離魂記

陳玄祐

【原文】

天授三年1，清河張鎰，因官家于衡州。性簡靜，寡知友。無子，有女二人。其長早亡;幼女倩娘，端妍絕倫2。鎰外甥太原王宙，幼聰悟，美容范。鎰常器重，每曰：“他時當以倩娘妻之。”3

后各長成。宙與倩娘常私感想于寤寐4，家人莫知其狀。后有賓寮之選者5求之，鎰許焉。女聞而郁抑;宙亦深恚恨。托以當調(diào)，請赴京，止之不可，遂厚遣之。宙陰恨悲慟，決別上船。

日暮，至山郭數(shù)里。夜方半，宙不寐，忽聞岸上有一人，行聲甚速，須臾至船。問之，乃倩娘徒行跣足而至。宙驚喜發(fā)狂，執(zhí)手問其從來。泣曰：“君厚意如此，寢夢相感。今將奪我此志，又知君深情不易，思將殺身奉報，是以亡命來奔?！敝娣且馑?，欣躍特甚。遂匿倩娘于船，連夜遁去。

倍道兼行6，數(shù)月至蜀。凡五年，生兩子，與鎰絕信。其妻常思父母，涕泣言曰：“吾曩日不能相負，棄大義而來奔君。向今五年，恩慈間阻。覆載之下，胡顏獨存也？”宙哀之，曰：“將歸，無苦?！彼炀銡w衡州。

既至，宙獨身先鎰家，首謝其事。鎰曰7：“倩娘病在閨中數(shù)年，何其詭說也！”宙曰：“見在舟中！”8鎰大驚，促使人驗之。果見倩娘在船中，顏色怡暢，訊使者曰：“大人安否？”家人異之，疾走報鎰。室中女聞，喜而起，飾妝更衣，笑而不語，出與相迎，翕然而合為一體，其衣裳皆重9。

其家以事不正，秘之。惟親戚間有潛知之者。后四十年間，夫妻皆喪。二男并孝廉擢第，至丞、尉。

玄祐少常聞此說，而多異同，或謂其虛。大歷末，遇萊蕪縣令張仲規(guī)，因備述其本末。鎰則仲規(guī)堂叔祖，而說極備悉，故記之。

【今譯】

天授三年，清河郡有個叫張鎰的，因為到衡州做官，就在那里安了家。張鎰性情簡約沉靜，少有知音朋友。膝下無子，只有兩個女兒。長女早年夭折，幼女名喚倩娘，端莊美麗，無人能及。張鎰的外甥王宙是太原人氏，從小就聰明過人，極具悟性，生得英俊，又有風度。張鎰非常器重這個外甥，每每對他說：“將來你長大了，我就把倩娘嫁給你。”

后來，倩娘和王宙都長大了，私下里常常是日思夜想，暗戀對方，對此家人卻并無察覺。再后來，張鎰的幕僚中有一個要去吏部選官的人向張家求親，張鎰就同意了。倩娘聽說此事，郁郁寡歡;王宙知道后也深為怨恨，隨即托詞說要調(diào)任赴京。張家勸止不住，于是贈以厚禮，王宙暗自傷心，告別舅舅登船而去。

傍晚時分，船行至一座山鎮(zhèn)外數(shù)里的地方。夜半，王宙正輾轉(zhuǎn)難眠，忽聽岸上腳步聲緊，片刻之間就到了船邊。一問才知是倩娘，她赤著腳徒步追來。王宙欣喜若狂，抓住倩娘的手問她因何而來。倩娘泣聲回答道：“你的情義如此厚重，我夢中都在思念。如今有人要強行改變我的意愿，我又知道你對我一往情深，我決意以身相許，這才舍棄了家人來私自投奔?！蓖踔媛犃T喜出望外，歡欣不已。于是就將倩娘隱匿在船中，連夜遁去。

兩人加速趕路，幾個月后來到四川。又過了五年，他們已經(jīng)有了兩個兒子，但和張鎰仍是音信斷絕。倩娘思念父母，常常對王宙哭泣說：“我當年不肯辜負你的情義，背棄了禮儀倫常和你私奔。到如今和雙親隔絕分離，已經(jīng)足足五年了?？蓢@我活在天地間卻不能對父母盡孝，還有什么臉面呢？”王宙聽了，也為妻子的話傷心，說：“我們這就回去，再也不必為遠離雙親而痛苦?！庇谑菙y妻帶子一起回到了衡州。

