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The Stolen Eyes.

WHEN His Excellency Mr. T‘ang, of our village, was quite a child, a relative of his took him to a temple to see the usual theatrical performances. He was a clever little fellow, afraid of nothing and nobody; and when he saw one of the clay images in the vestibule staring at him with its great glass eyes, the temptation was irresistible; and, secretly gouging them out with his finger, he carried them off with him. When they reached home, his relative was taken suddenly ill and remained for a long time speechless; at length, jumping up he cried out several times in a voice of thunder, “Why did you gouge out my eyes?” His family did not know what to make of this, until little T‘ang told them what he had done; they then immediately began to pray to the possessed man, saying, “A mere child, unconscious of the wickedness of his act, took away in his fun thy sacred eyes. They shall be reverently replaced.” Thereupon the voice exclaimed, “In that case, I shall go away;” and he had hardly spoken before T‘ang’s relative fell flat upon the ground and lay there in a state of insensibility for some time. When he recovered, they asked him concerning what he had said; but he remembered nothing of it. The eyes were then forthwith restored to their original sockets.

泥鬼

余鄉唐太史濟武，數歲時，有表親某，相攜戲寺中。太史童年磊落，膽即最豪。見廡中泥鬼，睜琉璃眼，甚光而巨；愛之，陰以指抉取，懷之而歸。既抵家，某暴病，不語移時。忽起，厲聲曰：「何故抉我睛！」噪叫不休。眾莫之知。太史始言所作。家人乃祝曰：「童子無知，戲傷尊目，行奉還也。」乃大言曰：「如此，我便當去。」言訖，仆地遂絕。良久而甦；問其所言，茫不自覺。乃送睛仍安鬼眶中。
異史氏曰：「登堂索睛，土偶何其靈也。顧太史抉睛，而何以遷怒于同游？蓋以玉堂之貴，而且至性觥觥，觀其上書北闕，拂袖南山，神且憚之，而況鬼乎？」

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