Liu, a Provincial Graduate, could remember events from his previous lives. He was a successful examination candidate in the same year as my late elder brother Wenben, and he once told him all about it in vivid detail.

　　In his first life, he was a government official, a member of the gentry, but his conduct was stained with many misdeeds. He died at the age of sixty-two. The moment he first appeared before the King of Hell, the King treated him with the courtesy due to a country gentleman, offering him a seat and serving him tea. Liu glanced stealthily at the King's cup: the tea was clear as crystal, while his own was turbid like unfiltered wine. Secretly he wondered, "Could this be the fabled potion of forgetfulness?" Taking advantage of the King's looking elsewhere, he poured his tea out at the corner of the table, pretending to have drunk it all.

　　Soon the King reviewed the records of his past misdeeds and, enraged, ordered a horde of demons to drag him down and punish him by making him a horse. Immediately a fierce demon shackled him and led him away. They arrived at a household with a very high threshold that he could not step over. As he hesitated, the demon struck him cruelly. The pain was so great that he collapsed. When he looked at himself, he was already under a stable manger. He heard someone say, "The black mare has given birth to a colt — a male."

　　His mind was perfectly clear, but he could not speak. He felt ravenously hungry and, with no choice, suckled from the mare. After four or five years, he grew tall and strong, but he was terribly afraid of being whipped. Whenever he saw a riding crop, he would bolt in terror. When his master rode him, he would put on a thick saddle blanket and hold the reins loosely at a slow pace — that was not too painful. But when servants or stable boys rode him without any padding, they would clamp their legs against his flanks, causing him agony that pierced his very innards. Driven to fury, he stopped eating for three days and died.

　　Back in the underworld, the King of Hell found that his term of punishment had not yet been completed. He accused Liu of trying to evade punishment, stripped off his horsehide, and sentenced him to be a dog. Liu was so dejected that he did not want to go. The demons beat him savagely, and in unbearable pain he fled into the wild. He thought, "Better to die than this!" In anger he threw himself off a cliff, but when he hit the ground he could not get up. Looking at himself, he was lying in a dog den, with a bitch licking and nursing him — and so he knew he had been reborn into the human world again.

　　When he grew a little older, he knew that urine and excrement were filthy, yet they smelled fragrant to him. He resolved not to eat them, but the temptation was there. As a dog he lived for over a year, often seething with rage and wanting to die, but he feared being punished again for evasion. Besides, his owner kept him kindly and would not kill him. So he deliberately bit a chunk of flesh from his master's thigh. The master, enraged, beat him to death with a stick.

　　The King of Hell examined the case and was furious at Liu's violent, mad behavior. He flogged him several hundred times and turned him into a snake. Liu was confined in a dark room where he could not see the sky. Bored and suffocated, he crawled up the wall, bored a hole through the roof, and slithered out. Looking at himself, he was lying in a thicket of grass — indeed a snake. Thereupon he swore not to harm any living creature. When hungry, he swallowed fruits and nuts. After more than a year, he often thought: killing himself is impossible, and killing others to die is also impossible. He wanted a good way to die but could not find one.

　　One day, while lying in the grass, he heard a cart approaching. He dashed out onto the road, and the cart ran over him, cutting him in two.

　　The King of Hell was surprised that he had returned so soon. Liu prostrated himself and crawled forward, confessing his thoughts from the bottom of his heart. The King, seeing that he had been killed without having done any wrong, pardoned him and allowed him to finish his term of punishment by becoming a human again — and that was how he came to be Mr. Liu. Mr. Liu could speak from birth. Whenever he read a book or a historical text, he could recite it after just one glance. In the year Xin You, he passed the provincial examination and became a Provincial Graduate. He often advised people: when riding a horse, always use a thick saddle blanket; the torture of the rider's clamping legs is worse than the whip.

　　The Historian of the Strange comments:

　　Among creatures with fur and horns, there are princes and great ministers. And the reason is that within the bodies of princes and great ministers, there may well be creatures with fur and horns. Therefore, when a lowly person does good, it is like planting a tree in order to obtain flowers. When a noble person does good, it is like tending the roots of a tree that has already bloomed. What is planted can grow large; what is tended can last long. Otherwise, such a person will be yoked to a salt cart, suffer under the reins and halter, and become a horse. Otherwise, he will eat filth and drink urine, suffer being butchered and cooked, and become a dog. Otherwise, he will grow scales and a shell, end up in the belly of a crane or a stork, and become a snake.



中文如下:

三生：

【原文】

刘孝廉，能记前身事。与先文贲兄为同年，尝历历言之。一世为搢绅，行多玷。六十二岁而没。初见冥王，待以乡先生礼，赐坐，饮以茶。觑冥王盏中，茶色清澈，己盏中浊如醪，暗疑迷魂汤得勿此耶？乘冥王他顾，以盏就案角泻之，伪为尽者。俄顷，稽前生恶录，怒，命群鬼捽下，罚作马。即有厉鬼絷去。行至一家，门限甚高，不可逾。方趦趄间，鬼力楚之，痛甚而蹶。自顾，则身已在枥下矣。但闻人曰：“骊马生驹矣，牡也。”心甚明了，但不能言。觉大馁，不得已，就牝马求乳。逾四五年，体修伟，甚畏挞楚，见鞭则惧而逸。主人骑，必覆障泥，缓辔徐徐，犹不甚苦。惟奴仆圉人，不加鞯装以行，两踝夹击，痛彻心腑。于是愤甚，三日不食，遂死。

