Introduction to Literary Chinese - Lesson 26, Text 1
Adapted from the 1927 book by J. Brandt
聊齋誌異
Strange Stories from the Liao Studio - The Tiger of Chao-Ch'eng (continued)
月餘。受杖數百。
More than one month passed away during which time Li-Neng received several hundred blows with the bamboo.
寃苦罔控。遂詣東郭嶽廟。跪而祝之。哭失聲。
Overwhelmed with wrongs and having nobody to whom to make complaint, he went to the temple of Tung-Yüeh in the eastern suburb, and there he kneeled down, prayed, and wept bitterly (lit. till he lost his voice).
無何。一虎自外來。隷錯愕。恐被咥噬。
Suddenly a tiger appeared from outside. Li-Neng was terrified thinking that the tiger was going to devour him.
虎入。殊不他顧。蹲立門中。
The tiger entered and paying no attention to anything squatted down in the doorway.
隷祝曰。如殺某子爾也。其俯聽吾縛。
Then Li-Neng addressed the tiger with a prayer. “If it is you” (lit. a certain son), he said, “who killed that old woman's son, suffer me to tie you up.”
遂出線索勢虎頸。虎帖耳受縛。
Whereupon, drawing out a cord, he threw it over the tiger's neck. The latter drooped its ears and allowed itself to be bound.
牽達縣署。宰問虎曰。某子爾噬之耶。
When the tiger was led into the office of the district magistrate, the latter asked it, “Was that young man devoured by you?”
虎領之。宰曰。殺人者死。古之定律。
The tiger nodded its head (in assent). “Murderers should suffer death,” continued the magistrate, “such is the law from the ancient times.
且嫗止一子。而爾殺之。彼殘年垂盡。何以生活。
Moreover the old woman had only one son whom you killed; and now, in her declining years, what support can she get?
倘爾能爲若子也。我將赦之。
If you can be a son to her I shall pardon you.”
虎又領之。乃釋縛令去。嫗方怨宰。不殺虎以償子也。
The tiger again nodded its head. Whereupon the tiger was set free and ordered to go. The old woman was very much dissatisfied with the magistrate because he did not (order someone) to kill the tiger to revenge (the death) of her son.
遲旦啟扉。則有死鹿。嫗貨其肉革。用以資度。
Next morning, when the old woman opened the door, there was a dead deer (lying before it). She sold its flesh and skin, and thus was able to make a living.
自是以爲常。時銜金帛於擲庭中。嫗由此致豐裕。泰養過於其子。
From that day it became a common thing. Sometimes the tiger would bring valuables (lit. gold and silk) and throw them in the court-yard, so that the old woman became very well-off and better cared for than by her own son.
心竊徳虎。虎來時臥簷下。竟日不去。人畜相安。
She felt very grateful to the tiger who, when he came, slept a whole day under the caves. Men and animals (seeing it) remained quiet and were not afraid of it.
各無猜忌。數年嫗死虎。來吼於堂中。嫗素所積。綽可營葬。族人共瘞之。
In a few years the old woman died, and the tiger came and roared in the hall. With the money the old woman had saved it was possible to arrange a pompous funeral for her, and she was buried by her relatives.
墳壘方成。虎驟奔來。賓客盡逃。虎直赴冢前。嘷鳴雷動。移時始去。
The grave-mound had just been completed when a tiger rushed in, and every one who was at the funeral fled away in fear. The tiger approached the mound, roared like thunder and disappeared.
土人立義虎洞於東郊。至今猶存。
The people of that place built in the eastern suburb a temple in honor of the Faithful Tiger which remains there till this day.