剜股藏珠

There was a treasure mountain on the sea, where there were many, many rare treasures shining with brilliant light and dazzling the eyes.

 

A seaman¹ got a pearl of 1 can (1/30 metre) in diameter, which glistened² brightly. He took a ship to take it home.

 

But before the ship had sailed for 100 li, all of a sudden black clouds rolled all over the sky, and a strong wind blew to unleash³ huge waves. The ship was tossed about violently. A flood dragon was seen emerging from the stormy sea and looking very terrifying.

 

The crew advised the seaman: "It seems that the flood dragon wants to have your pearl. Please throw it into the sea at once; otherwise you will get us into trouble."

 

At the moment, the seaman was in a dilemma⁴. He couldn't bear to part with the pearl; on the other hand, he was afraid of the imminent⁵ disaster. His head was covered with perspiration⁶ from anxiety. After a while, with his teeth clenched⁷ to endure the pain, he gouged⁸ out a piece of flesh from his thigh⁹ to conceal¹⁰ the pearl there. The storm on the sea subsided¹¹ at once.

 

As soon as the seaman got home, he took out the dazzling pearl immediately. But not long afterwards he died of the festering wound in his thigh.

 

海上，有一座宝山。宝山上，有许许多多奇珍异宝，光芒四射，非常耀眼。

 

一个海员得到一颗直径一寸的明珠，金灿灿的，便乘船把它运回家。

 

可是，航行不到百里，突然间，满天乌云滚滚，刮起了大风，掀起了巨浪，船身颠簸得很厉害。人们只见一条蛟龙，在惊涛骇浪中出没，样子非常可怕。

 

船工劝告海员说：“看样子，这条蛟龙想要得到您的这颗明珠啊!请您赶快把它抛到海里去吧，否则就会连累了我们。”

 

这时候，海员左右为难：丢掉吧，实在舍不得；不丢吧，又怕大难临头，急得满头大汗。过了一会儿，他咬紧牙关，忍着痛，剜开大腿上的一块肉，把明珠藏了进去。海上的风浪立即小了。

 

这个海员回到家里后，连忙取出了耀眼的明珠。但是不久，他因大腿的伤口溃烂而死了。