The deer feared the leopard¹ cat, the leopard cat feared the tiger, and the tiger the brown bear.

 

The brown bear resembled the fox but was bigger in size. It had long fur on its head, and could stand up like man. It had great strength and would devour² man.

 

In the south of the State of Chu, there was a hunter good at ventriloquy. With a bamboo pipe he could imitate the cries of various kinds of wild animals.

 

Once, carrying his bow, arrows and firearms, he quietly went hunting in the mountain.

 

Up on the mountain, he first imitated the cries of the deer to lure³ the horde⁴ of deer to come over, so that he could shoot at them with the firearms. The leopard cat heard the cries of the deer and came running to devour the deer. The hunter was afraid of the leopard cat, so he hurriedly imitated the roar of the tiger to scare away the leopard cat. Hardly had the leopard cat been scared away when the tiger heard the roar and came. At this moment, the hunter was even more frightened, so he imitated the cries of the brown bear. As a result, the tiger was scared away like the leopard cat.

 

Then, when the brown bear heard the cries, it came to look for its companions. Seeing that it was a man, the brown bear at once struck him with its front paws, and tore him up with its teeth. In a short while, the hunter was torn to pieces and devoured⁵ by the brown bear.

 

鹿害怕驱，驱害怕老虎，老虎害怕黑。

 

黑像狐狸，但是体形比较大。它头上披着长毛，能够像人一样站立起来，力气很大，要吃人。

 

楚国南方有一个猎人口技很好。他会用竹管来模仿各种野兽的叫声。

 

有一次，他拿着弓箭和火器悄悄上山打猎。

 

上山以后，他先学鹿的叫声，想引诱鹿群过来，再用火器射猎。驱一听是鹿叫，就快步跑来想吃鹿。猎人害怕，急忙又学虎啸来吓走它。驱刚刚被虎啸吓跑，可是老虎却闻声赶到了。这时候，猎人更加害怕，于是就学黑叫。结果，老虎也像驱一样逃跑了。

 

后来，黑听见叫声，就来寻找同伴。刚走到前面，它一看是一个人，就立刻用前爪打他，用牙齿撕他，不一会儿，把猎人撕成碎块吃掉了。

点击收听单词发音