021狐嫁女
A fox married off his daughter

一个尚书，他在年少家贫的时候曾经与同窗学友打赌，要住荒宅。结果，他在半夜时见到了狐狸家举办女儿婚礼的传奇故事。少年酒后私藏玉杯，以为人不知鬼不觉，岂料秋后算账，狐狸以独特的方式来索取。

When young and poor, a minister once bet with his classmates to live in a barren house. As a result, he saw in midnight the fox family held a wedding for their daughter. After drinking, the teenager hid the jade cup in his pocket, thinking that no one was aware of it, but after autumn, the fox asked for it in a unique way.

要想人不知，
除非检点莫为之，
算账秋后时。

If you don’t want to let people know it
Unless you don't do it or act well.
Accounts will be settled after autumn.

 

022娇娜
Jiao Na

书生孔雪笠与狐族娇娜一家人相识相知，患难与共。这对男女并没有为爱情抛弃自己的家庭，他们之间的感情没有掺杂任何杂质。这种美好的情感涉及到了情感和道德之间的矛盾，因此寓意深刻。

Scholar Kong Xueli and Jian Na’s fox family got to know each other and shared weal and woe. This couple did not abandon their families for love, and their feelings were not mixed with any impurities. This kind of beautiful emotion involves a contradiction between emotion and morality, so the implication is profound.

人狐非同种，
相濡以沫肝胆情，
生死能与共。

Human and fox are not the same species.
But they had a good relationship with each other.
They could live and die together.

 

023僧孽
A monk’s sin

本文讲述了一个和尚不遵法戒，敛财淫赌，被冥冥之中的主宰所惩罚的故事。

It tells the story of a monk who disobeyed the law, collected money and gambled. At the end, he was punished by God in the dark.

僧俗各有道，
切勿疏忽忘记掉，
善恶终有报。

Monks and common people have their own ways.
Do not neglect it or forget it.
Good and evil will eventually have their own karma.

 

024妖术
Evil black magic

这是于公和妖怪打斗的故事。它告诉我们，遇到困难，要寻求正确的渠道解决，而求神问卜，选择小道偏方则会陷自己于险境。

This is the story of the fight between Mr. Yu and the monster. It tells us that when we encounter difficulties, we should seek the right way to solve them, while asking God for advice and choosing the wrong way will put us in danger.

脱险凭正道，
求神问卜全无效，
问君可知晓？

Get out of danger by the right way.
Asking for God's knowledge is futile.
Do you know?

 

025野狗
Wild Dog

时逢动乱，杀人如麻，刀下之鬼无处不在。乡民李化龙遇见了一件离奇的事，一个兽首人身的怪物在吸死人的脑子。李化龙奋力自救，致怪物受伤逃去。

In times of turmoil, many people were murdered so the ghosts of knive-killed people existed everywhere. The villager Li Hualong once met a strange thing, namely a monster with a beast head and a man’s body was sucking the brain of the dead. Li Hualong struggled to save himself and caused the monster to escape injured.

妖魔不可怕，
智勇双全能拿下，
退缩代价大。

Demons are not to be fearful.
Both wisdom and courage can win.
But retreat is too costly.

 

026三生
Resurrect three times

落第名士兴于唐，在阴间将乡试官告上法庭，纠合众冤鬼要求挖掉考官双眼，以此对不识文字好坏的官员实施报复。当然，这种做法并不可取。

As a famous scholar who was failed in exam, Xing Yutang took the local examiner to court in the nether world. Moreover he gathered the ghosts of wrongly killed people to dig out the examiner's eyes, so as to retaliate against the official who could not tell the quality of essays. Of course, this approach is not desirable.

落第怪考官，
冤冤相报恨连天，
试问谁人管？

Blame the examiner for failing.
Injustice is avenged by hatred.
Who cares?

 

027狐入瓶
The fox getting into the jar

全文简短，刚过百字, 简要介绍了一个妇人巧计杀死祸害自己的狐狸的故事。这说明坏人虽然能害人，但只要人们敢于反抗，他们最终会被制服。

It is short with just over a hundred words. This paper briefly introduces a story of a woman who killed a fox harming her, which shows that although bad eggs can harm people, yet as long as people dare to resist, they will eventually be subdued.

妖魔诚可恶，
智勇结合可降服，
顾忌须解除。

The devil is wicked in deed.
But wisdom and courage can subdue them.
Scruples must be lifted.

 

028鬼哭
Crying ghosts

王学使家人在战乱中遇害。他派人处理掉家里的尸体。从此，宅子里总是出现鬼哭，直到他作道场超度它们，这才灭除鬼患。这则故事告诉我们，为人凶狠残暴，鬼也不会怕他，公道正直，鬼也会感化。

Mr. Wang had his family killed in the war. He sent someone to get rid of the dead bodies at home. But from then on, crying ghosts often appeared in the house until he made Buddhist memorial service to overcome them. This story tells us that ghosts will not be afraid of people who are fierce and malicious, and that ghosts can also be influenced by justice and integrity.

凶残鬼不怕，
公平正义可感化，
一点也不假。

Devils are not afraid of fierceness.
Fairness and justice can influence them.
It is not false at all.

 

029真定女
The girl from Zhending

真定地区有一孤女，六七岁时被一人家收养，两三年后被男人诱奸竟然怀孕生子。其婆母感叹说：“没想到拳头大的母亲，竟然生了锥子大的孩子！”

There was an orphan girl in Zhending area. At the age of six or seven, she was adopted by a family. But two or three years later, seduced and rapled by a man, she got pregnant. His mother-in-law exclaimed: "I did not expect that the mother as big as a fist should give birth to a son as big as an awl!"

十岁女生子，
岂非咄咄奇怪事？
问君可曾知？

Ten year old girl gave birth to a boy.
Isn't that a strange thing?
Do you ever know?

 

030焦螟
Jiao Ming

董默庵家里被狐狸所扰，最后不得已请道士焦螟才除掉邪祟。本文明里鼓励勇于斗争，实则暗讽官员仗势欺人。

The house of Mr. Dong was haunted by a fox. He had to ask Jiao Bei, a Taoist priest, to get rid of the evil spirit. In this article, the courage to fight is encouraged, but in fact, it is implied that officials throw their weight about.

除邪非本愿，
剑指仗势欺人官，
正义吓破胆。

Eliminating evil was not the writer’s true idea.
He criticized the cruel officials.
Justice can break the hearts of bad eggs.