Ime na seznamu mrtvih

Besedilo

Ime na seznamu mrtvih

During the Han dynasty, Zhou Shi of Xiapi was once traveling to Donghai when he met an official carrying a scroll, who asked for a ride in his boat. After they had gone a little over ten li, the official said to Shi, “I have a brief call to make. I shall leave this scroll in your boat. Take care not to open it.” Once he had gone, Shi secretly unrolled the scroll and found that it was a register of those marked for death. Farther down the list was his own name. Before long, the official returned, and Shi was still reading. The official said angrily, “I expressly warned you, yet you chose to disregard me?” Shi knocked his forehead against the ground until it bled. After a long while, the official said, “I am grateful to you for carrying me so far, but your name cannot be struck from this register. Leave now and go home. If you do not step outside your gate for three years, you may escape this fate. Tell no one that you have seen my scroll.” Shi returned home and did not go out. More than two years passed, and everyone in his family thought his behavior strange. Then a neighbor died, and his father angrily ordered him to go and offer condolences. Shi had no choice. The moment he stepped outside the gate, he saw the official. “I told you not to leave your gate for three years,” the official said, “yet here you are. What can be done now? I have tried to avoid seeing you and have repeatedly suffered beatings on that account. Now that I have seen you, there is nothing more I can do. Three days from now, at noon, I shall come to take you.” Shi went back inside and, weeping, told his family the whole story. His father still would not believe him, but his mother kept watch beside him day and night. At noon on the third day, the official did indeed appear to take him, and Shi died.