中國寓言故事雙語版 第108期:姑息養鼠
A man in Yongzhou was afraid that doing things on certain days would bring misfortune.
As he was born in the year of zi, and the rat was considered the deity of zi, he‘ especially shielded it.
他生於子年，而且老鼠被認爲是子神，所以他特別袒護老鼠。He not only didn’t keep cats and dogs, but also wouldn’t allow his servants to kill rats.
他不但不養貓和狗，而且不準僕人打老鼠。
He allowed rats to run wild in his granary and kitchen and never bothered about them.
他家的糧倉、廚房，任憑老鼠怎麼橫行，也從來不去過問。Hence, the rats told one another about this and moved one after another into his house, where they ate their fill all day long and lived in safety.
於是，老鼠互相轉告，紛紛搬到他家來住，飽食終日，安然無恙。This gentleman’s house was so ruined by the rats that there was neither an intact utensil nor a whole garment on the clothes rack.
這位先生的家裏，被老鼠糟蹋得沒有一件完好的器具，衣架上沒有一件完整的衣裳，Even his own food was mostly leftovers by the rats.
自己的食品也大多是老鼠吃剩下來的殘餘。In the daytime, the rats walked in swarms around the master. At night, they fought for food, quarrelled and squeaked,making such a racket that no one could sleep. Yet this gentleman never felt annoyed.
白天，老鼠成羣結隊跟主人一道行走;夜晚，搶吃東西，吵架爭鬥，刺耳的尖叫聲，吵得人無法睡覺，然而這位先生卻從不覺得厭煩。Several years later, this gentleman moved away and another family moved in. Yet the rats went on brazenly with their evil deeds as before.
幾年後，這位先生遷居外地，另一戶人家搬進來居住。老鼠仍舊像過去那樣爲非作歹，肆無忌憚。The new master was very angry. He said: “These shameless pests steal things and make trouble so devastatingly. How could they be tolerated?”
新主人十分惱火，說:“這些見不得陽光的壞東西，偷竊搗亂得太厲害了，怎麼能容忍呢?”He immediately borrowed five to six good cats, closed the doors and windows, and let them catch the rats. He also engaged men to move bricks and tiles, fill up the holes with water so as to close in on the rats on all sides.
他立即借來了五六隻好貓，關了門窗捕捉，還專門僱人搬磚移瓦，用水灌洞，四面圍剿。Thus, the rats caught and killed were thrown to an out-of- the-way place, heaped up like a hill. It took several months for the stench to dissipate.
就這樣，捕殺的老鼠被扔在偏僻的地方，堆積如山，臭味幾個月後才慢慢散盡。Those rats probably thought they could always eat their fill without any disaster. Actually this was lamentable. The rats should never be tolerated.
那些老鼠可能自以爲它們能一直飽食終日，安然無恙。這種想法實際上是很悲哀的。人們決不應該姑息老鼠。
