井中捞月

A long time ago, there was a Bo Luo Nai City in the State of Jia Shi. Outside the city was a large forest, where 500 macaques lived.

 

One night the 500 macaques wandered around and came to a ni ju lu (bodhi) tree. Under the tree was a deep ancient well. The water in the well was very clean and reflected the full moon in the sky.

 

The leading macaque bent¹ over the well and watched carefully for a while. Then it jumped onto the edge of the well and said to the others: "Alas²! Today the moon has died and fallen into this well. Let us scoop³ it up together; otherwise the nights will be dark forever."

 

All the macaques tweaked their ears and scratched their cheeks, saying:"The well is so deep. How can we scoop up the moon?"

 

The leading macaque had a sudden brainwave and said: "I have it! I will climb up the tree and grasp a branch, then another one grasps my tail. In this way, one following another in succession⁴, can't we hang down into the well?"

 

When the other macaques heard this, they jumped with joy. So they linked their heads and tails together, extending⁵ longer and longer until they almost touched the surface of the well water. At this moment, the branch broke with a big crack and all 500 macaques fell into the ancient well.

 

很久以前，在伽尸国有一座波罗奈城。城外有一片大森林，森林里生活着五百只称猴。

 

有一天晚上，五百只称猴到处游逛，来到了一棵尼俱律树畔。树下，有一口很深的古井，井水清悠悠的，映出了天上的一轮圆月。

 

领头的称猴俯在井边仔细看了一阵，然后跳到井台上对大家说：“不好了，今天月亮死了，就落在这口井中。让我们一起把它捞出来，不然的话，夜晚就永远黑暗了。”

 

众猴听了，个个抓耳挠腮，说:“井这么深，怎样才能把月亮捞起来呢？”

 

领头的称猴灵机一动，说:“办法有了!我爬上树，抓住树枝，然后另一个抓住我的尾巴，这样一个一个接下去，不就可以垂到井里去了吗？”

 

大家一听，都高兴得欢蹦乱跳。于是，猴们头尾相连，越接越长，眼看就要碰到水面了。这时候，只听见咔嚓一声巨响，树枝断了，五百只称猴统统掉进了古井。

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