| In the town of Bo a traveling merchant stayed the night with a prostitute.
When he paid her, she examined the piece of silver in her hand carefully
and heated it over the lamp. "It's not made of paper, I hope!" she
said with a smile. The surprised businessman asked her what she meant
by that. A few days before, she said, she had gone to watch a sacrificial
performance put on by a ship carrying a cargo of grains. Returning
late at night, she ran into a young man who handed her a piece of silver,
and they consummated the arrangement in a shed by the river. Back
home, she took out the silver from her bosom. It felt very light
in her hand, and on a close look she found it made of paper. Only
then did she realize she had met a ghost. Then she told the merchant
what had happened to another prostitute living nearby. She had met
a patron who was very generous with gifts of clothing and jewelry.
After he left, she discovered that all those clothing and jewelry had been
taken from her own chest, which had always remained locked. Thus,
she suspected herself to have been the victim of a wily fox. On hearing
this, the merchant joked, "Perhaps it is the way of heaven for one to get
what one deserves!"
The following story was told by a blind man names Liu Junduan.
A man in Qing County was friendly with a fox. They often drank wine
together like good chums. But then the fox failed to show up for
a long time. One day the man was walking across a wasteland when
he heard someone moaning in the grass. Hurrying over, he found his
fox friend. "How did you get yourself in such a mess?" he asked.
Despondent and shamefaced, the fox gave a long pause. "A few days
ago I saw a young prostitute who looked strong a vigorous, so I assumed
human form and slept with her, hoping to absorb some of her vital energy.
Unfortunately she had been carrying a vile disease. The poison of
her disease flowed into my body along with her vital forces and merged
with all the energy I had ever gathered. Like oil mixed into flour
they became totally inseparable. Gradually the poison permeated my
whole body and spread to my face. Too embarrassed to meet anyone,
I have shunned my friends for a ling time. |
