Story summary

豆棚閑話のあらすじ

著者：艾衲居士

読了8分
10 parts
音声は近日公開

Under a village bean arbor, twelve tales of jealous ghosts, schemers and a beggar boy cool a hot summer.

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豆棚閑話の概要

要約：読むのに8 minかかります

読書時間: 約5 h 15 min4 h 10 min fast, 6 h 15 min slow
所要時間: 74,600語
ライブラリ内の難易度: 標準 longer sentences, everyday words
初版刊行年: 1668by 艾衲居士

Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). 古典を読むのにかかる時間 · 更新日 22 October 2026

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豆棚閑話 in short

Idle Talk Under the Bean Arbor is twelve tales in one frame. A village builds a shade of beans, and as the vines grow, villagers tell stories that mix history, rumor, jokes, and sermon. Jealousy gets a ghost and a goddess.

What 豆棚閑話 is about

Picture a hot summer in Jiangnan, the damp land south of the Yangtze. Households plant sheep-eye beans, raise a few poles, and let the vines make a shade cooler than any pavilion. Under that green roof, neighbors sit, fan themselves, and talk. What do they talk about first? Other people's husbands and wives, and above all jealousy.

Idle Talk Under the Bean Arbor is a book of twelve linked tales set in just this place. A Daoist who signed himself Ainajushi wrote it in the Ming and Qing period. You meet ghosts, a wise fool, false monks, bandits, and a headless man weaving mats, all in the voice of a good talker among friends.

対象読者. For readers who love tales told aloud, comic satire, ghost and fate stories, and a clever storyteller working a crowd on a summer afternoon.

The story in 10 parts

Key idea 1 · free to read
A bean arbor turns idle talk into stories
The book opens with a preface in which the author names an earlier poet, Xu Jutan, whose Songs Under the Bean Arbor was loved and then lost. The author does not care to write poems. He gathers a few odd tales worth a smile instead.
The arbor then takes on a life of its own. Villagers plant beans, and soon the vines spread over the frame. Men and women sit under them on cool mats, and the listeners bargain with the storyteller over tea and pastries. As the tales go on, the first pods are boiled as a prize for a good story, autumn winds fill the pods, and frost comes.
The speakers vary too. Some are old travelers, one cannot read a single character, and listeners push back and ask for proof. Short comments follow most tales like a friendly reader at your elbow.
The arbor is both a place and a way of telling.
2
A jealous wife outlasts death as a goddess
The first tale is about jealousy.
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3
Famous beauties may be cut down to size
The second tale begins with young men asking for a story about a woman who is beautiful, talented, virtuous, and happy in the end.
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4
A dull boy scatters silver with strange purpose
The third tale starts after ten days of rain.
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5
Hidden virtue outlasts gold and books
The fourth tale opens with Tao Yuanming's beans, which need weeding before they bear.
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6
A beggar boy shows what filial love means
The fifth tale begins with the idea that company changes us, as orchids or a fish market change the nose.
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7
Fraudulent holy men and a prince who walked away
The sixth tale opens when the first bean pods ripen.
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8
Blind men, a green stone and a bandit's trail
The eighth tale is told by a young man who cannot read, who heard it from a monk in Suzhou.
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9
Swindlers on Tiger Hill and a hero in war
The tenth tale begins with a hollow bean that grows only near Suzhou.
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10
A school director argues against gods and monks
The twelfth tale begins with a plain remark that a deed no one should know about is best left undone.
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Characters, plot and themes

Main characters

Shi You Jie Zitui's wife, who cannot forgive his nineteen years of absence, and whose jealousy hardens into a stone.
Wang Xingge A seemingly dull merchant's son who gives away silver freely and follows brocade pouches handed to him at the sea.
Yan Chi A commissioner's son who returns his father's stolen deeds, spends wildly, and tries to repay his family's bad karma.
Ding'er A beggar boy who feeds his blind mother first and refuses riches that would shame her.
Shuqi Younger brother of Boyi, who leaves Mount Shouyang hungry and hopeful of office under the new dynasty.
Jia Jingshan A Suzhou hanger-on who founds a society of Old Freebies and schemes to earn silver from a retired official.
Dang Yiyuan A generous, upright militia chief who defends his sister's honor against a lustful rival.
Chen Gang A school director from the city who walks into the arbor and argues against monks, immortals, and ghosts.

How it ends (spoiler)

In the twelfth tale the school director Chen Gang leaves for town after his attack on Buddhism and Daoism. The old storyteller worries that the authorities may see the arbor as a breeding ground for trouble, and he notes that frost has come and the bean stalks are about to wither. Someone leans on a post, the footing gives way, and the whole arbor collapses. Everyone laughs, and the owner pulls away the poles and carries the vines home.

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『豆棚閑話』についての質問

What is Idle Talk Under the Bean Arbor about?

It is a book of twelve linked tales told by villagers sitting under a bean arbor through one summer and autumn. The stories deal with jealousy, loyalty, fate, false monks, bandits, and swindlers, with short comments after most of them.

Who wrote Idle Talk Under the Bean Arbor and when?

It was written by a Daoist who used the pen name Ainajushi, in the Ming and Qing period. The record gives no year of death. The author says he wrote it to carry on an earlier poet's bean arbor songs.

What does the bean arbor mean in the book?

The arbor is a shade made of bean vines where neighbors gather to cool off and talk. It is the frame for the whole book, and its growth from sprouts to withered stalks marks the seasons in which the tales are told.

Are the stories in Idle Talk Under the Bean Arbor true?

They mix real history, such as Xi Shi, Jie Zitui, and the late Ming rebels, with legend, ghosts, and dreams. The speakers themselves joke that they string facts together, so the stories are best read as entertaining fiction.

Is Idle Talk Under the Bean Arbor easy to follow?

Each tale stands alone, told by a lively speaker with a clear setup, humor, and a short comment at the end. You can read the tales in order or pick one, and each moves at the pace of a good talk.

この版を引用します

Ainajushi. Idle Talk Under the Bean Arbor. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/idle-talk-under-the-bean-arbor.

Ainajushi. (2026). Idle talk under the bean arbor. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/idle-talk-under-the-bean-arbor (Original work published 1668)

Ainajushi. Idle Talk Under the Bean Arbor. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/idle-talk-under-the-bean-arbor.

@book{ainajushi2026idle,
  author = {Ainajushi},
  title = {Idle Talk Under the Bean Arbor},
  publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/idle-talk-under-the-bean-arbor},
  note = {First published 1668}
}