The Frog God
"The Frog God" () is a short story by Pu Songling collected in Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio (1740). It revolves around a Chinese bachelor who encounters the locally revered frog god and his subsequent romance with its daughter. The titular frog deity makes an immediate reappearance in the following story, a semi-sequel simply titled "You" () in Chinese or "Another Frog God Tale" in the 2014 English translation by Sidney L. Sondergard. Plot The pious people who reside in the Han river region in Hubei, China, live in fear of the almighty Frog God, who is worshipped at a frog-filled temple specially dedicated to him. The Frog God possesses divine powers and can communicate with others in their dreams. Xue Kunsheng (薛昆生), a young bachelor, is selected by the Frog God to be his daughter's future spouse; the Xue family disregards this and some time later arrange for Kunsheng to take the Jiang family's daughter as his wife. The Frog God is infuriated and the Jiang family, fearful of retribution, cancel the wedding plans. After making an offering at the Frog God temple, Xue is summoned to meet the Frog God, who takes on the form of an