等到了衡州，王宙獨身一個人先到了舅舅張鎰家中，為自己帶走倩娘的事叩頭謝罪。張鎰?wù)f：“我女兒倩娘明明臥病家中已經(jīng)好幾年了，你怎么這樣胡說呢！”王宙說：“您可以到船上與倩娘相見！”張鎰大驚，忙差家人去看，果然看到倩娘坐在船中，神情怡然歡暢，見到家人，還詢問說：“我父母可否安泰？”家人驚為異事，急忙跑回來告知張鎰。此時內(nèi)室中臥病多年的女兒聽聞后歡喜地起身，梳妝更衣，笑逐顏開卻并不說話。這倩娘走出房外與從外歸家的倩娘相遇，兩個身體融為一體，就連衣裙也合二為一。

張家覺得這件事終究算是離奇不正，于是隱瞞不說。只有親戚間私下有所傳聞。隨后的四十年間，王宙夫婦都過世了。他們的兩個兒子考取了孝廉，當了縣丞縣尉。

我年少的時候常常聽說這個故事，情節(jié)多有異同，也有人說是假的。唐代宗大歷年末，我遇見了萊蕪縣令張仲規(guī)，他向我詳細講述了這個故事的本末。因為張鎰是他的堂叔祖，而他的講說也十分細致完備，我因此把它記錄下來。 ? ? ? □

【英譯】

In the Tang dynasty， there lived in Qinghe a man named Zhang Yi. In the third year of Empress Wu Zetians rule， he moved his family to Hengzhou， where he had been appointed as an official. Being simple and taciturn by nature， Zhang had few friends. Although he was sonless， he had two daughters， the elder of whom died young， while the younger， whose name was Qianniang， had matchless beauty and charm. His nephew Wang Zhou， a native of Taiyuan， had all the makings of an intelligent and handsome scholar. Zhang Yi thus took a great liking to this young boy， and promised him time and again that he would let him marry his daughter when they grew up.

The years ran on and the two children were now young adults. Love budded between them， and they pined for each other day and night. However， no one took any notice of this， so when one of Zhangs aides proposed to his daughter， he gave his ready consent， since the young man was going to the Ministry of Personnel to pick an official post. Upon hearing of this， Qianniang fell into a depression and Wang Zhou was full of grievance. On the pretext of seeking office， Wang asked for Zhangs permission to leave for the capital. Zhang Yi at first tried to stop him， but seeing he was determined to go， could eventually only lavish on him some precious parting gifts. Wang bade farewell to his uncle and boarded a boat in sadness.

By the evening， the boat was several miles outside a mountain town. At midnight， as Wang tossed and turned in bed， he heard footsteps approaching along the bank. The sound moved quickly and in the wink of an eye reached the side of the boat. Upon inquiry， he learned it was none other than Qianniang， who had trudged bare-footed all the way to catch up with him. Overjoyed， he took her hands and asked why she had come. The girl replied， sobbing， “Your love impressed me so deeply that I thought of you even in my dreams. Now someone is going to separate us， but I know you love me as ever before. Thus I decided to flee my home and reunite with you.” Wang Zhous joy knew no bounds. He bade the girl hide in the cabin and sailed off right away.

Traveling at double the pace， they arrived in Sichuan several months later. Five years passed and they greeted the birth of two sons， yet they were completely cut off from home， and their sense of nostalgia grew ever stronger. Qianniang missed her parents， saying： “My faith in love brought me to you at the cost of breaching all the moral codes for a young girl. Now five years have passed， but separated from my parents， how can I fulfill my filial duties to them？ As their daughter I feel ashamed to live on in this world！” Her words struck a sympathetic chord in Wang Zhous heart， and he responded immediately， “Then we shall go back， and relieve you from the pain of being unfilial.” True to his words， he brought his wife and two children back to Hengzhou.

Upon their arrival， Wang Zhou went alone to see his uncle to apologize for having taken Qianniang away. His uncle， however， only said in surprise： “What are you talking about？ Qianniang has been ill in bed all these years.” “If you dont believe me， you can go to our boat and see for yourself，” Wang assured him. Astonished， his uncle sent a servant to check. Sure enough， the servant saw Qianniang sitting in the cabin， her face radiant with health and happiness. “How are my parents？” she asked. Regarding this as a sheer miracle， the servant hastened back to report to his master. Meanwhile， hearing the good news， the Qianniang lying in bed in the inner chamber left her bed， did her makeup， and put on fine clothes. Although she was now all smiles， she said not a single word， but simply walked out of her room to greet the other Qianniang， who by now was just entering the yard. When the two met one another， they instantly merged into one， with their dresses doubled.

The Zhangs regarded this event as eerie and bizarre， so they kept it among themselves， only letting a few near relatives know something of the story. In the next forty years， Wang Zhou and Qianniang died， while their sons both passed the civil examination and obtained official posts in the county.

When I was young I often heard this story in its various versions， and some dismissed it as a fabrication. But later， in the year of 779 of the Tang dynasty， I happened to meet Zhang Zhonggui， Zhang Yis grandnephew. His account was so detailed and vivid， whereupon I decided to take it seriously and put it down in words.