A Mr. Sun Ching-hsia, a marshal of undergraduates, told me that in his village there was a certain man who had been killed by the rebels when they passed through the place. The man's head was left hanging down on his chest; and as soon as the rebels had gone, his servants secured the body and were about to bury it. Hearing, however, a sound of breathing, they looked more closely, and found that the windpipe was not wholly severed; and, setting his head in its proper place, they carried him back home. In twenty-four hours he began to moan; and by dint of carefully feeding him with a spoon, within six months he had quite recovered.
Some ten years afterwards he was chatting with a few friends, when one of them made a joke which called forth loud applause from the others. Our hero, too, clapped his hands; but, as he was bending backwards and forwards with laughter, the seam on his neck split open, and down fell his head with a gush of blood.
His friends now found that he was quite dead, and his father immediately commenced an action against the joker; but a sum of money was subscribed by those present and given to the father, who buried his son and stopped further proceedings.
異史氏曰：「一笑頭落，此千古第一大笑也。頭連一線而不死，直待十年后成一笑獄，豈非二三鄰人，負債前生者耶！」
Some ten years afterwards he was chatting with a few friends, when one of them made a joke which called forth loud applause from the others. Our hero, too, clapped his hands; but, as he was bending backwards and forwards with laughter, the seam on his neck split open, and down fell his head with a gush of blood.
His friends now found that he was quite dead, and his father immediately commenced an action against the joker; but a sum of money was subscribed by those present and given to the father, who buried his son and stopped further proceedings.
諸城某甲
諸城孫景夏學師言：其邑中某甲，值流寇亂，被殺，首墜胸前。寇退，家人得尸，將舁瘞之，聞其氣縷縷然，審視之，咽不斷者盈指。遂扶其頭荷之以歸。經一晝夜能呻，以匕箸稍哺飲食，半年竟愈，又十余年，與二三人聚談，或作一解頤語，眾為哄堂，甲亦鼓掌。一俯仰間，刀痕暴裂，頭墮血流，共視之已死。父訟笑者，眾斂金賂之，乃葬甲。異史氏曰：「一笑頭落，此千古第一大笑也。頭連一線而不死，直待十年后成一笑獄，豈非二三鄰人，負債前生者耶！」
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