3.  大许的舌头

BIG XU'S TONGUE　　

从一个破旧的老店里忽然传来一声令人毛骨悚然的尖叫，接着听到一个人倒在地上的声音。　　

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

邻居们都赶紧冲出来看看是怎么回事。他们发现，以杀牛为生的屠夫大许倒在了血泊中。　　

　　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.

鲜血还在继续从他的尸体中汩汩流出。他的舌头被自己的屠刀割下来，然后就死了。邻人开始纷纷议论起他的死因来。　　

　　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.

情况是这样的。大许以杀牛为生。每次他杀牛之前，他都会把牛的舌头割下来下酒。把他那道可怕的菜吃完，他才杀掉那头牛。没有人知道他吃了多少牛舌头。想想牛被割掉舌头是多么痛苦吧！　　

　　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，大许忙别的事时，顺手把他的刀子插在门槛上。刚好他听到有两只老鼠在门梁上打架，于是他仰起头张着嘴观斗。老鼠越打越凶，刀子从门梁里被撞了出来，刚好落到大许张开的嘴里，把他的舌头砍断了。大许倒在地上，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.

邻居们听说大许是如何死的后，都摇头叹息道，“大许对杀生不以为然。他把牛舌头割下来下酒，就是因为喜欢吃。结果，两只老鼠把他的舌头割下来，要了他的命。它们杀他的方式和他杀牛的方式一模一样。佛教徒们常说因果报应，一点都不假啊！”　　

　　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!"