有个人的鳖
A Man’s Soft-shell Turtle/
by Xie Wuzhang
从前,有个人捉到一只鳖。 他想把鳖煮来吃,却又不愿意被别人说他杀生。于是,他就用猛火烧了锅开水,又在锅上放了竹片来当桥。然后,对鳖说: 「你如果从这一头爬到那一头,就饶你活命。」鳖也知道这是夺命的诡计,于是就用尽了力气,像螃蟹那样,艰苦地爬到了另一端。但是,这个人却又对鳖说:「太好了!你能平安的爬到竹桥。我非常想再看一次,你再爬一次吧!」
Once upon a time, there was a man who caught a soft-shell turtle. He wanted to cook and eat the turtle but did not want to hear people say he had killed a life. So, the man boiled a pot of blistering hot water and set a bamboo plank across it to form a bridge. Then, he told the turtle, “If you climb to the other side, I’ll spare you your life.” Realizing this was a trick, the turtle mustered up its strength, and, like it were a crab, laboriously crawled all the way to the opposite side. Nevertheless, the man continued, “Spectacular! You were able to climb across the bamboo bridge. I’d really love to see that one more time. Climb it again!”
*Xie Wuzhang is the author of Wisdom Fables, a collection of allegories illustrated by Hong Yinan.
Translated & edited by ZhongwenTranslation
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