[updated September 2022]
Sly and Crafty Mouse
黠 鼠 赋
苏 子 夜 坐，有 鼠 方 啮，拊 床 而 止 之
既 止 复 作。使 童 子 烛 之，有 橐 中 空
嘐 嘐 聱 聱，声 在 橐 中。
曰：“嘻！ 此 鼠 之 见 闭 而 不 得 去 者 也。”
发 而 视 之，寂 无 所 有，举 烛 而 索
中 有 死 鼠。童 子 惊 曰：“是 方 啮 也，
而 遽 死 耶？ 向 为 何 声，岂 其 鬼 耶？“
覆 而 出 之，堕 地 乃 走，虽 有 敏 者
莫措其手。苏子叹曰：“异哉！
是 鼠 之 黠 也。闭 于 橐 中，橐 坚 而 不 可 穴 也。
故 不 啮 而 啮，以 声 致 人；不 死 而 也
以 形 求 脱 也。吾 闻 有 生，莫 智 于 人。
扰 龙 伐 蛟，登 龟 狩 麟，役 万 物 而 君 之
卒 见 使 于 一 鼠； 堕 此 虫 之 计 中
惊 脱 兔 于 处 女。乌 在 其 为 智 也。“
坐 而 假 寐，私 念 其 故。若 有 告 余 者 曰：
“汝 惟 多 学 而 识 之，望 道 而 未 见 也。
不 一 于 汝，而 二 于 物，故 一 鼠 之 啮 而
为 之 变 也。 人 能 碎 千 金 之 璧
不 能 无 失 声 于 破 釜； 能 拨 猛 虎
不 能 无 变 色 于 蜂 虿： 此 不 一 之 患 也。
言 出 于 汝，而 忘 之 耶？
余 俛 而 笑，仰 而 觉。 使 童 子 执 笑， 记 余 之 作。
Xia Shu Fu
Su zi ye zuo, you shu fang nie, fu chuang er zhi zhi,
Ji zhi fu zuo. Shi tong zi zhu zhi, you tuo zhong kong,
Jiao jiao ao ao, sheng zai tuo zhong.
Yue: “Xi! Ci shu zhi jian bi er bu de qu zhe ye.”
Fa er shi zhi, ji wu suo you, ju zhu er suo
Zhong you si shu. Tong zi jing yue: “Shi fang nie ye,
Er ju si ye? Xiang wei he sheng, qi qi gui ye?”
Fu er chu zhi, duo di nai zou, sui you min zhe,
Mo cuo qi shou. Su zi tan yue: Yi zai!
Shi shu zhi xia ye. Bi yu tuo zhong, tuo jian er bu ke xue ye.
Gu bu nie er nie yi sheng zhi ren; bu si er si
Yi xing qiu tuo ye. Wu wen you sheng, mo zhi yu ren.
Rao long fa jiao, deng gui shou lin, yi wan wu er jun zhi,
Zu jian shi yu yi shu; duo ci chong zhi ji zhong,
Jing tuo tu yu chu nu. Wu zai qi wei zhi ye.”
Zuo er jia mei, si nian qi gu. Ruo you gao yu zhe yue:
“Ru wei duo xue er shi zhi, wang dao er wei jian ye.
Bu yi yu ru, er er yu wu gu yi shu zhi nie er
Wei zhi bian ye. Ren neng sui qian jin zhi bi,
Bu neng wu shi sheng yu po fu; neng bo meng hu
Bu neng wu bian se yu feng chai: ci bu yi zhi huan ye.
Yan chu yu ru, er wang zhi ye?”
Yu fu er xiao yang er jue. Shi tong zi zhi xiao, ji yu zhi zuo.
Sly and Crafty Mouse
Mr. Su sitting in evening meditation
Has a mouse starting to gnaw
Tapping the bed, sounds stop
Soon thereafter sounds start up again.
Send the child servant to get a candle
Have an empty basket with more noises from this place.
He says: “Ah! This mouse seems to be trapped and has no way out.”
Look inside the basket, nothing is there
Hold up a candle to look
In the middle is a dead mouse.
Alarmed, the child exclaims: “First hear this gnawing, now he suddenly died?
What made this sound, a ghost?”
Overturn the basket, falling to the ground it then scurries away
Although we are quick, neither one of us can catch him.
Mr. Su sighs and says: “Extraordinary!”
Praise this mouse for his cunning also.
Closed the basket which is so strong he could not make a hole.
But for a while he gnawed and gnawed
Because of these sounds, people are attracted;
Pretending to die, he took advantage of this opportunity to escape.
I hear tell that of all the living things, people are the smartest
They can harness dragons and crocodiles
Climb on turtles to forecast, then hunt for unicorns
Catch the ten thousand animals to have our dominion
Now see this one mouse smarter than us
To follow this little one might be a good plan
Startled to see he changed from a quiet and shy girl to a fast rabbit.
To disappear quickly shows much wisdom.
Sit again in meditation, then nod off
Still secretly thinking about what just happened.
Seem to have someone say to me:
“You only know things that you study
You have yet to see the path to the Dao.
You cannot unify the One, still dwell within the opposites
This mouse and his gnawing broke your concentration.
People can fragment their gold into a thousand pieces without alarm
Yet startle at the sounds of breaking a cooking pot;
You are able to vigorously fight a tiger
But cannot change the forms of wasps and scorpions:
These are not worth the trouble or anxiety
You have expressed these thoughts and words before
Have you forgotten this?”
Awake up to admire, bow my head with appreciation and laugh
Send my servant to get my writing brush so I can compose this story.