不死之药

There was, a man who came to the palace of the State of Chu and gave the guard a kind of medicine for immortality² to be presented to the king.

 

As the guard held the medicine in both hands and walked towards the inner palace, he met an archer³ of the bodyguard⁴. The archer asked him: "Is what you hold in hands edible⁵?"

 

The guard answered: "Of course, it is."

 

Upon hearing this, the archer snatched the medicine, stuffed it into his mouth and swallowed it.

 

The King of Chu was very angry. He ordered to have the archer beheaded. The archer said:

 

"It is not my fault but the fault of the guard, because he told me 'It is edible.' "

 

Then he continued: "This is a medicine for immortal¹ life. Now I have taken it, but I am going to be killed by Your Majesty⁶. Then, the so-called medicine for immortal life will become `a medicine hastening death', won't it? The man who presented this medicine was trying to deceive Your Majesty."

 

Finally he said: "If today Your Majesty should kill me, an innocent man, then people would say: `The King would rather be deceived than believe his own bodyguard.'"

 

While the King of Chu heard this, he felt that there was something in what the archer said, so he let him go.

 

有一个人来到楚国王宫，把一种长生不死的药交给守卫官，请他敬献给国王。

 

守卫官捧着药朝内宫走去，迎面碰上卫队的一个弓箭手。弓箭手问他：“你手里捧的东西，人可以吃吗？”

 

守卫官回答：“人可以吃。”

 

弓箭手听了，一把夺过药，塞到嘴里就吞了下去。

 

楚王非常生气，下令将这个弓箭手斩首。弓箭手说：“这不是我的过错，而是守卫官的过错，因为他回答我‘人可以吃。’”

 

又说：“这是不死之药，现在我吃了，反而要被大王处死；那么，这不死之药，不就成了‘催死之药’了吗?这是献药的人在欺骗大王呀！”

 

最后说：“今天，如果大王杀了我这个无罪的人，那么众人就会说:‘大王宁愿被人欺骗，也不愿意相信自己的卫士。’”

 

楚王听了，觉得这些话有点道理，就把弓箭手放了。

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