杞人憂天 ・ 杯弓蛇影
Unfounded fears|Overreacting to illusions
Worrying about the sky ・Cups and cups
杞人忧天・杯弓蛇影
杞人憂天 . 杯弓蛇影
unnecessary worry|false alarm
喺 好 耐 好 耐 之前 , 有 一 個 國家 , 叫做 杞國 。
|||||||||country||Qi Kingdom
杞國 有 一 個 人 , 佢 好 細膽 , 仲 成日 亂 諗 嘢 。
Qi State|||||||timid|||overthinking||
There is a man in Qi, who is very timid, and thinks about things all the time.
有 一 日 , 佢 忽然間 諗 到 , 如果 天空 冧 落嚟 , 點算 好 ?
||||"suddenly"|thought of||||fall|fall down|What to do|
One day, he suddenly thought, "How good would it be if the sky plummets?
佢 驚 到 瞓 唔 著 。
之後 , 佢 忽然 又 諗 到 , 如果 大地 冧 咗 落去 , 點算 好 ?
||suddenly|||||the ground|collapse||||
Afterwards, he suddenly took an easy way out and realized that it would be better if the earth fell.
佢 驚 到 食 唔 落 飯 。
佢 好 幾 個 月 食 唔 安 , 瞓 唔 落 , 搞 到 個 人 瘦 咗 好多 , 親戚 朋友 見 到 都 好 擔心 。
|||||||at ease||||||||skinny|||relatives||||||
She has not been able to eat well and sleep well for several months, and has lost a lot of weight, which has made her friends and relatives worried.
之後 有 一 位 智者 去 咗 揾 呢個 杞國 人 , 同 佢 講 : 「 天空 係 由 空氣 所 組成 , 呢個 世界 到處 都 有 空氣 。
||||wise person|||||||||||||air||made of|||everywhere|||
Then a wise man went and tried to speak to the Qigyi, and he said to him, "The sky is made of air, and there is air everywhere in the world.
人類 要 生存 , 日日 都 要 呼吸 。
||survive||||breathe
Human beings have to live and breathe every day.
人類 日日 喺 空氣 之中 活動 , 唔係 一 件 好 平常 嘅 事 咩 ?
||||||||||ordinary|||
Isn't it a common thing for human beings to move around in the air every day?
你 使乜 驚 個 天 會 冧 落嚟 ? 」
|"need to"||||||
Why do you think you're going to be surprised when the day comes? "The day you're gonna plum?"
杞國 人 聽 咗 之後 , 覺得 好 有 道理 , 稍為 安心 咗 少少 。
||||||||makes sense|a bit|relieved||
但係 佢 又 即刻 諗 到 另 一 個 問題 。
佢 問 : 「 噉 天 上面 嘅 太陽 、 月亮 、 星星 , 佢哋 唔會 跌 落嚟 咩 ? 」
||||||sun|||||||
智者 答 : 「 計 我 話 , 天 上面 嘅 太陽 、 月亮 、 星星 , 呢啲 通通 都 係 氣體 , 氣體 又 點 會 跌 落嚟 呢 ? 」
||||||||||||all of them|||gas|||||||
The wise man replied, "If I may say so, the sun, the moon, and the stars above the sky are all gases, and how can they fall down? How will they fall?
佢 話 : 「 噉 我 都 安心 啲 。 」
|||||"at ease"|
但係 佢 又 即刻 擔心 其他 嘢 : 「 如果 大地 冧 咗 落去 , 噉 又 點算 好 ? 」
||||||||the ground|||||||
But he was immediately worried about something else: "What if the earth falls? And what's good about it?"
智者 話 : 「 大地 基本 係 由 泥土 所 組成 , 呢個 世界 周圍 都 係 泥土 。
wise person||The Earth|"basically"|||soil||made up of|||all around|||soil
The wise man said, "The earth is basically made of clay, and the world is surrounded by clay.
人類 要 生活 , 日日 都 要 行路 。
Human beings have to live, and they have to walk every day.
人類 日日 喺 泥土 上面 活動 , 唔係 一 件 好 平常 嘅 事 咩 ?
||||||||||ordinary|||
Isn't it a common thing for human beings to move around on the soil all the time?
你 使乜 驚 個 地 會 冧 落去 ? 」
Why do you think it's going to fall? "I don't know."
