Chinese Merry Tales (1909)/9
Chapter IX.—The Tamed Magistrate. (知縣怕婆.)
THERE was a district magistrate who was in terror of his wife. One day he was sitting at court, when he heard quarrelling in one of the writer's quarters; he told a servant to see what was the matter. The servant returned and said: "It is in the house of a writer in the barracks. A secretary and his wife are fighting." When the magistrate heard of this, he grit his teeth with rage, and said: "If it is, I- I- I-" Who knows but the magistrate's wife heard this. She came out, shouting very loud: "If it is you, what will you do?"
The magistrate laughingly said: "It is I," and immediately knelt down to his wife, saying: "If I were in his place, how dare I beat her."