82.THE SEAL IN THE RIVER
　
　　Li Chuntan was in charge of sending foodstuffs down the river to Dachangkou in Huaining, Anhui. One of his subordinates, Gong Kai, came to him and said, "I sure had a strange dream last night."

　　"What did you dream about?"

　　"I saw this old guy with white hair and a long white beard. He was crying when he came up to me and said, 'Help! You have to save my life! If you do, I'll be sure to reward you some day!'"

　　"That sure was a strange dream."

　　Their conversation was interrupted by shouting. All the soldiers in the escort were yelling excitedly and pointing to something in the water.

　　　"Look, sir, "said Gong, "It's a seal! Have you ever seen a seal this far up the river?"

　　The soldiers captured the seal and dragged it right up next to the boat. Li and Gong went over to have a look at it. When the seal saw Gong, it gave him along, deep look. His heartbeat quickened. He remembered his dream.

　　"Sir, I'd like to buy this seal and let it go free. I think it has something to do with that dream I just told you about."

　　"Okay, if you please. It's your money." Gong got out his wallet and was going to give the soldiers a reward for pulling the seal up to the boat.

　　They were all happy. All but one mean soldier called Chen 4 who insisted that he wanted to eat seal for dinner. He refused to take Gong's money. Instead, he snatched up his spear and stabbed the seal in the head. The seal's blood stained the water red.

　　"Don't you guys know how good seal meat tastes?" Chen asked the other soldiers. "What do you want with that measly little tip? Let's have some seal tonight!" Most of the soldiers felt sorry for that poor seal, but some of them didn't care. They helped Chen pull the dead seal aboard, and they ate it with him.

　　Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to eat that seal after all, because before long, everybody who had joined Chen was sick. Chen was the worst of all. He seemed to be suffering terribly. Some of the others took care of him, until he suddenly said, in an eerie voice, "I worked for years to develop my powers. Everything was going smoothly until I had a spell of bad luck and ended up on this river. I asked Gong Kai for help. Everybody had agreed to let me go, everybody but you. You refused to let me go, Chen 4, you refused to give me my life, you took your spear and drove it into my head and killed me! You have taken my life, and now I am going to take your life!"

　　The soldiers looked on in horror as Chen 4 threw back his head and died!

　　Some spirits develop their powers for many decades and even for many centuries. Among their other abilities, they achieve the power of transformation. Science does not recognize these abilities yet, but no matter what, there may be more to the animals around you than meets the eye!

82.河中的海豹
　
　　李春潭正押送着一船官粮沿河而下，准备去安徽怀宁的大昌口。一天，他的一个副手宫凯找到他说道，“昨天晚上我做了一个很奇怪的梦。”

　　“你梦见了什么？”

　　“我看见一个白头发白胡子的老头，他来到我面前，一边哭一边说，‘救命啊！你一定要救救我！如果你能救我，总有一天我会报答你的！’”

　　“这的确是一个奇怪的梦。”

　　他们的谈话被一阵喊叫声打断了。护送粮食的军兵们都指着水面上的东西兴奋地喊叫着。“快看，大人，”宫凯说，“一只海豹！您这么近见过河里的海豹吗？”

　　军兵们抓住了那只海豹并把它拖到了船边。李、宫二人走上前去仔细查看。当海豹看到宫凯时，便意味深长地凝视着他。宫凯的心跳都加快了。他想起了昨晚的梦。

　　“大人，我想把海豹买下来放走。它一定和我刚才告诉你的梦有关。”

　　 “好吧，如果你愿意，怎么处置都行。反正是你花的钱。”宫凯拿出钱准备赏给那些把海豹拖上船的军兵。

　　军兵们都很高兴。但是有一个叫陈四的卑鄙小人却不同意，他坚持要用海豹肉当晚餐。他不收宫凯的钱，相反，他抓起了长矛刺入了海豹的脑袋。海豹的鲜血染红了河水。

　　“你们这帮人难道不知道海豹肉有多好吃吗？”陈四质问着其他的军兵。“要那点儿小钱有啥用？咱们晚上一起吃海豹肉吧！”大多数军兵都为那只可怜的海豹感到难过，但是也有些人毫不在乎。他们帮着陈四把海豹的尸体拖上船，然后一起把它吃掉了。

　　不久人们就发现，吃海豹肉绝对不是一件明智的事，那些和陈四一起吃的人都病倒了。陈四病得最重。他看上去痛苦万分。一些军兵在他身边照料着，突然，陈四开口说话了，他的声音听 起来很奇怪。“我已经修炼了很多年。一切都很顺利，直到此劫难，要我死在这条河上。我求宫凯救我。除了你，每个人都同意放我走。你不让我走，陈四，你不让我活，你拿起长矛刺进了我的脑袋，你杀死了我！既然你结束了我的性命，现在我也要结束你的性命！”

　　军兵们惊恐地看着，这时陈四脑袋突然一歪，死掉了！

　　有些生灵可以修炼几十年，甚至几百年。它们可以变幻身形。虽然科学并不承认这些，但是不管怎样，动物也远非像你肉眼看到的那样。