Nevidni duh v hiši

Besedilo

Nevidni duh v hiši

In the days of Wu, Ni Yansi of Jiaxing lived in Yanli, west of the county town. One day a spirit suddenly entered his household. It spoke with people and ate and drank just as they did, but no one could see its form. When any of Yansi’s servants cursed their master in secret, it would say, “Now I shall tell him.” Yansi punished the offenders, and after that none dared curse him. Yansi had a concubine, whom the spirit demanded from him, so he invited a Daoist priest to drive it away. When the wine and dishes had been set out, the spirit fetched straw and filth from the privy and scattered them over the feast. The priest began beating his drum loudly and invoking the gods. The spirit then took the crouching tiger from the altar and blew into it, making a sound like a horn. After a while, the priest suddenly felt something cold against his back. He sprang up in alarm and loosened his robe: it was the crouching tiger. At this, the priest gave up and left. That night, beneath the bedcovers, Yansi whispered with his wife about the trouble the spirit was causing them. From the roof beam, the spirit immediately called down, “You and your wife are talking about me! Now I shall saw through your roof beam.” At once there came a loud rumbling sound. Fearing the beam would break, Yansi brought a light to look, but the spirit put it out. The sawing grew ever more urgent. Afraid the house would collapse, Yansi sent everyone outside, young and old alike, and fetched another light. The beam was just as it had been. The spirit laughed loudly and asked him, “Will you talk about me again?” When the commandery’s agricultural administrator heard of this, he said, “This spirit can be nothing more than some wildcat creature.” The spirit went straight to him and said, “You took several hundred hu of government grain and hid it in such-and-such a place. You are a corrupt official, yet you dare pass judgment on me! Now I shall report you to the authorities and have men sent to seize the grain you stole.” The administrator was terrified and begged its pardon. After that, no one dared speak against it. Three years later, it left, and no one knew where it had gone.