Note: This is tale #198 in Pu Songling's collection of Strange Tales from a Chatterbox's Studio (聊齋誌異, Liáozhāi zhìyì), usually known as Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio or Strange Tales from Liaozhai. The original Chinese title of this story, 荷花三娘子, is transcribed as Héhuā sān niángzǐ in the pinyin notation, and means "Lady Lotus the Third"; its spelling is identical in simplified Chinese characters. It is composed of 荷花, héhuā, "lotus", 三, sān; "three" or "third", and 娘子 niángzǐ, "mistress", "lady" (literally "snake-lady").

Synopsis: In Huzhou a scholar named Zong Xiangruo, while inspecting crops, discovered a couple making love. The woman, who let herself be seduced by him, turned out to be a fox-spirit, aka Third Lady Lotus. She eventually disappeared, but left him her ice-coloured cape that he would occasionally embrace to make her appear again.