中國寓言故事雙語版 第98期:樑上君子

One year in the Eastern Han Dynasty, there was a serious famine in I-Jenan.

東漢時的某一年，河南一帶，饑荒嚴重。

One night, a thief sneaked into Chen Shi’s house and hid himself on the beam. When Chen Shi was aware of this, he got out of bed without haste, called his children and grandchildren to his room and said in a stern voice:

一天夜裏，一個小偷潛人陳宴家，躲藏在屋子的橫樑上。陳宴覺察到後，不慌不忙地起了牀，把兒女子孫們都叫到屋裏，嚴厲地說:

One must always restrain and encourage oneself no matter under what circumstances. Bad men were not born bad. It is only become they don’t restrain themselves that they develop bad habits and turn bad gradually. That gentleman on the beam is just a case in point.

“一個人無論在什麼情況下，都要剋制自己，勉勵自己。壞人，不是天生就壞，而是因爲平時不剋制自己而養成了壞的習慣，才慢慢地變壞的。那位樑上君子就是這樣。”

Much ashamed upon hearing this, the thief hiding on the beam promptly jumped down to the ground, kowtowed and begged for forgiveness.

躲在樑上的小偷聽了，很慚愧，連忙翻身落地，磕頭求饒。

Chen Shi enlightened him by saying:

陳宴開導他說:

Judging from your appearance, you don’t look like a bad man. Perhaps you are driven by poverty to steal. But you should carefully examine yourself and turn over a new leaf.

“看你的樣子並不像壞人，你這樣做，恐怕也是被貧困逼出來的。不過你應當好好反省，改邪歸正。”

Then he immediately asked someone to bring two bolts of white silk to give the thief as a present. The thief kowtowed and thanked him repeatedly.

接着，他馬上叫人拿來兩匹白絹贈送給小偷。小偷不停地磕頭致謝。

Since then, very few thefts occurred in this locality.

從此以後，這個地方很少發生偷盜的事情。