dz_v20

Title: “Female Ghost Demands a Life” 女鬼索命
Year: 1890 Volume: 20 Page Number: 24

Caption Translation: A Muslim man with the surname Lin lived near the west gate of Zhenjiang in Jiangsu. He made a living by running a barley sugar refinery. He and his wife had a happy life together.
Lin’s neighbor had a daughter who was beautiful and sensual. Lin had been coveting her for quite some time. He seduced her several times and the two exchanged vows. Not long afterward, the young woman became pregnant, which made her stomach grow bigger and bigger. When the neighbor’s cousin told him about his daughter, he exploded with fury. He went home, strangled his daughter to death, and buried her body in the wilderness.

Shortly after the woman’s death, Lin started to hear sounds of sobbing, or bricks falling, or he saw figures in the darkness. This made him quite distressed. One afternoon, he was making sugar in front of a big vat. When he noticed his wife was in the room, he felt horny. His wife refused him indignantly. Just when he was trying to force himself on his wife, he slipped and fell into the vat, covered with hot sugar. His wife was terrified and started screaming. On hearing the scream, other people rushed over and pulled the man out of the vat, but it was too late. The man was dead.

The man’s wife couldn’t bring herself to leave his corpse like that, so she brought some warm water to wash off the sugar. As soon as she started washing him, his flesh and skin peeled off and the bones were exposed. The sight was unbearable. Some people said it was the ghost of the murdered girl seeking revenge. I put down the story here to caution our philanderers to beware!

Translator: Huang Tiying
Revised by Peter C. Perdue

Caption Text: 回民林某僑寓鐵甕城西門內，開設大麥糖坊。家有一妻，伉儷甚篤。其比鄰某乙有一女，丰度娉婷，春情脈脈，林垂涎久之，多方勾引，遂成嚙臂之盟，未幾珠胎暗結，玉體膨脝，為乙之中表親某丙所知，備㕥其情告乙，乙聞而大恚歸家，將女勒斃，瘗於榛莽之間。

林自女死後時聞空中啜泣聲，或拋磚作響，或暗室露形，亦內不自安。一日午後，甲在地灶大鍋中熬糖，忽見其妻在旁，陡起淫心。妻正詞林自女死後時聞空中啜泣聲，或拋磚作響，或暗室露形，亦內不自安。一日午後，甲在地灶大鍋中熬糖，忽見其妻在旁，陡起淫心。妻正詞㕥拒，甲固強之，偶一失足，顛入鍋內，遍體盡沾熱糖，妻駭極狂呼。眾人聞聲畢集，將甲撈起，越時遂斃。妻惻然不忍，將其身上之糖用溫水抹洗。甫經下手，而肉已隨之而脫，白骨呈露，慘不忍睹。論者曰，師女鬼索命也。亟錄之㕥為登徒子作暮鼓晨鐘云。

View on Yale Visual Resources