任氏传

《任氏传》，唐人传奇，作者沈既济。是一则狐仙的爱情故事，开启了唐代小说的新时代。

其中任氏是在本作登场的狐仙。郑六（姓郑，排行第六）在路上初见任氏时，被她的美貌吸引，但弄不清她的态度，后来他发现她也“时时盼睐,意有所受”。后来化为美人对郑六报恩，然后郑六带着任氏上任他乡，任氏不愿意但还是一同前往，未抵达在途中被狗咬死了。

"The Tale of Miss Ren" (Chinese: 任氏傳; pinyin: Rén Shì Zhuàn; also translated into English as "The Story of Lady Jen" or "Miss Jen") is a Chinese supernatural tale by Shen Jiji (c. 800). The story tells of the romance between a man and a fox-fairy who takes the form of a beautiful woman.

Plot

Wei Yin and Cheng were friends, and cousins, who were always together and were both fond of wine and beautiful women. Although they spent so much of their lives together, they had very different personalities and views on life which became apparent when Cheng married. In the middle of one summer, Cheng came across a beautiful woman accompanied by 2 handmaidens. The beautiful lady was "dressed in white and of an enchanting beauty". He was captured by her otherworldly looks and offered his donkey for her to ride, saying that a beautiful girl like herself should not have to walk. They became engrossed in conversation for so long that Cheng wound up at a large mansion that night, where the lady, named Miss Ren, lived. Miss Ren asked Cheng to wait a moment while she went inside to prepare something for him. After being invited in, they feasted and drank several goblets of wine and lay together that night.

After leaving the next morning, Cheng could not get the beautiful Miss Ren off his mind. As he was traveling home through a neighboring village he asked about the mansion he has just come from; according to the local proprietor no such mansion existed in that area, only a gate and broken down walls. Cheng could hardly believe this as he had spent the night at this wonderful place and he told the proprietor such. The proprietor suspected that it was the local fox spirit, who liked to beguile men into staying the night with her. After several weeks had passed without his spotting the lady again, Cheng finally stumbled across her in the market place. She knew that Cheng had figured out her secret and was shocked that he would seek her out again. Cheng professed his love for her and proclaimed that he would take care of her and find her a place to live if she would marry him. After some convincing, Miss Ren agreed.

Not long after their marriage, Cheng's cousin Wei Yin met Miss Ren; he didn't believe at first that his cousin had found such a beautiful woman to be his wife. Because of his disbelief, he went to Cheng's house to see his new bride one day after Cheng had left. Stunned by her beauty, Wei Yin tried to make a move on Miss Ren and intended to rape her. Miss Ren fought against him but was too weak to break free of his hold, so instead she asked him to hold off for just a moment and became very sad. When asked why she looked so upset, Miss Ren said it was because she felt bad for Cheng because she was all that he has in life that was nice while Wei Yin was rich and had had many beauties; if Wei Yin were to take her as well, Cheng would be left with nothing. This brought Wei to his senses and he apologized to Miss Ren.

After this misunderstanding, the two became close and often spent time together. Miss Ren also pulled strings to get a nice wife for Wei because of his honorable actions but he was never satisfied. Miss Ren would try to help both men by bribing families to get new women for Wei and to make more money for Cheng. Because of Ren's frequent advice, Cheng was able to secure a nice position in work and get a good deal on a blemished imperial horse. However, although Miss Ren had proven to be insightful and powerful, Cheng was hesitant to take her word on matters whereas Wei Yin never questioned her methods.