Prikazen v prenočišču pri Zahodnih vratih

Besedilo

Prikazen v prenočišču pri Zahodnih vratih

During the Later Han, Ximen Station in Ruyang, Runan, was haunted, and travelers who lodged there often died. Those afflicted by the spirit lost their hair and were drained of their vital essence. When inquiries were made into the cause, this was the account given: “Strange things had been happening there for some time. Then Zheng Qi of Yilu, an attendant clerk in the commandery administration, came that way. Six or seven li from the station, a comely woman asked him for a ride. At first he was reluctant, but then he let her into his carriage. When they reached the station, she hurried to the foot of the tower. The station attendant warned him, ‘You must not go upstairs.’ Qi said, ‘I am not afraid.’ It was already growing dark, so he went upstairs and spent the night with the woman. He left before dawn. When the attendant went up to sweep the room, he found a dead woman. Greatly alarmed, he ran to tell the station master. The station master beat the drum to summon the clerks from the nearby lodges, and together they examined the body. It proved to be a woman of the Wu family, who lived eight li northwest of the station. She had recently died. During the night, while her family were keeping vigil beside her body, the light had gone out; by the time they brought another light, the body was gone. Her family now came and took her away. After Qi had traveled several li from the station, he developed a pain in his belly. By the time he reached Liyang Station in Nandun, it had grown worse, and he died. From then on, no one dared go upstairs in the tower again.”