Učenjak, ki so ga imeli za mrtvega

Besedilo

Učenjak, ki so ga imeli za mrtvega

Zhang Hanzhi of the state of Chen went to Nanyang to study the Zuo Commentary under Yan Shujian, the Governor of Jingzhao. Several months after his departure, a spirit possessed his younger sister and spoke through her: “I have died of an illness. My body lies beside the road, and I am forever suffering from hunger and cold. Take two or three pairs of straw sandals and hang them on the paper mulberry behind the house. Fu Zifang gave me five hundred coins, which are beneath the north wall. Go and fetch them all. I also bought an ox from Li You; the original contract is in my book chest.” They went to look, and everything was just as the spirit had said. His wife had not even known that he had this younger sister, who had only recently returned from her husband’s household and could have had no knowledge of these matters. The family grieved, all the more convinced that the news was true. His parents and younger brothers put on mourning robes and hemp headbands and set out to bring his body home. A few miles from the house, they encountered Hanzhi traveling with more than ten fellow students. Hanzhi turned, saw his family, and wondered why they were dressed that way. His family, seeing him, thought he was a ghost. For a long while they stood bewildered. Then Hanzhi stepped forward, bowed to his father, and explained everything that had happened. Grief and joy mingled. Accounts of things heard and seen like this are by no means rare. From them we may know that such incidents are the work of uncanny beings.