There was a man named Mao Ba(茅八) who, in his youth, went to Jiangxi to trade paper. In the deep mountains of Jiangxi, there were many paper mills. The people in the mills would close the doors as the sun set and warned Mao Ba not to go out, telling him, ‘There are many strange things in the mountains, not just ordinary tigers and wolves.’
One night, the moonlight was very bright, and Mao Ba couldn’t sleep. He decided to open the door and go out to enjoy the moon. Thinking of the warning from the people in the mill, he hesitated at the door several times, fearing to step out. However, ultimately thinking himself strong and skilled enough to handle any unexpected situations, he opened the door and went out.
After walking only a few steps, he suddenly saw a large group of monkeys, about dozens of them, crying and running towards him. All of them climbed up a big tree. Mao Ba also climbed up another tree nearby to get a better view into the distance.
Before long, he saw a snake emerging from the edge of the woods. The snake had a thick body like a giant pillar, shining eyes, a hard armor-like scale on its body, and nine tails below its waist. It dragged its tails forward, making a sound similar to the striking of iron armor. When the snake reached beneath the big tree, it raised its tails vertically. At the tip of each tail, there was a small hole, from which it sprayed saliva like bullets towards the monkeys on the tree. The monkeys hit by the saliva cried out, falling to the ground one by one, their bellies splitting open as they died.
The snake slowly ate three monkeys and then crawled away, dragging its tails. Mao Ba, terrified, returned to the house and never dared to go out at night again.
Translated from《九尾蛇》in 《子不語》:
茅八者，少曾販紙入江西，其地深山多紙廠，廠中人日將落即鍵戶，戒勿他出，曰：「山中多異物，不特虎狼也。」
一夕月皎甚，茅不能寢，思一啟戶玩月，瑟縮再四，自恃武勇尚可任，乃啟關而出。行不數十武，忽見群猴數十奔泣而來，盡擇一大樹而上，茅亦上他樹遠窺。旋見一蛇從林際出，身如拱柱，兩目灼灼；體甲皆如魚鱗而硬，腰以下生九尾，相曳而行，有聲如鐵甲然。至樹下，乃倒植其尾，旋轉作舞狀。每尾端有小竅，竅中出涎如彈射樹上。猴有中者，輒叫號墮地，腹裂而死。乃徐啖三猴，曳尾而去。茅懼歸，自是昏夜不敢出。