Once upon a time there was a rustic who stole garments from the palace and then escaped to a remote place. The king sent men to search for him in all directions. Finally, he was arrested and taken to the king who accused him of theft and asked him where he had got the clothes. The rustic answered that they belonged to his grandfather. The king then ordered him to put them on. He did not know how to wear them. He put on his arms what should be worn on his legs. What he ought to have on his waist, he put on his head.
Seeing this, the king summoned his ministers for consultation on the matter. "If the clothes belonged to your grandfather, you should know how to wear them. How can you wear them in all wrong ways? It's certain that they are not your old clothes. You have stolen them," said the king.
借以为譬:王者如佛,宝藏如法,愚痴羌者,犹如外道。
Figuratively speaking, here the king is like Buddha; the valuable clothes, the Buddhist teachings; the stupid rustic, the heretic.
窃听佛法,著己法中,以为自有。然不解故,布置佛法,迷乱上下,不知法相。
A heretic, who has eavesdropped on Buddhism, makes it for his own. He then misinterprets it, because he does not know the real meaning of its teachings.
如彼山羌,得王宝衣,不识次第,颠倒而著,亦复如是。
This heretic is like the rustic who stole the king's valuable clothes without knowing how to wear them properly and put them on in all the wrong ways.
The swallows and sparrows are very pleased to find a place on the roof of the hall for their nests.
The mother birds are feeding their babies with pleasure, which assumes a scene of peace and harmony.
But they have never thought of the following scene: the chimney at the top of the kitchen might break, the fire might leap up to the roof and the burning purling might destroy their nests.
But those swallows and sparrows are unmindful of the coming disaster.
They go on with their superficial happiness brought by peace and calm.
燕雀处室
燕雀为拥有屋顶下面的一个位置而欣慰不已。
母鸟用叼来的食物喂养啁啾鸣叫的幼鸟,整个儿是一派欢乐自得的祥和景象。
它们完全没有考虑到:炉灶上的烟囱有可能会炸裂,火苗将会窜上屋梁,烧着的椽将会摧毁它们的巢穴。
不知大祸将要降临到自己头上的燕雀们正在安然自若地品味这表面上的安宁所带来的幸福。
英文寓言故事4
A wild ass1 saw a pack-ass jogging along under a heavy load, and taunted2 him with the condition of slavery in which he lived, in these words: "What a vile3 lot is yours compared with mine! I am free as the air, and never do a stoke of work; and, as for fodder4, I have only to go to the hills and there I find far more than enough for my needs. But you! You depend on your master for food, and he makes you carry heavy loads every day and beats you unmercifully." At that moment a lion appeared on the scene, and made no attempt to molest5 the pack-ass owing to the presence of the driver, but he fell upon the wild ass, who had no one to protect him, and without more ado made a meal of him.
It is no use being your own master unless you can stand up for yourself.
Mr. Wang thinks he is clever, but he always does foolish things.
One day he sees a beautiful bell at the top of a door. “Oh! How nice! I will take it home.” He thinks, “What can I do?” After a while he has a “good” idea. “Aha! I have an idea now. I can plug my ears. Then I will not hear the ring when I take off the bell.”
Then he does so. But as soon as he takes off the bell, the owner opens the door. “What are you doing?” the owner says angrily.
On Sunday morning Donny went into the yard and played with a dog. Sometimes a bird would come down to stay on the top’s of the dog’s house. Then Donny threw a stone at it. Suddenly the little boy began crying. Mother ran to Donny and asked him what was wrong. He said, “I’ve broken sister’s plate. She has beaten me.” “Why?” “I threw it at a bird, and it went straight to the plate.”
My uncle has two dogs. One is big and the other is small. He likes them very much.
One day, Mr. Smith came to visit him. When the friend saw two holes in the door, a large hole and a small hole, he was surprised and said, “My dear friend, why are there two holes in your door?” “Let my dogs come in and come out, of course,” Mr. Smith asked. “But why are there two holes? One is enough!” “But how can the big dog go through the small hole?” my uncle said.
Once there were three foxes, they worked together. They lived a happy life. Little by little, the youngest fox became lazy, and often quarreled with the other foxes. The eldest had to leave, and the second fox was driven off, too. Looking at the warm house with a lot of good food in it, the youngest fox smiled. The eldest fox opened a new hill again. The second eldest fox dug a pool. Two of them because rich soon. The youngest fox ate up the food left by the other two foxes. In the end it felt so cold and hungry that it could not stand up.