捉狐

孙翁，是我姻亲清服的伯父，向来有胆量。一天白天躺着，仿佛有东西爬上床，于是觉得身体摇摇晃晃像驾着云雾。暗中想这莫非是魇狐吗？微微一看，那东西像猫一样大，黄毛绿嘴，从脚边过来。蠕蠕地爬行，像怕翁醒来。迟疑地附上身体，碰到脚脚就痿软，碰到大腿大腿就酥软。刚碰到肚子，翁猛地起来，按住捉住它，握住它的脖颈。那东西急叫却不能挣脱。翁急忙喊夫人用带子系住它的腰，然后握住带子的两端笑着说：“听说你善于变化，现在看准了，看你怎么变化。”话没说完，那东西忽然缩起肚子细得像管子，几乎要脱去。翁于是大惊，急忙用力绑，那东西又鼓起肚子粗过碗口，坚牢得解不下来！力气稍松，又缩细了。翁怕它逃脱，让夫人赶快杀掉它。夫人慌张四顾，不知道刀在哪里，翁左顾示意位置。等到回头看，带子已在手里像环一样，那东西已经渺无踪影了。

Old Man Sun, the uncle of my kinsman Qingfu, had always been bold. One day, lying asleep in the daytime, he felt something climb onto the bed, and his body rocked as if riding on clouds. Thinking it might be a fox that brings nightmare, he peered at it sidelong. The thing was as big as a cat, with yellow fur and a greenish muzzle, creeping up from the foot of the bed. It crawled sinuously, as if afraid of waking him. It hovered and then attached itself to his body: where it touched his foot, the foot went limp; where it touched his thigh, the thigh grew soft. Just as it reached his belly, the old man sprang up suddenly, seized and held it, gripping its neck. The thing squealed urgently and could not free itself. The old man hastily called his wife to bind its waist with a girdle. Then, holding both ends of the girdle, he laughed and said, "I hear you are good at transformation. Now I have my eye fixed on you—let us see how you will change." No sooner had he spoken than the thing shrank its belly as thin as a pipe and nearly slipped away. The old man was astonished and bound it tighter, whereupon it puffed its belly out thicker than a bowl, so hard it could not be removed! When his grip relaxed a little, it shrank again. Fearing it would escape, he bade his wife kill it at once. His wife looked about in panic, not knowing where the knife was; the old man glanced to the side to show her where. But when she looked back, the girdle lay in her hand like a ring—the thing had vanished without a trace.