放生故事之三：大許的舌頭

　　BIG XU'S TONGUE

　　從一個破舊的老店里忽然傳來一聲令人毛骨悚然的尖叫，接著聽到一個人倒在地上的聲音。

　　From a run-down old storefront came a hair-raising shriek followed by the sound of a body falling to the ground.

　　鄰居們都趕緊沖出來看看是怎么回事。他們發(fā)現(xiàn)，以殺牛為生的屠夫大許倒在了血泊中。

　　The neighbors came rushing in to find out what was the matter, and there in a pool of blood they saw the cow butcher Big Xu.

　　鮮血還在繼續(xù)從他的尸體中汩汩流出。他的舌頭被自己的屠刀割下來，然后就死了。鄰人開始紛紛議論起他的死因來。

　　Blood was still flowing from his corpse. He died because his tongue had been cut out by his own butcher's knife. The whole neighborhood started gossiping about how he died.

　　情況是這樣的。大許以殺牛為生。每次他殺牛之前，他都會把牛的舌頭割下來下酒。把他那道可怕的菜吃完，他才殺掉那頭牛。沒有人知道他吃了多少牛舌頭。想想牛被割掉舌頭是多么痛苦吧!

　　This is what had happened. Big Xu made his living slaughtering cows. Every time before he killed a cow, he cut out its tongue and ate it with liquor. He didn't slaughter the cow until he had finished his grisly feast. Nobody knew how many cow's tongues he had eaten. Think how much it hurt the cows to have their tongues cut out!

　　那天，大許忙別的事時，順手把他的刀子插在門檻上。剛好他聽到有兩只老鼠在門梁上打架，于是他仰起頭張著嘴觀斗。老鼠越打越兇，刀子從門梁里被撞了出來，剛好落到大許張開的嘴里，把他的舌頭砍斷了。大許倒在地上，死了。

　　That day, Big Xu stuck his knife in the door sill for a moment while he did something else. Just then he heard two big rats fighting on top of the door sill. He looked up to watch the fight. His mouth was open. The rats fought so furiously that they knocked the knife out of the door frame and it fell right into Big Xu's open mouth and chopped off his tongue. He fell down and died.

　　鄰居們聽說大許是如何死的后，都搖頭嘆息道，“大許對殺生不以為然。他把牛舌頭割下來下酒，就是因為喜歡吃。結(jié)果，兩只老鼠把他的舌頭割下來，要了他的命。它們殺他的方式和他殺牛的方式一模一樣。佛教徒們常說因果報應(yīng)，一點(diǎn)都不假啊!”

　　When the neighbors heard how Big Xu had died, they shook their heads and sighed, saying, "Big Xu didn't think a thing about killing an animal. He cut out the cows' tongues to eat with his liquor, because he liked the taste. And in the end, two rats chopped off his tongue and killed him. They took his life just like he took those cows' lives. The Buddhists must be right when they talk about cause and effect and your just deserts!"