Today we will talk about a story from the book YouTaiXianGuanBiJi 右台仙馆笔记, from the Qing dynasty 清朝 around the 19th century. The story is from a Japanese friend of the author YuYue 俞樾 and he wrote in the book.
It says, Japanese people like to eat unagi, which is freshwater eel. However, they also are afraid of them because they think unagi have spirits. Many people wouldn’t kill unagi themselves but to buy in shops. Most izakaya, Japanese pubs would keep live unagi for customers.
One night, a few drunk guys knocked the door of an izakaya. It was midnight and the staff were already sleeping. Nobody responded. So the drunk guys asked, “hi! Do you still have unagi?” This time, they heard all the live unagi in the water answered together, “not any more.”
Mentioned:
右台仙馆笔记 YouTaiXianGuanBiJi
Chinese Mythology Podcast 