Once Zhuang Zhou went to Marquis Jianhehou to borrow provisions（食品，规定）.

 

Marquis Jianhehou said, "Yes, but you have to wait until the end of the year when the taxes have been collected. I will lend you three hundred jins of gold."

 

Zhuang Zhou replied angrily, "Yesterday a crucian（鲫鱼） in a tract¹ of a wheel begged me to give it a liter² of water to save its life. I promised that I would go to south to persuade the King of state Wu and the King of state Yue into leading the water of Xijiang River there and save its life. The crucian said to me  angrily, 'I will die if I leave water. Now I only need a liter of water to save my life. But you will go to a place a thousand miles away. When you come back, you just go to the store that sells dried up fish to find me!'"

 

庄周去向监河侯借粮。

 

监河侯说：“可以，但要等年终税收上来后，那是我可以借给你三百斤黄金！”

 

庄周生气地回答：“昨天，车辙里有条鲫鱼求我给它弄一升半的水活命，我答应说我到南方去说服吴王、越王把西江水引来营救它。鲫鱼板着脸气愤地说：‘我离开了相依为命的水就会死亡。我只要得到一升半的水就可以活命，而你却要去千里之外，等你回来时，到干鱼铺子里找我好了。’”

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