法苑珠林 94.17

94.17

唐癰州萬年縣閻村。即㶚渭之間也。有婦女謝氏。適同縣元氏有女。適迴龍村人來阿照。謝氏永徽末亡。龍朔元年八月。託夢於來氏。女曰。我為生時酤酒。小作升方取價太多。量酒復少。今坐此罪。於北山下人家為牛。近被賣與法界寺夏侯師家。今將我向城南耕稻田。非常辛苦。及寤其女洟泣為阿照言之。至二年正月。有法界寺尼至阿照村。女問尼。尼報云。有夏侯師。是實女。即就寺訪之。云近於北山下買得一牛。見在城南耕地。其女洟泣求請寺尼。乃遣人送其女就之。此牛平常唯一人禁制。若遇餘人必陸梁觝觸。見其女至乃舐其遍體。又流淚焉。女即憑夏侯師贖之。乃隨其女去。今現在阿照家養飼。女常呼為阿孃。承奉不闕。京師王侯妃媵。多令召視。競施錢帛。

During the Tang, in Yan Village of Wannian County in Yongzhou, which lies between the Ba and Wei rivers, there was a woman of the Xie clan. She had married into the Yuan clan of the same county and had a daughter who was married to Lai Azhao, a resident of Huilong Village. Lady Xie died at the end of the Yonghui era. In the eighth month of the first year of the Longshuo era (661 CE), she appeared in a dream to Lai's wife, her daughter, saying, "Because when I was alive I sold wine, made the sheng measure small, charged excessive prices, and also gave short measures of wine, I now suffer for this crime by becoming a cow at a household beneath the Northern Mountain. Recently I was sold to the family of Master Xiahou of Fajie Temple, and they are now taking me to plow paddy fields south of the city, which is extraordinarily painful and toilsome." When she awoke, the daughter tearfully recounted it to Azhao. In the first month of the second year (662 CE), a nun from Fajie Temple came to Azhao's village. The daughter asked the nun, and the nun answered, "There is indeed a Master Xiahou." The daughter immediately went to the temple to inquire, and [Xiahou] said, "Recently I bought a cow beneath the Northern Mountain; it is presently plowing fields south of the city." The daughter tearfully pleaded, and the temple nun then sent someone to escort the daughter to it. Ordinarily, this cow could be controlled by only one person; if it encountered anyone else, it would violently toss its head and butt with its horns. When it saw the daughter arrive, it licked her whole body and shed tears. The daughter then relied on Master Xiahou to redeem it, and it followed her away. It is now kept and fed at Azhao's home. The daughter constantly calls it "Mother" and serves it without neglect. Princes, marquises, consorts, and concubines in the capital often send for it to look upon it, competing to bestow money and silk.