20.  鸟儿举行的葬礼

BURIAL BY BIRDS

有一个人孤零零地住在一座小屋里。　　

　　A lonely man lived by himself in a little hut.

他叫孙良。他一贫如洗，但诚实而善良。他为别人打零工，得到的报酬很少。然而每当他看到落入陷阱的动物，只要他有钱，一定把它买下来放归树林。　　

　　His name was Sun Liang. He was dirt poor, but he was honest and kind. He did odd jobs. His pay was very low. Whenever he saw an animal in a trap, if he had any money, he would buy the animal and set it free in the forest.

就这样，孙良救了很多动物，但是他没省下一个钱，因此一直很穷。　　

　　In this way, he saved many animals, but he didn't save any money, so he was still very poor.

当他老得不能干活的时候，只好乞食度日。他满七十岁后的一天，虚弱得卧床不起，不久，便去世了。　　

　　When he was too old to work, he had to beg for food to stay alive. One day when he was over seventy years old, he was too weak to get up from his bed, and before long, he left this world.

孙良没有亲戚朋友。他甚至穷得连一副棺材也买不起。对中国人来说，最悲惨的事莫过于死无葬身之地。没有人来照料他，他的邻居也像他一样穷。他们不知道他已经死了，即使知道，他们也没有钱去买一副棺材来埋葬他。　　

　　Sun Liang had no relative and no friends. He was so poor that he didn't　even have enough money for a coffin, and for Chinese people, the worst possible fate is to die and not get buried. But there was nobody to look after him. His neighbors were almost as poor as he was. They didn't know he was dead, and even if they had, they certainly didn't have enough money to buy him a coffin and bury him.

孙良死了的那个早晨，邻居们惊奇地发现空中飞满了鸟儿。成千上万的鸟从四面八方飞进孙良的小屋里。他们进去看个究竟，发现孙良已经死在床上，他们想那些鸟儿一定是来啄食他的肉的。　　

　　The morning after Sun Liang died, the neighbors were amazed to see the sky full of birds. Thousands of birds came from all directions and flew into Sun Liang's hut. The neighbors came to see what was wrong. They saw Sun lying dead on his bed. They thought the birds must have come to peck the flesh off his bones.

接着，他们看到每只鸟儿嘴里都衔着一小块土，还把土撒在孙的尸体上。它们是来埋葬恩人以表达谢意的！　　

　　Then they saw that every bird brought a little soil in its beak, and dropped the soil on Sun's body. They had come to show their gratitude by burying their savior!

无数的鸟儿来来回回飞着。没到中午，它们就把小屋埋起来，把它变成了孙良的坟墓。　　

　　Thousands and thousands of birds came. They flew back and forth. Before noon， they had filled his whole hut with soil and turned it into a tomb for Sun Liang.

这些邻居被眼前的景象深深感动了。从此以后，他们再也不用陷阱或网来诱捕动物了。　　

　　The neighbors were deeply touched when they saw this. From then on, they never caught another animal in a trap or a net.