农夫和蛇

This story is called "The Farmer and the Snake." Every day, a farmer went to the city to sell his flowers and farm produce and then went home after selling all his things. One day, he left home very early, so early that when he arrived at the city, the gate was still closed. So he lay down to take a nap, when he awoke he found that the storage bin containing his farm produce had become empty except that there was a gold coin inside. Although all the things in the bin had vanished, the gold was much more valuable so he was still very happy. He thought most probably someone had taken his things and left the payment there, and went home happily with the money.

The next day, the farmer again went out to sell his things but again arrived too early so he slept outside the city gate just like he had done the day before. And the incident repeated itself. All the produce that the farmer had brought disappeared, and there was a gold coin in the bin! At that time, gold was very valuable. One gold coin had a value many times higher than the farmer's produce.

Then one day some time later, the farmer's father asked him, "Where have you gotten so many gold coins lately? Where did the money come from?" So the farmer revealed to his father what had happened. After listening to his story, the father thought, "One day I'll follow my son as he goes out, and see who's been consuming his things and leaving the money in the bin."

So one day, when the farmer went out to do business, his father quietly followed him. While the farmer was sleeping near the city gate, his father saw a snake crawl up to his bin and eat his produce. Having finished eating, the snake once again spat a gold coin into the bin as payment to the farmer before leaving. Seeing this, the farmer's father thought, "If I kill the snake, I'll be able to seize all its gold coins!" He then picked up a stone and cut the snake into two parts.

At that time, the head and trunk of the snake were already in its den, and only the tail was outside. The father thought that there must be a big treasure in the den so he told his son to reach inside for it. But unexpectedly, when the farmer reached his hand into the den, the snake bit and killed him! Even though it had been cut into two, the snake could still bite! I understand how this could have happened because that was how I got bitten when I was small. At that time, I saw a centipede that had been beaten and squashed by someone, leaving only the head intact. I thought it was dead, and to make sure, I poked it with my foot. It bit me hard and I cried for three days. (Laughter) I was really dumb! Remember! Don't play with a centipede even if it looks dead. Sometimes it just fakes death; it's not really dead.

这个故事叫做农夫和蛇。有一个农夫，每天到城里去卖他自己种的花和农产品，卖完以后就回家。有一天，他很早出门，来到城门时，因为还太早，城门还没开，所以他就先躺在那边睡觉。当他醒过来时，看到他装农产品的瓶子都空空了，里面多了一块黄金的钱。虽然瓶子里的东西不见了，不过那块黄金的钱已经很多了，所以他还是非常高兴。他想大概有人拿走他的东西，然后放钱在那边，于是就快乐地带着钱回家了。

隔天，农夫又出门去做买卖，同样也是来得太早，所以他又在城门那边睡觉。结果又发生一样的事情，农夫带来的东西都不见了，瓶子里面又多了一块黄金的钱!那时候黄金是很有价值，所以一块黄金的钱比农夫的农产品还高出好几倍的价值。

后来有一天，农夫的父亲问他：最近你怎么忽然间得到那么多黄金的钱?那些钱是从哪里来的?农夫就把他遇到的事情告诉他的父亲。他的父亲听了以后，心想：我要找一天跟着我的儿子出门，看看到底是谁吃他的东西，然后把钱放在他的瓶子里面。

有一天农夫出去做买卖时，他的父亲就默默跟着他。当农夫在城门附近睡觉的时候，他的父亲看到一条蛇爬到他的瓶子那边吃他的东西，吃完以后，就吐出一块黄金的钱到瓶里面，算是付钱给他这样子，然后蛇就爬走了。农夫的父亲想：「如果我把这条蛇杀掉，就可以得到它全部黄金的钱了!」于是他找了一块石头，把那条蛇割成两段。

那时候，那条蛇的头部和身体已经爬进它的窝里面，只剩下尾巴露在外面。农夫的父亲认为蛇窝里面有很多宝藏，就叫农夫伸手去拿。没想到当农夫把手伸进去时，却被蛇咬死了!被割成两段的蛇竟然还可以咬人啊!这种情形我知道，我小的时候也曾经被这样咬过。那时候我看到一只蜈蚣被人家打扁了，只剩下头还没扁，我认为它已经死了。为了要确定看看它是不是真的死了，我就用脚去拨看看，结果被咬了一口，哭了三天(大家笑)，太笨了!你们要记得，看到蜈蚣不应该玩，即使它已经死了，也不要跟它玩，因为有时候它只是装死而已，还没有真的死。