智者 答 完 之後 , 佢 先 明白 自己 嘅 擔心 實在 係 多餘 , 即刻 開心 到 笑 出嚟 !
After the wise man had answered the question, he realized that his worries were really unnecessary and immediately burst out laughing!
之後 佢 有 返 胃口 食嘢 , 夜晚 瞓覺 都 冇 再 失眠 。
||||appetite|||||||insomnia
After that, she has an appetite for food and she no longer has insomnia when she sleeps at night.
話說 又 有 一 個 主人家 開 party , 準備 咗 豐盛 嘅 晚餐 同埋 美酒 。
|||||host||party|prepared for||lavish||||fine wine
Another host family had a party and prepared a great dinner and wine.
當中 有 位 客人 特別 細膽 , 見到 杯 入面 有 一 條 蛇 , 就 好 驚 , 唔敢 飲 。
|||guest||timid||||||||||||
One of the customers was particularly timid, and when he saw a snake on the inside of the cup, he was so frightened that he did not dare to drink.
但係 主人家 特登 準備 咗 咁 多 靚酒 佳餚 , 咁 有 誠意 , 客人 唔敢 唔 飲 呢 杯 酒 , 於是 就 唂 一 聲 吞 咗 杯 酒 落 肚 。
||specially|||||fine wine|delicacies|||sincerity|guest|dare not|||||wine|||gulped down|||swallowed|||||
However, the host had prepared so many delicious food and wine with such sincerity that the guests dared not refrain from drinking the glass of wine, so they swallowed it with a loud gulp.
客人 返 到 自己 屋企 , 當日 就 覺得 肚 好 痛 , 又 食 唔 落 飯 。
|||||that day||||||||||
When the client returned to his own house, he had a stomachache and could not finish his meal.
主人家 見 佢 病 咗 , 就 去 探 佢 , 睇 下 佢 做 咩 病 咗 。
客人 喊 住 話 : 「 我 食 你 餐 飯 嗰陣 , 有 條 蛇 入 咗 我 個 杯 , 但係 我 有理冇理 一 啖 飲 晒 杯 酒 !
||||||||||||||||||||right or wrong||||||
The customer shouted, "A snake got into my glass while I was eating your meal, but I had no reason to drink the glass of wine!
而家 條 蛇 肯定 捐 咗 入 我 個 胃 , 我 就嚟 病死 喇 ! 」
||||donate||||||||"die of illness"|
The snake must have donated it to my stomach, and I would have died of a disease! "The snake is here.
主人家 安慰 咗 佢 一陣 , 就 返 到 自己 屋企 。
the host|||||||||
佢 諗 咗 好 耐 : 自己 住 咗 咁 耐 , 都 未 見 過 有 蛇 , 冇理由 有 條 蛇 走 入去 杯 酒 度 㗎 ?
||||||||||||||||no reason|||||||||
She thought long and hard: I have lived here for so long, I have never seen a snake, there is no reason for a snake to walk in for a drink.
之後 佢 抬頭 一 望 , 見到 自己 收藏 嘅 弓 —— 佢 突然 明白 晒 !
|||||||collected items|"of"|bow||suddenly|understood everything|
Then he looked up and saw the bow in his collection - and he suddenly understood!
客人 杯 酒 入面 條 蛇 , 其實 係 把 弓 嘅 倒影 。
|||||||||bow||reflection
The snake in the guest's glass of wine is in fact the reflection of the bow.
主人家 即刻 同 客人 講 返 件 事 , 客人 聽 到 , 即刻 就 病 好 喇 , 仲 可以 落 床 食飯 添 !
host|||||||||||||||||||||
The host immediately tells the guest about the incident, and when the guest hears it, he is cured immediately and can go to bed to eat!
所以 小朋友 , 唔好 成日 自己 嚇 自己 , 話唔定 你 而家 驚 緊 嘅 嘢 , 大個 咗 就 發現 其實 一啲 都 唔 恐怖 呢 !
||||||||||||||||||||||scary|
Therefore, children, you should not scare yourself all the time. Maybe the things you are scared of when you grow up are not scary at all!
( 根據 《 莊子 . 漁父 》 同埋 《 風俗 通義 . 怪神 》 改寫 )
|Zhuangzi|Fisherman||Customs|General Principles|Strange Deities|Adapted from
(Based on Zhuangzi. The Fisherman's Father" (based on "The Fish Father" by Zhuangzi) "Strange Gods")