原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
龍王存屍
The Dragon King Keeps the Body
卻說劉洪殺死的家僮屍首，順水流去。惟有陳光蕊的屍首，沉在水底不動。有洪江口巡海夜叉見了，星飛報入龍宮，正值龍王升殿，夜叉報道：「今洪江口不知甚人把一個讀書士子打死，將屍撇在水底。」龍王叫將屍擡來，放在面前，仔細一看道：「此人正是救我的恩人，如何被人謀死？常言道：『恩將恩報。』我今日須索救他性命，以報日前之恩。」即寫下牒文一道，差夜叉徑往洪州城隍、土地處投下，要取秀才魂魄來，救他的性命。城隍、土地遂喚小鬼把陳光蕊的魂魄交付與夜叉去。夜叉帶了魂魄到水晶宮，稟見了龍王。却说刘洪杀死的家僮尸首，顺水流去。惟有陈光蕊的尸首，沉在水底不动。有洪江口巡海夜叉见了，星飞报入龙宫，正值龙王升殿，夜叉报道：「今洪江口不知甚人把一个读书士子打死，将尸撇在水底。」龙王叫将尸擡来，放在面前，仔细一看道：「此人正是救我的恩人，如何被人谋死？常言道：『恩将恩报。』我今日须索救他性命，以报日前之恩。」即写下牒文一道，差夜叉径往洪州城隍、土地处投下，要取秀才魂魄来，救他的性命。城隍、土地遂唤小鬼把陈光蕊的魂魄交付与夜叉去。夜叉带了魂魄到水晶宫，禀见了龙王。
逐句解 Line by line
卻說劉洪殺死的家僮屍首，順水流去。
却说刘洪杀死的家僮尸首，顺水流去。
Now the body of the serving-boy whom Liu Hong had killed drifted off downstream;
卻說, 'now, to take up the thread,' a storyteller's transition.
惟有陳光蕊的屍首，沉在水底不動。
惟有陈光蕊的尸首，沉在水底不动。
but the body of Chen Guangrui alone sank to the river-bed and lay still.
沉在水底不動: the corpse's strange stillness marks it out for rescue.
有洪江口巡海夜叉見了，星飛報入龍宮，正值龍王升殿，夜叉報道：
有洪江口巡海夜叉见了，星飞报入龙宫，正值龙王升殿，夜叉报道：
A yaksha on patrol at the mouth of the Hong River saw it and sped to report it to the Dragon Palace, where the Dragon King had just taken his hall; the yaksha reported:
巡海夜叉, a sea-patrolling yaksha (a guardian demon of the water-court); 升殿, to ascend the hall of audience.
「今洪江口不知甚人把一個讀書士子打死，將屍撇在水底。」
「今洪江口不知甚人把一个读书士子打死，将尸撇在水底。」
'At the mouth of the Hong River, some unknown person has beaten a scholar to death and flung the body into the deep.'
士子, a scholar — 子 here in the full sense, zǐ. 甚人 ('what person') takes 甚 as shèn.
龍王叫將屍擡來，放在面前，仔細一看道：
龙王叫将尸擡来，放在面前，仔细一看道：
The Dragon King had the body carried in and set before him, and looking it over closely said:
擡來, to carry in.
「此人正是救我的恩人，如何被人謀死？
「此人正是救我的恩人，如何被人谋死？
'This is the very man who saved me — how comes he to be murdered?'
The Dragon King recognizes his rescuer — the carp released in the previous passage.
常言道：『恩將恩報。』
常言道：『恩将恩报。』
As the saying goes, 'Kindness should be requited with kindness.'
恩將恩報, to repay kindness with kindness — 將 here is the instrumental jiāng, 'with.'
我今日須索救他性命，以報日前之恩。」
我今日须索救他性命，以报日前之恩。」
'Today I must save his life, to repay the kindness he did me before.'
須索, must, am bound to.
即寫下牒文一道，差夜叉徑往洪州城隍、土地處投下，
即写下牒文一道，差夜叉径往洪州城隍、土地处投下，
He at once wrote out a dispatch and sent a yaksha straight to the City God and Earth God of Hongzhou to deliver it,
牒文, an official dispatch; 城隍 / 土地, the City God and the local Earth God of the popular pantheon. 差, 'to dispatch,' is chāi.
要取秀才魂魄來，救他的性命。
要取秀才魂魄来，救他的性命。
to fetch the scholar's soul and save his life.
魂魄, the soul — its 魂 (spirit) and 魄 (animal soul) components.
城隍、土地遂喚小鬼把陳光蕊的魂魄交付與夜叉去。
城隍、土地遂唤小鬼把陈光蕊的魂魄交付与夜叉去。
The City God and Earth God then bade their little demons hand Chen Guangrui's soul over to the yaksha to take away.
小鬼, the minor demon-clerks of the underworld bureaus.
夜叉帶了魂魄到水晶宮，稟見了龍王。
夜叉带了魂魄到水晶宫，禀见了龙王。
The yaksha bore the soul to the Crystal Palace and reported to the Dragon King.
水晶宮, the Crystal Palace, the Dragon King's hall beneath the waters.
總評 Commentary
The carp's reward arrives at once: the Dragon King of the Hong River, recognizing in the murdered scholar his own rescuer, sets the machinery of resurrection turning. The passage is a brief tour of the popular supernatural bureaucracy — a patrolling 夜叉, a 牒文 (official dispatch) sent down to the 城隍 (City God) and 土地 (Earth God), who in turn dispatch their 小鬼 to deliver up the soul. The afterlife is imagined on the model of the imperial civil service, with jurisdictions, paperwork, and chains of command — a characteristic assumption of late-imperial vernacular religion.