Chapter LXVII.— A Shoemaker in Hell. (要靴)
A Judge in hell, whose boots were worn out, came out to this human world and sought for a shoemaker and told him: "I give you two mace of silver as bargain money; will you make me a new pair of boots? When you have made them, I will pay you more money." After a few days the judge came to get his boots. The shoemaker said: "A few days ago you paid me the bargain money. I only bought leather for the top of the boots; there is no sole leather (底兒) yet. Will you come again in a few days to fetch them?" After a few days the judge again came for the boots. The shoemaker said: "I have not yet made the sole." The judge came several times for the boots, but the shoemaker always said: "The sole is not yet ready." One day the God of Hades sent a devil to fetch the shoemaker to hell. The God of Hades said to the shoemaker: "You always have been in the habit of cheating other people of money and would not deliver up goods to your customers; you are a base scoundrel. You should be put into a caldron of boiling oil in hell." The shoemaker saw the judge who wanted the boots standing by. The shoemaker sorrowfully begged him to think of some means of saving him. The judge answered: "No matter, that caldron has no bottom (無底)." (The character 底 in this chapter has two meanings—sole of a boot and bottom of a caldron or anything. It is a play on words of this character, having two meanings.) "If you are thrown in, you can run away from it." When the evil spirit threw the shoemaker into the oil caldron, he immediately felt the four sides of the caldron with his hands and called out loudly: "Your honor, the judge, there is a bottom to it, there is a bottom to it!" The judge replied: "Since you said there is a bottom, why do you not finish my boots."
