As
Duke Huan [of the land of Qi] was hunting in the marshes,
with Guan
Zhong driving [his chariot], he saw a ghost. He took Guan Zhong's
hand and said, "What do you see, Uncle Zhong?" Guan Zhong answered, "I
don't see anything." The duke returned home, and felt sick; he could
not go out for several days.
The sage of Qi, Huangzi Gao-ao, said, "Duke, you yourself are making yourself ill. How could a ghost hurt a duke?"...
Duke Huan said, "But are there such things as ghosts?"
The
sage replied, "There are. The brazier has a ghost of shoes, and the
kitchen stove has a hair-bun ghost [that looks like a pretty girl in red]. Inside the gate there is a
troublesome thunder ghost. In the lower part of the northeast wall, a
frog ghost and a lizard ghost are jumping around; on the lower part of
the western wall, there is an yi-yang [a fabulous creature with the head of a leopard and the tail of a horse]. In the water there is a deceitful image that looks like a small child. On the mound there is a doglike ghost [with horns]. On the mountain
there is a kun, a one-footed ghost, and in the wilderness there is a wavering ghost [that looks like a snake with two heads and a colored body]. Out in the marsh there is a wei-she [wrong-snake] ghost.
Duke Huan said, "May I ask what a wei-she looks like?"
The sage said, "A wei-she is as big as the hub of a wheel, long as a wagon-shaft, and wears purple clothes and a red hat. The thing about him is, he is terrified of the thunder of chariot wheels. So when he hears it, he pops up, holding his head. Anyone who sees him becomes overlord."
Duke Huan burst out laughing. "That's the one I saw," he said. He straightened his clothes and hat and sat down with the sage, and before the end of the day, his illness had gone without his noticing it.
--From Zhuangzi (ca 370-ca 301 B.C.)
桓公田于泽，管仲御，见鬼焉。公抚管仲之手曰：“仲父何见？”
对曰：“臣无所见。”
公反，诶诒为病，数日不出。
齐士有皇子告敖者，曰：“公则自伤。鬼恶能伤公？...”
桓公曰：“然则有鬼乎？”
曰：“有。沈有履，灶有髻。户内之烦壤，雷霆处之；东北方之下者，倍阿鲑蠪跃之；西北方之下者，则泆阳处之。水有罔象，丘有峷，山有夔，野有彷徨，泽有委蛇。”
公曰：“请问委蛇之状何若？”
皇子曰：“委蛇，其大如毂，其长如猿，紫衣而朱冠。其为物也，恶闻雷车之声，则捧其首而立。见之者殆乎霸。”
桓公冁然而笑曰：“此寡人之所见者也。” 于是正衣冠与之坐，不终日而不知病之去也。
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