Tales from the Top
By Ji Xiaolan
Edited and translated by David E. Pollard
| List of Illustrations | 9 |
| Introduction | 11 |
| Illustrations | 21 |
| Part 1 ANIMATION | 29 |
| Crock and marksman | 31 |
| Free-standing gown | 33 |
| Jade horse shows a leg | 34 |
| A too perfect model | 35 |
| Marionettes play up | 36 |
| All in the mind | 37 |
| Stone statue harasses | 38 |
| Part 2 CONJUGAL | 41 |
| A fallen woman | 43 |
| Love survives remarriage | 45 |
| The Juliet motif | 47 |
| Elopement condoned | 48 |
| Young love blighted | 49 |
| Wife sacrifices her honour in vain | 52 |
| Part 3 KARMA | 55 |
| Fox allows adultery | 56 |
| Fox debauches wife | 58 |
| Fox girl impersonates maid | 59 |
| Saved lives averts rebirth as pig | 60 |
| Generosity saves from fire | 62 |
| Part 4 ANIMAL WELFARE | 65 |
| Cruelty to animals | 66 |
| Getting cut up | 68 |
| Ox spared the butcher | 69 |
| Sharpshooter bested by spell | 70 |
| Part 5 FOX FAIRIES | 71 |
| Fox fairy rebuts | 73 |
| Hiding in gourd | 73 |
| Concubine impersonates fox fairy | 75 |
| Fox fairy proves a handful | 77 |
| Fox fairy escapes domestic tyranny | 79 |
| A genteel lifestyle | 82 |
| Part 6 GHOSTS | 85 |
| Ghostland betrothals | 88 |
| Belles-lettres in ghostland | 89 |
| The tender trap in ghostland | 90 |
| Poseur reprimanded in ghostland | 91 |
| Unburied concubine appeals | 92 |
| The ageing of ghosts | 94 |
| Descriptions of ghosts | 94 |
| Ghosts are everywhere | 95 |
| Greedy ghost messengers | 97 |
| Ghost recruits scholar | 99 |
| Hanged ghost gets tactical advice | 101 |
| Hanged ghost has a conscience | 103 |
| Hanged ghost traps lovers | 105 |
| Hanged ghost gang up | 107 |
| Hanged ghost puts filial duty first | 108 |
| Hanging and drowning averted | 109 |
| Hungry ghosts secure redemption | 111 |
| Hungry ghost's impersonation falls flat | 113 |
| Hungry ghost impersonates dead concubine | 115 |
| Part 7 JI DOMESTIC | 117 |
| Caring ancestors | 119 |
| Dead first wife returns to advise second wife | 120 |
| Death throws ducks | 121 |
| Drum demon | 122 |
| Ghost suspected | 123 |
| Sack monster | 124 |
| Toddler playmates | 124 |
| Yaksha | 125 |
| Saved from suicide by past kindness | 126 |
| Yang beats yin | 127 |
| Changji uprising | 128 |
| Impiety punished | 129 |
| Thwarted ghosts vow revenge | 130 |
| Transmigration proved | 132 |
| Part 8 SOCIETY | 133 |
| A daughter's revenge | 134 |
| Fiendish cunning | 135 |
| Trade in daughters | 137 |
| Bandit rues arrogance | 140 |
| Doctors' rivalry | 140 |
| Fake ghost comes to grief | 142 |
| Fake bogeys | 143 |
| An example to judges | 144 |
| Masters worse than servants | 146 |
| Monks, nuns and almsgiving | 147 |
| Moralist gets own medicine | 149 |
| Judge not in haste | 150 |
| Please no tourture | 152 |
| Portrait mistaken for ghost | 153 |
| Revenge taken on wife | 154 |
| Discord among wives | 156 |
| Part 9 UNCLASSIFIED | 157 |
| Boy ages fast | 158 |
| Saving mother-in-law raises woman to divinity | 159 |
| Sorcerers redundant | 160 |
| Stomach gremlins | 162 |
| Tables turned | 163 |
| Valour in battle elevates menial | 164 |
| Weird flies | 165 |
Research Centre for Translation, The Chinese University of Hong Kong.