These dried fish are strung together with a
rope(枯魚銜索)
Confucius' name is (Kong Qiu). Confucius is
the honourable name people give him.
He is an excellent educator. He is one of
the most influential thinkers in Chinese history.
He has more than 3,000 disciples, including
72 outstanding disciples.
Among his 72 outstanding disciples, one was
named (Zhong Yu). According to the ancient Chinese custom, (Zhong Yu) took
another name when he became an adult. This name was (Zi Lu).
When Zilu was young, his family's financial
situation was very poor. He worked hard every day, but earned very little
money.
His parents are very old, so they cannot go
out to work. He relies on his own salary to support three people in his family,
so he lives in great poverty.
His parents have bad teeth because they are
old, so his parents like to eat white rice.
White rice was very expensive at that time,
so Zilu would let himself eat some herbs that he didn't have to buy with money.
This was the only way he could save enough
money to buy expensive white rice.
At that time, white rice was not sold
everywhere. Zilu had to go to a small town about 50 kilometres from his home to
buy it.
After Zilu received his salary every month,
he would spend a day walking to a small town 50 kilometres away to buy a big
bag of white rice, and then he would carry the big bag of white rice back to
his home.
A few years later, Zilu's parents died one
by one. Zilu left his hometown and went to the Kingdom of Chu.
Zilu was a very talented man. After
arriving in the Chu Kingdom, he joined the central government of the Chu
Kingdom.
His work is very good, so he gets a very
high salary.
He can eat sumptuous meals every time, the
clothes he wears are also made of fine silks, he can ride in a carriage when he
goes out, and the things he uses in his daily life are also very exquisite.
Once, when he was having dinner with his
friend, he said to his friend
I was in the market today and saw someone
selling dried fish on a string.
Looking at these dried fish, I suddenly had
some insights.
The fish are alive a few days ago, then
they are caught, dried and eaten within a few days. This series of processes
reminds me of the short life of each of us.
Then I suddenly remembered my mother and
father. They had been dead for many years.
I lived with my parents when I was young. I
was very poor then. I often walked long distances to help my parents buy the
white rice they liked to eat. Although the material conditions were not good at
that time, my parents were by my side.
My life now is very materially rich, but
when I think of myself as a person who has lost my parents, I feel very sad.
I really hope that my mother and father are
still alive. If they are still alive, I can let them enjoy everything I have
now, and I can repay their kindness in educating and bringing me up.
The literal translation of this proverb is
'those dried fish strung together by ropes'.
It is used to describe how short our human
lives are.
Dear friend, what inspirations or thoughts
do you have after listening to this story?
What is your relationship like with your
parents? When was the last time you felt sad?
I hope this story can give you some new
insights.
枯魚銜索(These dried fish are strung together
with a rope)
孔子的名字是(孔丘)。孔夫子是人們對他的尊稱。
他是一位傑出的教育家。他是為中國歷史上最有影響力的思想家之一。
他有超過3000個學生，其中特別傑出的學生有72個。
他那72個特別優秀的學生中、有一個的名字叫做(仲由)，依照古代的中國人的習慣，(仲由)在成年後取了另外一個名字，這個名字叫做(子路)。
子路年輕的時候家裡的經濟情況很不好，他每天辛苦的工作，但是賺的錢非常的少。
他的父母親都已經很老了，所以都沒有辦法外出工作，他靠著自己一個人的薪水養活他家裡三個人，所以生活非常的貧困。
他的父母親因為年紀大了所以牙齒比較不好，因此他的父母親喜歡吃白米飯。
白米飯在當時非常地昂貴，所以子路都會讓自己吃一些不用花錢購買的草本植物。
他只有這樣做，他才能夠省下足夠的錢去買昂貴的白米。
白米在當時也不是每個地方都有在賣，子路必須到離自己家裡大約50公里的一的小鎮才買的到。
子路在每個月剛領到薪水之後，他就會花一天的時間，走到50公里之外的那個小鎮買一大袋白米，然後他會背著這一大袋白米走回自已的家。
幾年後，子路的父母親相繼離世，子路離開他的家鄉，他到了楚王國。
子路是一個很有才能的人，他到了楚王國之後，他進入了楚王國的中央政府內
，他的工作表現很好，所以他得到非常高的薪水。
他每餐都可以吃得非常豐盛，他穿的衣服也變成高級的絲織品，他外出的時候可以搭乘馬車，他日常生活中使用的物品也都非常精美。
有一次，他在於他的朋友吃飯的時候，他對他的朋友說。
我今天在市場上，看到有人在販售魚乾，這些魚乾用一根繩子串成一串。
看著這些魚乾，我突然有點感悟。
這些魚幾天前還活著，然後被釣起來並做曬成魚乾，這些魚乾在幾天內就會被人們吃掉。這一連串的過程讓我聯想到我們每個人的短暫的一生。
接著我突然想起我的父親與母親。他們已經死了好幾年了。
我年輕的時候跟我的父母住在一起，那時候的我很貧窮，我常常走很遠的距離去幫我的父母親買他們喜歡吃的白米。那時候的物質條件雖然不好，但是我的父母親陪伴在我身邊。
我現在的生活物質非常的豐富，但是當我想到我是一個已經失去父母親的人的時候，我覺得非常的感傷。
我真希望我的父親與母親現在還活著，如果他們還活著，我就可以讓他們享受我現在擁有的一切，我就可以回報他們教育我與扶養我長大的恩惠。
這句成語直接翻譯的意思是那些被繩子串在一起的魚乾。
這句成語被用來形容我們人類的生命非常的短暫。
親愛的朋友，你聽完這個故事有怎樣的啟發或有怎樣的想法呢。
你跟你的父母親的關係好嗎?你最近一次感到悲傷是因為什麼事情呢?
我期待這故事能讓你產生一些新的收穫。
出處為漢-劉向-說苑-建本4