至冥司，冥王查其罚限未满，责其规避，剥其皮革，罚为犬。意懊丧，不欲行。群鬼乱挞之，痛极而窜于野。自念不如死，愤投绝壁，颠莫能起。自顾，则身伏窦中，牝犬舐而腓字之，乃知身已复生于人世矣。稍长，见便液，亦知秽，然嗅之而香，但立念不食耳。为犬经年，常忿欲死，又恐罪其规避。而主人又豢养，不肯戮。乃故啮主人脱股肉。主人怒，杖杀之。冥王鞫状，怒其狂猘，笞数百，俾作蛇。囚于幽室，暗不见天。闷甚，缘壁而上，穴屋而出。自视，则伏身茂草，居然蛇矣。遂矢志不残生类，饥吞木实。积年馀，每思自尽不可，害人而死又不可，欲求一善死之策而未得也。一日，卧草中，闻车过，遽出当路，车驰压之，断为两。

冥王讶其速至，因蒲伏自剖。冥王以无罪见杀，原之，准其满限复为人，是为刘公。公生而能言，文章书史，过辄成诵。辛酉举孝廉。每劝人：乘马必厚其障泥，股夹之刑，胜于鞭楚也。

异史氏曰：毛角之俦，乃有王公大人在其中。所以然者，王公大人之内，原未必无毛角者在其中也。故贱者为善，如求花而种其树；贵者为善，如已花而培其本。种者可大，培者可久。不然，且将负盐车，受羁馽，与之为马；不然，且将啖便液，受烹割，与之为犬；又不然，且将披鳞介，葬鹤鹳，与之为蛇。

【翻译】

有个姓刘的举人，能记得自己前生的事情。他与先兄文贲是同年举人，曾向先兄清清楚楚地叙述过自己的前生。他第一世是一个士大夫，有许多不道德的污秽行径。在六十二岁时死去。他刚一见到阎王时，阎王像对乡村中的乡绅那样礼待他，请他坐下，上茶招待他。他偷偷一看，阎王的茶杯里的茶十分清澈，而自己茶杯里的茶却浑浊如醪酒，就暗暗猜想可能阴曹的迷魂汤就是这个吧？于是趁阎王往别处看的时候，他悄悄地端起茶杯从桌角处把茶水倒掉，假装是自己喝完了茶。一会儿，阎王查到了他生前作恶多端的记录，勃然大怒，命令群鬼把他揪下殿去，罚他来世做马。立刻就有一个恶鬼把他捆走了。他走到了一家门口，门槛很高，迈不过去。正在犹豫观望的时候，那恶鬼对他用力责打，他痛极了跌倒在地。再看一下自己，身子已经在马槽下面了。只听见有人说：“黑马生小马驹了，是个公的。”他心里还很明白，只是说不出话来。又觉得饿极了，不得已只好凑在母马身下吃奶。过了四五年，他的身体长得又高大又健壮，但特别害怕被人抽打，一见鞭子挥起就吓得拼命逃跑。主人骑马时，一定要配上障泥之类的马具，放松马辔头让马慢慢地跑，这样他还不觉得太苦。只是奴仆和养马人骑马时，不装马具就上路，他们两腿的踝骨一夹击，他就感到痛彻肺腑。于是他极其气愤，三天不吃草料，便死了。

到了阴间地府，阎王一查他的罚期还没满，斥责他是有意逃避，剥下他的马皮，罚他来世做狗。他心中十方懊丧，不想前去。群鬼上前对他又是一顿乱打，他痛极了，逃到了野外。他心想还不如死了好，就愤愤地从悬崖绝壁上跳了下去，摔倒在地上不能动弹。再看自己，却已经伏身在狗洞里，母狗正舔着他庇护哺育他，于是他知道自己已经再次来到人间了。长大一点儿后，他看到粪尿，也知道是污秽的，但闻着却很香，只能在心里下决心不去吃。在他做狗的一年多里，常常气愤地想寻死，又怕阎王说他有意逃避惩罚而加罪，而且主人也对他宠爱驯养，不肯杀掉。于是他就故意咬下了主人大腿上的一块肉，主人大怒，用乱棍将他打死了。阎王查问情况后，对他的凶猛疯狂大为恼怒，把他鞭打几百下之后，让他做蛇。他被关在密室当中，黑暗得不见天日。他十分气闷，就贴着墙壁爬了上去，把屋顶弄了个洞钻出了屋子。再一看自己，已经伏身在茂密的草丛中，居然变成蛇了。于是他下定决心不残害生灵，饥饿了就吞吃草木果实。过了一年多，他常常想，自杀不行，害人而死也不行，想要寻求一种好的死法，却又苦于找不到。有一天，他卧在草丛中，忽然听见有车经过，就急忙蹿出去挡在路当中，车子疾驰而过，把他碾成了两段。

阎王十分惊异他这么快就回到了阴间，于是他伏地膝行，向阎王表白了心迹。阎王因为他是无罪被杀的，予以原谅，批准他期满后重新做人，于是他就成了刘公。刘公一生下来就能开口说话，文章书史，只要过目一遍，就能背诵。他辛酉年考中了举人。他常常劝人说，骑马一定要多加些障泥一类的马具，用双腿夹击马腹的刑罚，比鞭打还要痛楚。

异史氏说：披毛戴角的禽兽当中，竟然有王公大人在其中。之所以这样，是因为王公大人当中也未必没有衣冠禽兽。所以卑贱者去做善事，好比想得到花而先种树；高贵者去做善事，好比已经开了花而去培育花木的根本。种下的树可以长大，培育过根本的树可以长久不衰。不然的话，就要被罚作马，载重拉车，忍受羁绊束缚；再不然，就要被罚作狗，食粪饮尿，任人宰割；再不然，就要被罚作蛇，披鳞带甲，死在鹤鹳的肚子里。