周处除害

In the Jin Dynasty, there lived a man named Zhou Chu in Yixing. Tough and fierce and fond of fighting in his youth, Zhou Chu was a big scourge¹ in the county.

 

At the time, there was a ferocious² dragon in the river and a fierce tiger in the mountain in Yixing, which often injured and devoured³ people. Therefore, the people classed them together with Zhou Chu as "the three evils". Among them, Zhou Chu did the most harm.

 

Later, someone instigated⁴ Zhou Chu to go to the mountain to kill the fierce tiger, and to the river to behead the ferocious dragon, in the hope of getting rid of two evils, leaving only one.

 

Zhou Chu went to the mountain alone, and sure enough, he killed the tiger. Then he jumped into the river and fought with the dragon. The evil dragon turned up and down, and went down for tens of li with Zhou Chu chasing closely after it. After three days and nights, the people all thought that Zhou Chu had died. They were jubilant and congratulated one another. To their surprise, Zhou Chu had actually killed the dragon, went out of the water and returned.

 

Upon hearing that his county folk celebrated⁵ his death, Zhou Chu came to realize that he was considered one of the evils of Yixing. He thus made his decision to mend his ways. Thereupon, he went to Wu prefecture to seek the advice of the two noted⁶ brothers, Lu Ji and Lu Yun.

 

When Zhou Chu came to the Lu's home, Lu Ji was out and he met Lu Yun. He told Lu Yun the truth and expressed his wish to correct his faults and make a fresh start, but he was afraid that he was too old to accomplish anything. Lu Yun encouraged him by saying: "The ancients would be gratified even if they came to thoroughly⁷ understand the truth in the early morning but died at night, let alone you with a promising⁸ future. Besides, so far as a man is concerned, the fearful thing is to have no aspiration⁹. Why worry that you will achieve neither merit nor fame?"

 

Since then, Zhou Chu quickly and completely corrected his faults and made efforts for progress. The tale of "Zhou Chu Getting Rid of the Evils" has been handed down to this very day.

 

晋朝时，义兴地方有个人，名叫周处。少年时候，他强悍好斗是乡里的一大祸患。

 

当时，义兴河里有一条凶恶的蛟龙，山上有一头猛虎，经常残害百姓。因此，人们把它们和周处并称为“三害”。其中，周处为害最大。

 

后来，有人鼓动周处进山杀猛虎，人河斩蛟龙，希望能除去两害，只留一害。

 

周处只身进山，果然杀掉了猛虎，接着又跃人河中与蛟龙搏斗。恶蛟上下翻腾，直下几十里，周处紧追不舍。过了三天三夜，百姓们都以为周处死了，喜出望外，互相庆贺。不料他竟然杀死了蛟龙，出水而归。

 

周处听说乡邻们为他死去而庆贺，这才知道自己也被人当做义兴一害，萌发了悔改的决心。于是，他前往吴郡，求教名士陆机、陆两兄弟。

 

周处到了陆家，正值陆机外出，见到了陆云。他如实相告，表示要改过自新，又怕年纪已大，终究一事无成。陆云勉励他说：“古人清晨通晓事理，即使夜晚死去都感到欣慰，何况你的前程远大。而且，对于一个人来说，可怕的是胸无大志，又何必担心功不成名不就呢?”

 

从此，周处蟠然改过，努力上进。“周处除害”的佳话，也就一直流传至今。

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