冥報記 3.14

3.14

長安市里風俗。每歲元日已後。遞作飲食相邀號為傳坐。東市筆工。趙士次當設之。有客先到。如廁。見其碓上。有童女。年可十三四。著青裾白衫。以級索繫頸。屬於碓柱。泣謂客曰。我是主人女也。往年未死時。盜父母錢一百。欲買脂粉。未及而死。其今在厨舍內西北角壁中。然雖未用。既已盜之。坐此得罪。今償父母命。言畢。化為青羊白項。客驚告主人。主人問其形貌。乃其小女。死二年矣。送於厨壁取得錢。似久安處。於是送羊僧寺。合門不復食肉（盧父厲說）。

According to the custom of the market neighborhoods of Chang'an, every year after New Year's Day, people would take turns preparing food and drink to invite one another, calling it 'passing the seats.' Zhao Shici, a brush-maker of the Eastern Market, was due to host it. A guest arrived early and went to the privy, where he saw on the mill-stand a young girl of about thirteen or fourteen, wearing a green skirt and a white blouse, with a hemp rope tied around her neck, bound to the post of the mill-stand. Weeping, she said to the guest, 'I am the host's daughter. Formerly, before I died, I stole one hundred coins from my parents, intending to buy rouge and powder, but I died before I could do so. That money is now inside the kitchen wall in the northwest corner. Although I never used it, having already stolen it, I was found guilty on this account, and now I must repay it with my life.' Having finished speaking, she transformed into a blue-black sheep with a white neck. Frightened, the guest informed the host. The host asked about her appearance, and it was indeed his young daughter, who had been dead for two years. He sent someone to the kitchen wall and retrieved the coins, which looked as though they had been kept there for a long time. Thereupon he sent the sheep to a Buddhist monastery, and his entire household ceased eating meat (related by Lu Changli).