Wisdom Only Befits the Right Occasion
合乎时宜堪称智慧
(Originally in Chinese)
Once there was a King in Au Lac who was a tyrant and also was very arrogant. This King disliked very much an official in the royal government. This official was very honest, and often counseled the King in a straight forward manner. Therefore, the King disliked him very much!
以前悠乐有一位国王，他比较独裁也比较唯我独尊。这位国王很讨厌朝廷里的一位官，因为那位官比较正直，常常进言一些规劝国王的话，所以国王比较讨厌他。
One day, the King and all the top civil and military officials went to the ocean in a dragon boat to sightsee. Those corrupted officials were good at overly pleasing the King. They also very much disliked the honest official, and came up with ways to ridicule him, making lots of nonsensical sarcastic remarks. Finally, the King was fed up, so he asked the honest official: “I heard that you are a learned person, so you must know what the duty of a citizen is.” The honest official replied: “One must be loyal to the King and love the country. Everyone knows that, and it does not take a learned person to know it.”
有一天，国王和很多文武百官一起坐龙船出海游玩。那些贪污的官专门拍国王的马屁，也很讨厌那位正直的官，所以大家想办法嘲讽他，讲很多无聊讽刺的话。终于国王受不了了，他问那位忠臣：‘听说你很博学，那你应该知道一个公民的职责是什么吧？’那位正直的官说：‘应该忠君爱国，这个道理谁都知道，不一定要博学才能晓得。’
Hearing those words, the King was even more disgusted with the official. So he continued to ask: “Suppose that you are a loyal minister. Does that mean that if the King wants you to die, you will die?” The King was planning a trap for the official to fall into. The loyal minister replied immediately: “Yes, your Majesty.” Then the King said: “All right. Now I command you to die! Quickly jump into the ocean and kill yourself!” As a result, the official quickly jumped off the boat.
这个国王听了之后又更讨厌了！于是接着说：‘如果你是忠君的话，是不是国王叫你死，你就要死？’这位国王要设计圈套让他掉进去。那位忠臣马上说：‘是的！陛下！’然后国王就说：‘好！我现在命令你死，你赶快跳海自尽吧！’结果他马上就跳下去了！
Is this person more serious than Qu Yuan*? No! It’s nonsense! Why die?
这个人是不是比屈原还厉害？不是！这么无聊！死干什么？
Then, all the civil and military officials on the boat started to cry loudly, squeezing out a few drops of crocodile tears: “It’s so pitiful that he died! My God! Such a good person, good to die! Oh!” Everyone was crying and making chaotic noise. They threw some plastic flowers into the ocean to see the loyal minister off.
然后文武百官在那边哭得要死！掉几滴鳄鱼的眼泪：‘好可怜啊！人死了啦！唉呀！那么好的一个人，死得好！唉！’大家都在那边乱哭乱闹，然后把那个塑胶花都丢下去海里，向这位忠臣送别。
It seemed that the loyal minister heard everyone’s sad crying, so he emerged from the water. He seemed to not want to die. He climbed up onto the boat, looking like a wet bird. The King said: “Oh, you didn’t die.” The minister said: “Yes, I must have been dead already. But when I was down there I came upon Qu Yuan.” The King said: “Really, how could Qu Yuan be down there?” He said: “Yes, Qu Yuan was originally drowned there. The whole ocean is his! His soul was moving around everywhere. He knew I was going down, and quickly came to see me. Then he was chatting with me, and told me to go up.”
那位忠臣好像听到大家哭得很伤心，于是又冒出水面来。他好像舍不得死，所以又跑上船去了，全身都湿得像落汤鸡一样。国王说：‘啊！你没死啊！’他说：‘有啦！本来已经死了，但是下去就碰到屈原在下面。’国王说：‘咦！屈原怎么会在下面呢？’他说：‘是啊，他本来就是淹死在那里嘛，整个海都是他的啊！他的灵魂到处乱跑，他看我下去，马上就来接了！然后还跟我聊天，叫我上来。’
The King said: “How could he tell you to come up? I commanded you to die. Why did he tell you to come up?” The official said: “Qu Yuan scolded me so much. He said I was stupid! When Qu Yuan was alive, he met a bad King. So, he had to commit suicide. But now I have a good King. Why should I die? I felt that his reprimand was reasonable. I could not die, so I came up here!”
国王说：‘他怎么叫你上来呢？我命令你死，他为什么叫你上来？’他说：‘那个屈原骂我一大堆，他说我是笨蛋！因为屈原在世的时候碰到昏君，所以他才要自尽。我现在碰到好的国王，为什么要死呢？我觉得他骂得很对，所以我没办法死，就跑上来了！’
Did you hear that? This ending is good.
听到了哦？这样才好。
This was a true Aulacese story. Maybe Aulacese officials were a little smarter. They knew better how to protect themselves and how to counsel their King. It’s not necessary to use the serious ways! There are so many people in the world. If you can not convince a King, why should you die? Maybe after a while the King will die. If you can wait until his death, you can serve another King. You should devote your talent, intelligence and wisdom to the country, not just to the King.
这是悠乐真实的故事，好像悠乐的官比较聪明一点，比较会保护自己，而且比较知道怎么劝国王。不应该用那种很严肃的办法嘛！整个世界那么多人，你劝不了一个国王，又何必死呢？也许等一下那个国王就死了！你等他死了以后，再侍候别的国王嘛，把你的才华和聪明智慧侍候国家，而不是侍候一个国王啊！
If the King is good, we serve him and respect him, and contribute all our talent to him. If the King is not good, we should reserve our talent and wisdom given by God, because God gives the talent and wisdom to us, not the King. God gives us the talent and wisdom so we can serve the country, and serve the world. If a King does not know how to utilize people, we can wait and find another one.
如果国王很好的话，我们就侍候他、尊重他，把全部的才华贡献给他。如果国王不好的话，我们就保留上帝所给我们的才华和智慧。因为上帝送才华和智慧给我们，不是送给那个国王；送给我们，是为了让我们侍奉国家、侍奉这个世界。如果国王不会用人的话，那我们等一下找别人嘛！
Our purpose is to serve the country, serve people, and give people peace and happiness. It is not to serve a King, and allow the King to judge us. For example, we have a very beautiful peacock. Then we make her reluctantly marry a toad. But the toad says that she is not good, and does not want to get married to her. So should we feel so sad and kill the peacock? Should we? It’s nonsense! So no matter what we do, if we do it at a wrong time or a wrong occasion, there is no use. This is wisdom. If you are very smart, but do things in a hasty way, it won’t be good.
我们的目的是侍候国家、侍奉人民，给人民安乐，不是侍候一个国王，让他赞叹我们。比方说我们有一只很漂亮的孔雀，然后勉强它嫁给一只癞蛤蟆，然后那只癞蛤蟆嫌它不好，不要娶它，那我们会伤心地把那只孔雀杀掉吗？会吗？这样太无聊了！所以不管做任何事，如果我们在不对的时间、不对的场合做，也没用，智慧是在这里。如果说你很聪明，然后做什么都冲动，那就不好了啦！ |
