The Fox in the Bottle

　　The wife of a certain Mr. Shi of Wan Village was plagued by a fox spirit. She suffered from it but could not get rid of it.

　　Behind the door there was a bottle. Whenever the woman heard her father-in-law coming, the fox would immediately flee and hide inside that bottle. The woman had watched this happen many times and secretly devised a plan, but she said nothing.

　　One day, the fox crept into the bottle again. The woman quickly plugged the mouth of the bottle with cotton wadding, placed it in a cooking pot, and heated the water until it boiled.

　　The bottle grew hot. The fox cried out, "It's burning hot! Don't play such a wicked trick!"

　　The woman said nothing.

　　The fox howled more and more urgently. After a long while, there was no more sound.

　　The woman pulled out the stopper to check. Inside there was only a pile of fur and a few drops of blood.



中文如下：

　　狐入瓶

　　【原文】

　　万村石氏之妇，祟于狐，患之，而不能遣。扉后有瓶，每闻妇翁来，狐辄遁匿其中。妇窥之熟，暗计而不言。一日，窜入。妇急以絮塞其口，置釜中，燂汤而沸之。瓶热，狐呼曰：“热甚！勿恶作剧。”妇不语。号益急，久之无声。拔塞而验之，毛一堆，血数点而已。

　　【翻译】

　　万村有一个姓石人家的儿媳妇，被狐狸精侵扰祸害，她虽然很痛恨，却无法把它除掉。她家门后有一只瓶子，每次听见妇人的公公进来时，狐狸精就会逃到瓶中躲藏起来。妇人多次偷看到狐狸精的这个举动后，心中暗暗想出了一个计谋，但没有对外说出来。一天，狐狸精又窜进了瓶子里，妇人急忙用棉絮塞住了瓶口，把瓶子放在锅里，烧热锅里的水去煮它。瓶子热了起来，狐狸精呼叫说：“太热了！你不要恶作剧呀！”妇人不搭理它。狐狸精号叫得更加急促，时间长了便没有了声音。妇人拔开瓶塞查看，里面只有一堆狐狸毛、几点血而已。