Miscellaneous Morsels from Youyang

The Miscellaneous Morsels from Youyang is a book written by Duan Chengshi in the 9th century, during the Tang Dynasty. It focuses on miscellany of Chinese and foreign legends and hearsay, reports on natural phenomena, short anecdotes, and tales of the wondrous and mundane, as well as notes on such topics as medicinal herbs and tattoos. Youyang refers to the south slope of Mount You, a small hill located in what is now Huaihua, Hunan. The book is divided into 30 volumes, containing unusually varied content in over thirteen hundred entries that describe the world that Duan Chengshi heard about, read of, or personally observed. Several tales from the volume are quoted in the Taiping Guangji.

The Ye Xian, a story similar to the fairy tale Cinderella, appears in Chapter 21. The story was allegedly told by Duan's servant Li Shiyuan, a native from what is now Nanning. It is set during the late 3rd century BC. The exact location is unknown, but the most likely candidate is Guangxi, where the shoe eventually found its way to a king from an island.