法苑珠林 63.98

63.98

葛祚字元先。丹陽句容人也。吳時作衡陽太守。郡境有大查。橫水能為妖怪。百姓為之立廟。行旅必過。要禱祠查。查乃沈沒不者。查浮則船為破壞。祚將去官。乃大具斤斧之屬。將伐去之。明日當至。其夜廟保及左右居民。聞江中洶洶有人聲非常。咸怪之。旦往視查移去。沿流流下數里。駐在灣中。自此行者。無復沈覆之患。衡陽人美之。為祚立碑曰。正德所禳。神等為移。

Ge Zuo, whose style name was Yuanxian, was a man of Jurong in Danyang. During the Wu, he served as the Grand Protector of Hengyang. Within the borders of the commandery was a huge log that lay across the water and was capable of working strange portents. The common people established a shrine for it. Travellers who had to pass by were required to pray and sacrifice to the log, whereupon the log would sink down; if not, the log would float and their boats would be wrecked. When Zuo was about to leave office, he gathered a large quantity of axes and hatchets, intending to fell and remove it, planning to arrive the next day. That night, the temple attendants and the surrounding residents heard a tumultuous, extraordinary noise of human voices in the river, and all found it strange. At dawn, they went to look, and the log had moved away, floating downstream several leagues to settle in a bend. From then on, travellers no longer suffered the disaster of sinking and capsizing. The people of Hengyang praised him, erecting a stele for Zuo that said: 'Exorcised by his upright virtue, the spirits moved away.'