虎伥 Tiger's Acolyte
刀客竟何去，回首泪潸然。
狂风扫碛北，凄凄复单单。
草访村舍空，尘迎恶鬼还。
谁知莲心苦，梨儿腹内酸。
Where has the swordsman gone, with tears in his eyes?
The wild wind sweeps the northern sands, lonely and desolate skies.
Grass visits the empty village huts, dust welcomes the evil guais.
Who knows the bitterness of the lotus heart, or the sourness within the pear's guise?
兜兜注：
金圣叹因“哭庙案”受牵连，被处以极刑。刑期在八月十五，刑场上，金圣叹问行刑官索酒畅饮，饮罢大笑，曰：“割头，痛事也；饮酒，快事也；割头而先饮酒，痛快痛快！”
行刑在即，金圣叹突然想起与报国寺方丈尚有一联未对出，上联为“半夜二更半”。此时，金圣叹的儿子赶到刑场，金圣叹大呼其子，说：“中秋八月中”，命儿速去报国寺回复方丈。
儿从报国寺赶回时，行刑时刻已到，父子百感交集。金圣叹留下了这样的一副绝对。上联：“莲子心中苦”，下联：“梨儿腹内酸”，与儿永别。
‘莲’音同‘怜’，‘梨’音同‘离’
昔年，江湖中有个刀客，为娶心爱的女子，弃了旧业。未想，城中受黄风吹过，妻子染疾下世，儿子也生起病来。
男人听闻山里有个苦萨能治风疾，就携子寻到了黄风岭。他们借住在定风庄内，孩子养病，男人则去寻找菩萨的踪迹。
一日，男人路过村外一口枯井，听到有虎啸之声传来。他下井一看，竟别有洞天——
有头受伤的猛虎在那井底修行，猛虎告诉男人，他原是山中虎神，村中的大巫们也受他庇佑，谷中还有村民为自己修建的寺庙。他说那刮起黄风的妖怪偷袭了她，占去了他的寺庙，这才落难到此。
男人将信将疑，经过一番查访，大巫与寺庙之事，果都应证了，便带着儿子来给虎神瞧病。
虎神用个怪模样的葫芦灌满水，喂给孩子喝。说来也奇，自了葫芦内的水，孩子好了大半，又能活蹦乱跳了。虎神嘱咐男人，他被邪风伤了元气，若能吃些活人，恢复神通，定能停下风沙，根治孩子的风疾。
男人极不情愿，但见儿子精神渐好，又能在村边游玩，还交了不少朋友真就狠下心来，诱人入井，为虎神疗伤。时间一久，村民渐渐发觉了异样。待男人回到村中时，儿子已被激愤的村民打死了。
男人悔恨不迭，拔出封了多年的刀，将村民一一斩杀，这才踏着一条血路，迷失在了茫茫风沙里。
There was once a swordsman, wild and free, who roamed the lands far and wide. For the love of a woman, he forsook his wandering ways, married, and had a child.
But their happiness proved fleeting. From the mountains beyond the city walls, there arose a wind, fierce and full of malice. It whipped the yellow dust into a frenzy, and the city was choked with it, day after day. Soon, his wife succumbed to a wasting sickness, and their child, too, became ill.
The man was devastated. He spent all his silver in a vain attempt to heal his child. Then he heard of a bodhisattva on New Mount Sumeru who could cure the wind-sickness. With haste, he gathered what he still had and set forth with his child.
When he reached New Mount Sumeru, the disciples told him that the bodhisattva had departed for Yellow Wind Ridge long ago and had not returned. The man had no choice but to take his child and set out once more.
When they arrived at the ridge, they learned that this place was right next to the fierce wind. The child's frail condition worsened with each passing hour. They took shelter in the village of Windrest, where the child rested and the man went to find the bodhisattva. One day, while passing a dry well outside the village, the man heard a tiger's roar. He climbed down into the well and found a hidden cavern, where a great tiger lay, wounded and weak, deep in meditation.
The tiger told the man he was a deity in the mountain, revered by the village priests. In the valley, they had even raised a temple in his honor. He said he'd been ambushed by the yaoguai that stirred up the fierce wind and took over his temple. That's why he was in this pitiful state.
The man was doubtful, but as he asked around in the village, he found that the tale was true in every detail, from the reverence of the priests to the temple in the valley. He hastened back to the well, his ailing child in his arms, to beg the tiger for healing.
The tiger brought out a strangely shaped gourd, filled it with water, and gave it to the child. Wonder of wonders, after drinking from the gourd, the child was able to run and play as he had before the wind sickness struck.
The tiger told the man that the wind had harmed his essence. With the flesh of the living, he could regain his former might, and then he could tame the raging wind and heal the child completely.
The man was reluctant, but as he watched his son grow stronger day by day, playing in the village with the other children, a terrible resolve hardened in his heart. He began to lead the unsuspecting villagers into the well, hoping to restore the tiger to its former strength.
As time passed, most naturally, the villagers found out what he had done. By the time the man returned to the village, he found his son slain by their angry hands.
The man was consumed by regret and drew the sword he had sealed away for years. He fell upon the villagers, and one by one, he cut them down, until the streets ran red with blood. Then, alone, he set out into the shifting sandstorm, lost in the ever-howling wind.
