阿福家裡很有錢，整天茶來伸手飯來張口，十分懶惰。父親臨終前對他說：「阿福，錢再多也有坐吃山空的一天，你一定要勤勞工作，免得餓死。」阿福仍然好吃懶做，幾年後，財產全被他花光了，他還是整天躺在床上挨餓，也不去賺錢。
有一天他實在餓得受不了，就爬到財神廟裡，求財神爺賜銀子給他。沒想到，當晚就夢到財神爺生氣地對他說：「阿福！你這麼懶惰，還敢來求我，丟不丟臉啊！」阿福嚇得發抖說：「財神爺，我是很懶惰，但從沒做過壞事。」財神爺接著說：「念你祖先有德蔭，賜你白銀一錠，以後要勤勞工作！」說完，鞭子一揮，阿福從夢中驚醒。阿福還沒等到銀子，就已經餓死了。
死後的阿福不甘心，就跟閻王告狀，閻王傳財神爺來：「財神爺，你怎麼可以沒信用呢！」財神爺回答：「我連續三次派小鬼拿白銀給他，他卻連門也懶得開，這不能怪我。」阿福說：「我以為銀子會送到我面前，哪知道還要開門。」閻王好氣又好笑地說：「你太懶了，餓死活該，念你沒做過壞事，准你超生，想轉世成什麼呢？」阿福回答：「做人要為衣食奔波，不如投胎當一隻白鼻貓吧！老鼠會以為是白米，自己送上門來，我張開口就有得吃。」閻王聽完說：「你沒救了！就變成白鼻貓吧！」從此阿福代代相傳，變成現在所看到的白鼻貓。
A-Fu was born into a rich family. He never had to work, and he was very lazy. Before his father died, he told A-Fu, “A-Fu, you must work hard even though you are rich, or one day all the money will be spent, and you will starve to death.” However, A-Fu continued to be lazy. He spent all his money after a few years and even then, he was too lazy to get out of his bed to work.
One day, A-Fu felt so weak and hungry, he crawled into the temple of the God of Fortune, and prayed for money. Miraculously, the God of Fortune came to A-Fu's dreams that night and said angrily, “A-Fu! You are so lazy! How dare you ask me for money! Are you not ashamed?” A-Fu trembled and said, “God of Fortune! I may be lazy, but I have never done anything bad.” The God of Fortune replied, “I will give you a silver ingot, because your ancestors did good deeds. Be sure to work hard in future!” Then, the God of Fortune cracked his whip, and A-Fu woke from his dream. A-Fu waited and waited, but he starved to death before he got the silver.
After dying, A-Fu's ghost went to the God of Death and complained that he had been cheated by the God of Fortune. So, the God of Death sent for the God of Fortune and asked, “God of Fortune, how could you not honor your promise to A-Fu?” The God of Fortune replied, “I sent my helper to give A-Fu the silver three times! But he was too lazy to open his door! I cannot be blamed for this.” A-Fu said, “I thought the silver would be delivered straight into my hands. I didn't know I had to open the door.” The God of Death said amusedly, “You are so lazy! Serves you right to die of hunger. However, seeing that you never did anything bad, I will allow you to be reincarnated. What would you like to be reincarnated as?” A-Fu replied, “Humans have to work to feed themselves. I want to be reincarnated as a white-nosed civet cat! Mice will come to me, thinking that my white nose is rice, and I will only need to open my mouth to eat them up.” The God of Death said, “You are hopeless! Civet cat it is!” From then on, A-Fu and his offspring lived their lives as civet cats.
