梁武帝的皇后郗氏死後轉世為蟒蛇被武帝救度成為中國佛教相關的俗文學流行題材。它起源於十二世紀左右，並迅速在全國範圍內流傳。該故事做為佛教超度亡魂儀式《慈悲道場懺法》的基礎，同時成為中國幾個地區講唱文學與戲曲的題材。雖然該故事在傳播佛教教義與儀式起重要作用，其歷史與文化影響仍缺乏深入研究。本文章探討郗氏故事在寶卷體裁的發展演變過程，以比較三種代表性《梁皇寶卷》版本為基礎。其中一種版本代表明末清初的民間教派寶卷，其他兩種為清末吳方言地區民間敘述性的寶卷：1876年的木刻本與1872年的抄本。該故事演變顯示歷史敘述成分逐漸被吸收到寶卷文本；本文也解釋不同版本特點以及其儀式演唱功能（包括現代一種文本在民間喪葬儀式的用途），以當代江蘇南部寶卷講唱資料為主。

The story of Emperor Wu of the Liang dynasty 梁武帝 (r. 502-549) rescuing his wife Lady Xi 郗氏 from an unfortunate rebirth as a snake was a common subject in popular literature related to Buddhist beliefs in late imperial China. Its history can be dated back to the twelfth century, when it quickly spread throughout the country. It is interpreted as a foundation of monastic Buddhist rites for the salvation of the dead, and it has also appeared as a narrative used in ritual storytelling and drama in several areas of China. Although Lady Xi’s story played a major role in the dissemination of Buddhist ideas and rituals among the common folk, its history and cultural impact still remain understudied. The present paper explores the development of Lady Xi’s story in the particular literary form of baojuan 寶卷 (precious scrolls) with the focus on performance traditions of southern Jiangsu. It compares three different recensions of the Baojuan of the Liang Emperor that represent two distinct periods in the development of the baojuan genre (the so-called “sectarian” scriptures of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and the “folk” narrative texts of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries), as well as two regional traditions (Northern China and Wu dialect-speaking areas of Jiangsu). The evolution of this subject shows how elements of historical narrative were incorporated into Buddhist ritual storytelling. The article also demonstrates the connections between differences in the contents of the recensions with their functions in ritualized performances based on information from contemporary recitations of this baojuan in southern Jiangsu.