Su Danlao of Hangzhou was a joker and a great mocker, and people disliked him for it.
One New Year’s day somebody painted the Plague God on paper and nailed it over his door.
Danlao came out in the morning, opened the door, saw it, and laughed. He brought the Plague God in, gave it the seat of honour, drank with it, and then burned it.
That year there was a great plague. Every family with someone sick sacrificed to the Plague God.
And in each house the sick person spoke in the god’s voice:
“On New Year’s day I was treated with courtesy by Su Danlao, and I am ashamed to have nothing to give him back. If you want me to lift this, you must invite Mr Su to keep me company. Only then will I go.”
So the families sacrificing to the Plague God competed with one another to invite Su, and Su spent every day rushing about, worn out with food and drink.
Of the dozen or so people in his household, not one fell ill.
