081龙

Dragon

全篇讲述四段关于龙的故事。比如第一段是，河北一条龙坠落村里，爬进一绅士家中大声乱叫，被火枪土炮吓跑，在一洼又浅又脏泥水中三天，借助大雨，才随着一声霹雳凌空而去。

The whole story tells four stories about dragons. For example, in the first section, a dragon in Hebei fell into a village and crawled into a gentleman's house and screamed. Then he was scared away by guns and cannons. After struggling in a shallow and dirty muddy pool in three days, it flew away with the sound of thunder with the help of a heavy rain.

都说龙非凡，
     无风无雨难上天，
     全都是瞎编。

People say that dragons are extraordinary.
But they cannot fly into the sky without storm.
It's all made up.

 

082林四娘

Lin Siniang

陈宝钥晚上在书房看书，突然闯入一个女鬼林四娘。时常来往，感情加深，四娘说她是十七年前在王府遇难的宫女，并不是要加害宝钥才来与他相好的。三年后一天夜里，四娘突然来和陈宝钥告别。原来是四娘生前无罪，死后又不忘念经，所以阎王把她投生到一户人家。林四娘转眼消失，从此，二人再也不能相见。

Chen Baoshi was reading at night in his study when suddenly a female ghost Lin Siniang broke in. Coming and going frequently, their feelings became more profound. Lin Siniang said that she was a maid of honor seventeen years ago in the palace. But she was murdered later on. She came to make good with him but not to harm him. One night three years later, Siniang suddenly came to say goodbye to Chen. It turned out that Siniang was innocent in life, and did not forget to recite sutras after death, so the king of hell put her into a family. Lin Siniang disappeared in a twinkling of an eye. And from then on, these two people could not meet for ever.

宫女受欺凌，
     死后冤案翻得成，
     阴间也公平。

The maid of honor was bullied.
After death she was proved exonerated.
Even the underworld is fair.

 

第三卷

Book 3

083江中

In the river

王圣俞在江的中心遇见的鬼神，常常于夜里在船只附近出没，忽隐忽现给人一种诡异的感觉。

The ghosts and spirits that Wang Shengyu met in the center of the river often haunted the boats at night. Flickering and appearing, they gave people a strange feeling.

月明白如练，
     漫漫江波鬼影现，
     道听途说言。

The moon was as clear as white silk.
Ghosts appeared in waves of the long river.
It was all hearsay.

 

084鲁公女

The daughter of Mr. Lu

本篇讲的是书生张于旦与鲁公之女的鬼魂的爱情故事。情节曲折，缠绵悱恻，动人心弦，通过鬼魂和人的恋爱，作者表现了自己理想的爱情。

This article is about the love story between the scholar Zhang Yudan and the ghost of the daughter of Mr. Lu. The plot is twisty, sad and touching. Through the love between ghost and human, the author showed his ideal love.

人鬼苦相恋，
     来世之约感地天，
     破镜终重圆。

爱字是情感，
     更是一种好信念，
     保持须志坚。

Man and ghost were in love.
The afterlife promise touched heaven and earth.
A broken mirror was finally joined.

Love is an emotion.
It's also a good faith.
Keeping it needs a strong mind.

 

085道士

The Taoist

世家子弟，只知豪奢，只知酒色，对贫穷的人，能稍稍礼遇，就是不错的了，更有甚者是嘲笑与鄙视。作者借道士游戏人间，对这类人物予以惩罚，既惩罚得十分有趣，又加以

The children of the distinguished families only know luxury, only know wine and sex. To the poor people, so long as they can show a little courtesy, it is already good enough. Worse than that, they even mocked and despised them. The author punished such characters through the game of the Taoists, which is very interesting yet with differential treatment. 

做人要学谁？
     莫将世家子弟追，
     狗眼看人低。

Who should we learn from?
Do not chase the children of the distinguished family.
They look down upon others.

 

086胡氏

Mr. Hu

河北省有一个大户人家，想请一名教书先生。忽然有一个胡秀才找上门来推荐自己。其实胡先生是狐狸精。经过复杂的变化，主人却反求胡先生为其女儿寻找合适的对象，胡便趁势主动把自己的妹妹介绍给主人的儿子。

A large family in Hebei Province wanted to hire a teacher. Suddenly a scholar Mr. Hu came to recommend himself. In fact, Mr. Hu was a fox. After complicated changes, the owner asked Mr. Hu to find a suitable match for his daughter, and Hu took the opportunity to introduce his sister to the owner's son.

狐求女不成，
     嫁妹同家却成功，
     处世须圆通。

A fox couldn’t find a woman for his owner’s son.
But he successfully married his sister to him.
You must be flexible to deal with others.

 

087戏术

Magic

故事讲述了两段戏术。从第一则来看，“戏术”似乎近于现在的魔术，第二则就不是现在的魔术了，而是虚构的仙术。文章虽然短小，但描写细腻生动。

The story tells two games. The first one seemed to be close to magic but the second one was not the present magic, but fictitious fairy art. Although the article is short, the description is delicate and vivid.

超然假乱真，
     异彩纷呈可乱心，
     痴人才相信。

统统都是假，
     尽人皆知却笑纳，
     世事真奇葩。

Mix the transcendent false with the genuine.
Radiant splendor can make heart confused.
Onlt fools believe it.

It's all false.
Well known but well accepted.
Things are reallt weird.

 

088丐僧

The beggar monk

一个老僧蓬头垢面，衣衫褴褛，躺在街头，不吃不喝。几天过后，他像是僵死在路旁。继而发生了不可思议的事情。

An old monk in rags was lying in the street, neither eating nor drinking. A few days later, he seemed to be dead on the side of the road. Then the unthinkable things happened.

僧俗两道行，
     佛家不与俗人同，
     莫予世俗情。

净秽二合一，
     残羹识味穿破衣，
     食苦甘如饴。

Buddhist and secular are two different beliefs.
A monk is not the same as a laity.
Don't show secular feelings to them.

Clear and dirty, the two are in one.
Eat scraps tastily and wear rags happily.
Eat bitterness as if it were candy.

 

089伏狐

Subdue the fox

太史被狐狸精迷住，生了重病。求神、画符，办法都用尽了，仍然不见效。后来有个医生给了他一种药，实则是房中之术，催他吃药与狐性交。太史性欲大发，狐忍受不了，结果就这样死掉了。这真是千古奇谈！

The historian was fascinated by the fox and became seriously ill. Praying for God, drawing magic figures, all these methods had been used but still nothing was effective. Then a doctor gave him a medicine, which was actually a trick in the room, and urged him to take it and have sex with the fox. The historian was so lust that the fox couldn’t stand it. As a result it died. This is really a wonderful story!

不幸遭狐祟，
     百药无效心已碎，
     房事却无敌。

Unfortunately he was fascinated by the fox.
Heart was broken by ineffective medicines.
But sex was invincible.

 

090蛰龙

The dormant dragon

有个姓曲的官员经常在楼上读书。一天正当阴雨天气，见一个小东西，身上发着像萤火虫一样的光，蠕蠕地爬动。这原来是一条蛰伏的龙。作者笔下的蛰龙其实是指隐士。

An official surnamed Qu often read upstairs. One day when it was raining, he saw a small thing, crawling and glowing like a firefly. In fact it was a dormant dragon. The author's dormant dragon actually refers to a hermit.

世间小物多，
     切勿小觑费斟酌，
     或恐是尊佛。

There are many little things in the world.
Do not underestimate them.
Carefuly think about them, which may be Buddha.