song dingbo of nanyang came across a * when he was walking at night. dingbo asked who he was.
"i am a *," replied the *. "and who are you?"
"i am a * too," dingbo lied.
"where are you going?" the * asked.
"to the city of wan1," dingbo replied.
"i am going to the city of wan, too," said the *. "we happen to go the same way."
thereupon, they walked together. after walking for a few li, the * suggested: "it is too tiring to walk. let us carry each other on the back by turns."
"excellent," dingbo agreed.
thereupon the * carried dingbo on its back. after walking for a few li, it found dingbo rather heavy. it became suspicious and asked: "you are too heavy. are you not a *?"
"i died not long ago, so i am heavy," dingbo gave a cl*r reply.
it was now dingbo's turn to carry the *. as expected, the * really had no weight.
thus they carried each other by turns and went on their journey. at this moment, dingbo asked again: "i am a new *. i don't know what *s are afraid of."
the * whispered: "it is man's spittle that *s fear most."
as they walked along, they came to a small creek2. dingbo let the * cross first. the * crossed the creek as if it were walking on land in shoes, without * the slightest noise. but when dingbo crossed the creek, he splashed the water in all directions with a lot of noise.
the * became suspicious again and asked: "why was there such noise when you crossed the creek?"
dingbo explained: "i'm a new * and not used to crossing the water yet."
at that, the * was convinced.
as they were approaching the city of wan, dingbo carried the * on his shoulder, held it tightly and started to run very fast with vigorous strides. the * shouted loudly and demanded that it be put down, but dingbo turned a deaf ear to its demand. he reached the city of wan in one breath and threw the * to the ground. then and there the * r*aled its original shape of a sheep. dingbo sold it and, fearing it might turn back into a *, spit on it s*ral times. with a payment of 1,500 coins from the sale, he left happily.
南阳人宋定伯，夜里走路时碰见了鬼。定伯发问，对方回答说：“我是鬼。”*，对方反*:“你是谁?”
“我也是鬼，”定伯谎报。
鬼问：“你到哪里去呀?”
“我到宛市去。”定伯答道。
鬼说：“我也要去宛市，刚好同路。”
于是，他们结伴而行。走了几里，鬼提议说：“步行太累了，咱们轮流背着走吧!”
定伯说：“太好了。”
鬼先背定伯走了几里，感到沉重，不免生疑说：“你太重了，莫非不是鬼?”
定伯机灵地说：“我刚死不久，所以沉重。”
轮到定伯背鬼，果然没有什么重量。
就这样，他们轮流背着赶路。这时候，定伯又开口*：“我是新鬼，不知鬼害怕些什么?”
鬼小声回答说：“*怕人唾。”
走着走着，前面遇到了一条小河。定伯让鬼先走，鬼像穿着鞋子在平地上走一样，没有一点响声。定伯自己过河的时候，却是水花四溅，响声很大。
鬼又起了疑心，问：“你过河为啥有响声?”
定伯说：“我刚死，还不习惯渡水。”
听了定伯的解释，鬼也就深信不疑了。
快到宛市的时候，定伯把鬼架在肩上，紧紧捉住，大步流星地猛跑起来。鬼大声呼叫，要求放下。定伯不再答话，一口气跑到了宛市，把鬼摔在地下。鬼现了羊的原形。定伯把它卖掉，怕它变化，连唾了它几口，卖得一千五百钱，高兴地走了。
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