In a moment he flung himself back on the bed and drew the coverlet tightly over his face. A few moments later, he felt that the awful creature was standing by his side. However, after a scrutiny it seemed to retire again, and at length half-mad with fright he put out his hand, grasped some clothes which he huddled on and rushed bare-foot from the house, the door of which he was able to bolt and bar just as the corpse leaped at him with demoniacal fury. As he ran at full speed under the light of a waning moon to put as great a distance between himself and the haunted house as possible, he chanced to glance back and shrieked aloud with fear to find that the corpse was not only hard at his heels but gaining upon him rapidly. In desperation he fled behind a large willow-tree which grew at the side of the road, and as the corpse rushed in one direction he darted rapidly in the other. Fire seemed to glint from its red eyes, and as it swooped upon him with hideous violence he fell senseless to the ground, so that missing its aim it clasped the tree in a rigid gripe. At daybreak they were found, and when the corpse was pulled away it was seen that its fingers had impaled and riddled the tree with the force of a sharp wimble. The traveller after many months recovered his health, but his companions were all found to be lying dead, poisoned by the fetid breath of the Vampire. It should be remarked that here we have a detail, repulsive enough but altogether in keeping, which we also find in Hungary, namely the carrion stink of a vampire’s breath. This certainly seems to be one of the most horrible, as it is one of the most significant stories in the whole library of Chinese vampire legend.
It hardly seems necessary to give in detail the history of Lu, who whilst watching one night in his orchard saw a terrible spectre, a hideous hag clothed in red. (It may be remarked that among certain tribes, such as the Borana Gallas and the Masai, warriors who have slain a foe in fight are painted with vermilion,[30] but it is curious to find that in China this evil apparition should have worn red since this is the lucky Yang, or solar colour, and considered to be of efficacy against the darker powers.) A thief who entered Lu’s garden to rob the fruit was discovered mad with terror since in one of the alleys he had encountered a man without a head. That part of the ground whence these phantoms seemed to spring was
