法苑珠林 74.34

74.34

唐長安市里風俗。每至歲元日。已後遞作飲食相邀。號為傳坐。東市筆生趙大次當設之。有客先到。向後見其碓上。有童女年可十三四。著青裙白衫。以汲索繫頸。屬於碓柱。泣淚謂客曰。我主人女也。往年未死時。盜父母百錢欲買脂粉。未及而死。其錢今在厨舍內西北角壁中。然我未用。既以盜之。坐此得罪。今當償父母命。言畢化為青羊白頭。客驚告主人。主人問其形貌。乃是小女。死已二年矣。於厨壁取得百錢。似久安處。於是送羊僧寺。合門不復食肉。盧文勵傳向臨說耳（右二驗出冥報記）。

According to the custom of the wards and markets of Chang'an under the Tang, from New Year's Day onwards, people would take turns preparing food and drink to invite one another, calling it 'passing the seats.' It was the turn of the brush-maker Zhao Da in the Eastern Market to host. A guest arrived first, and going out back, he saw on the mortar a young girl about thirteen or fourteen years old, wearing a blue-green skirt and a white blouse, with a well-rope tied around her neck, attached to the pestle post. Weeping tears, she said to the guest: 'I am the master's daughter. Formerly, before I died, I stole one hundred coins from my parents wishing to buy rouge and powder, but died before I could do so. That money is now inside the kitchen, in the wall at the northwest corner. Although I did not spend it, because I stole it, I have incurred guilt on this account. Now I must repay my parents with my life.' Having finished speaking, she transformed into a blue-green sheep with a white head. The guest, alarmed, informed the master. The master asked about her appearance, and it was indeed his little daughter, who had died two years earlier. They retrieved the hundred coins from the kitchen wall, which seemed to have been placed there long ago. Thereupon, they sent the sheep to a Buddhist monastery, and the entire household ate meat no longer. Lu Wenli recounted this to me personally (the above two proofs are from the Mingbao ji).