雞龞之爭
Four hundred and fifty years ago in Sze-Cheung Province, Western China,
there lived an old farmer named Ah-Po.
The young farmers all said Ah-Po knew everything. If they wanted to
know when it would rain, they asked Ah-Po, and when he said, “It will
not rain to-morrow,” or “You will need your bamboo-hat [6] this time
to-morrow,” it was as he said. He knew all about the things of nature
and how to make the earth yield best her fruits and seeds, and some
said he was a prophet.
One day Ah-Po caught a fine mountain turtle. It was so large that it
took both of Ah-Po’s sons to carry it home. They tied its legs together
and hung it on a strong stick, and each son put an end of the stick on
his shoulder.
Ah-Po said, “We will not kill the turtle. He is too old to eat, and I
think we will keep him and watch the rings grow around his legs each
year.” So they gave him a corner in the barnyard and fed him rice and
water.
Ah-Po had many chickens, and for three months the turtle and chickens
lived in peace with each other. But one day all the young chickens came
together and laughed at the turtle. Then they said to him, “Why do you
live here so long? Why do you not go back to your own place? This small
barnyard corner is not so good as your cave in the wilderness. You have
only a little sand and grass to live on here. The servant feeds you,
but she never gives you any wilderness fruits. You are very large, and
you take up too much room. We need all the room there is here. You
foolish old thing, do you think our fathers and mothers want you? No.
There is not one of our people who likes you. Besides, you are not
clean. You make too much dirt. The servant girl gave you this water to
drink, and your water bowl is even now upside down. You scatter rice on
our floor. Too many flies come here to see you, and we do not like
flies.”
The turtle waited until they had all finished scolding. Then he said,
“Do you think I came here myself? Who put me here, do you know? Do you
suppose I like to be in jail? You need not be jealous. I never ate any
rice that belonged to you or your family. I am not living in your
house. What are you complaining about? If our master should take your
whole family and sell it, he would only get one piece of silver. Who
and what are you to talk so much? Wait and see; some day I may have the
honored place.”
Some of the chickens went home and told their mother, “We had an
argument with the turtle to-day and he had the last word. To-morrow we
want you to go with us and show him that a chicken can argue, as well
as a turtle.”
The next day all the chickens of the barnyard went to see the turtle.
And the old hen said, “My children came here to play yesterday, and you
scolded them and drove them away. You said all my family were not worth
one piece of silver. You think you are worth many pieces of gold, I
suppose. No one likes you. Your own master would not eat you. And the
market people would never buy a thing so old and tough as you are. But
I suppose you will have to stay here in our yard a thousand years or
so, until you die. Then they will carry you to the wilderness and throw
you into the Nobody-Knows Lake.”
Then the turtle answered and said, “I am a mountain turtle. I come from
a wise family, and it is not easy for even man to catch me. Educated
men, doctors, know that I am useful for sickness, but if all the people
knew the many ways they could use me, I think there would soon be no
more turtles in the world. Many Chinese know that my skin is good for
skin disease, and my forefeet are good for the devil-sickness in
children, as they drive the devil away; and then my shells are good for
sore throat, and my stomach is good for stomach-ache, and my bones are
good for toothache. Do you remember that not long ago our master
brought three turtle eggs to feed your children? I heard him say,
‘Those little chickens caught cold in that damp place, and so I must
give them some turtle eggs.’ I saw your children eat those three eggs,
and in two or three days they were well.
“So you see the turtle is a useful creature in the world, even to
chickens. Why do you not leave me in peace? As I must stay here against
my will, it is not right that your children should trouble me.
Sometimes they take all my rice and I go hungry, for our master will
not allow me to go outside of this fence to hunt food for myself. I
never come to your house and bother you, but your children will not
even let me live in peace in the little corner our master gave me. If I
had a few of my own people here with me, as you have, I think you would
not trouble me. But I have only myself, while you are many.
“Yesterday your children scolded me and disturbed my peace. To-day you
come again; and to-morrow and many to-morrows will see generations and
still more unhatched generations of chickens coming here to scold me, I
fear; for the length of life of a cackling hen is as a day to me—a
mountain turtle. I know the heaven is large, I know the earth is large
and made for all creatures alike. But you think the heavens and the
earth were both made for you and your chickens only. If you could drive
me away to-day, you would try to-morrow to drive the dog away, and in
time you would think the master himself ought not to have enough of
your earth and air to live in. This barnyard is large enough for birds,
chickens, ducks, geese, and pigs. It makes our master happy to have us
all here.”
The chickens went away ashamed. Talking to each other about it, they
said, “The turtle is right. It is foolish to want everything. We
barnyard creatures must live at peace with each other until we die. The
barnyard is not ours; we use it only a little while.”
Ee-Sze (Meaning): The Creator made the world for all to use, and, while
using it, the strong should not try to drive out the weak.