"The Bear's Husband.” Folktales of China, Wolfram Eberhard, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1965, pp. 68-69.

Tale Summary

There was once a youth named Wang P’ing who went off on a trading journey, but there was a horrible storm which drove his ship against a mountain. He was seized by a bear woman and carried off by her, and they became man and wife. She shut him in the cave each day as she searched for food for the both of them, and eventually they had two children together. The bear woman thought that by now he was no longer homesick for China, and because it was nearly impossible to escape, she let him out of the cave. One day, Wang P’ing went to the seashore with his children when he saw a ship on the beach and found out that the sailors were Chinese. He explained his experiences and they brought him on board, but the bear woman jumped into the sea and swam toward the ship. Wang P’ing prayed to the deity of the sea, and promised to build a temple in his honor if he would blow a favorable wind. The wind sprang up, and the ship quickly escaped and sailed back to the man’s home. There, a temple was built.