法苑珠林 62.45

62.45

故廬陵太守太原龐仚。字子及。自說其遠祖不知幾何世也。坐事繫獄而非其罪。不堪拷掠自誣服之。及獄將上。有螻蛄蟲行其左右。其祖乃謂螻蛄曰。使爾有神能活我死。不當善乎。因投飯與之。螻蛄食飯盡去。有頃復來形體稍大。意每異之。乃復與食。如此去來至數十日間。其大如豚。及意報當行刑。螻蛄夜掘壁根為大孔。乃破械從之出去。久時遇赦得活。於是龐氏世世常以四節。祠祀螻蛄於都衢處。後世稍怠。不能復特為饌。乃投祭祀之餘以祠之。至今猶爾。

The former Grand Administrator of Luling, Pang Xian of Taiyuan, courtesy name Ziji, himself recounted that his distant ancestor—uncertain how many generations back—was implicated in an affair and imprisoned, though it was not his crime. Unable to endure the torture of flogging, he falsely confessed. When his case was about to be forwarded to the higher authorities, a mole-cricket was crawling near him. His ancestor then said to the mole-cricket, "If you possess spiritual power and could save me from death, would that not be good?" He thereupon tossed some cooked rice to it. The mole-cricket ate all the rice and left. After a short while it returned, its body slightly larger. He thought this increasingly extraordinary, and gave it food again. Coming and going like this over several tens of days, it grew as large as a piglet. When it was expected that execution was imminent, the mole-cricket dug a large hole beneath the foundation of the wall at night; he then broke his fetters and escaped through it. After a long time, he met with an amnesty and was able to survive. Thereupon the Pang clan, generation after generation, always sacrificed to the mole-cricket at the four seasonal festivals at the thoroughfare. In later generations they gradually grew negligent, and being no longer able to prepare special provisions, they simply threw out the remnants of sacrifices to worship it. Down to the present, it is still like this.