen.
Misty woods are his home so true,
He cares for youth, like me and you.
During the reign of the greatest emperor of Han, there was a village called Bath. From within its mountains, a hot spring flowed, reputed to preserve youth and vitality. Nobles flocked to it from far and wide.
One day, the Marquis of Lecheng came to visit with his six-year-old son. The young lord caught a little grasshopper and wanted to keep it as a pet, so he tore off its wings and trapped it in a teacup.
That night, the Marquis was visited in his dreams by a man clad in green. "Your child has imprisoned mine," he pleaded. "We are both fathers. I beseech you, help my little one."
The next morning, the Marquis summoned his son and inquired about what happened. The boy, who feared his stern father, only provided vague replies. Thus, the full story remained elusive to both. That night, the green-clad man revisited the Marquis' dreams, with twin swords at his waist. He warned, "If you don't return my son, you'll never see yours again." The Marquis woke with a start and rushed to his son's bed, only to find it empty. Servants scoured the village but found no trace.
Only the young lord's page remembered the bug-catching. He rushed to the study, found the overturned teacup, and gently released the grasshopper onto the grass.
By noon, the young lord returned home safely, yet his hands were red and swollen, and he couldn't stop weeping. When questioned about the events of the previous night, he sobbed, "I dreamt of a man in green, a great jumper. He carried me on his back and hopped a few times. Then, I didn't know where I was. He scolded me for harming others and struck my palms with his swords twenty times." When asked how he came back, he was unable to answer, overwhelmed by fear.
Alas, it is said that all beings love their young, a truth that spans the world. Even yaoguais, it seems, are no different.
In the late years of the Han, the hot spring in Bath suddenly dried up. Insect guais sprouted in the hills, so the villagers moved down the mountain. A decade or two later, the area came to be known as the Webbed Ridge.
The story centers on a strange, insect-like spirit: a green-clad figure with slender legs and sickle-like arms who lives in misty woods and cares for his young. He is presented as a parent figure — a yaoguai who protects and wants his child returned when it is harmed.
The human setting is a village called Bath during the reign of the greatest Han emperor, known for a hot spring that supposedly preserved youth. Nobles came to bathe there. One visiting noble, the Marquis of Lecheng, brought his six-year-old son. The boy caught a grasshopper, tore off its wings, and trapped it in a teacup, keeping the injured insect as a pet.
That night the Marquis dreamed of the man in green pleading that his own child had been imprisoned and asking for help. The next night the man returned in the Marquis’s dream, now with twin swords and a warning: return my son or you will never see yours again. The Marquis woke to find his son gone; servants searched the village without success.
The young lord’s page remembered the grasshopper and found the overturned teacup, then gently released the insect. By noon the boy was back, but his hands were red and swollen and he couldn’t stop crying. He said he had been carried on the back of a great jumper in green, who scolded him for hurting others and struck his palms twenty times with swords. The boy could not explain exactly how he had been brought home and was too frightened to add more.
The tale ends with the observation that even monsters love their young. In the later years of the Han the hot spring in Bath dried up, insect guais began to appear in the hills, villagers moved down the mountain, and within a decade or two the place became known as the Webbed Ridge. The story shows a direct consequence: a supernatural parent intervened when its young was harmed, and the area later changed as insect spirits became more prominent.