鹅池 goose pond

[[ Wang Xizhi 王羲之 ]]非常喜欢鹅，简直喜欢得入了迷。他特地在屋前挖了个水池，养了好几只大白鹅。又写了“鹅池”两个大字，刻在一块石碑上，把碑竖在水池中间。他每天都要到池边观赏大白鹅，看鹅伸长脖子向前游动，红掌划绿水的优美姿态。

Wang Xizhi was totally besotted with geese. He even went as far as to dig a pond in front of his room so he could raise a gaggle of big white geese. He wrote two big characters Goose Pond and had them carved on a stone tablet which stood in the centre of the pond. Every day he would walk down to the banks of the water and gaze at the big white geese, watching them stretch their long necks as they swan forwards, paddling the emerald waters with their red webbed feet.

有一次，王羲之出门去拜访一个朋友，路过一条小河，看见几只鹅在清清的河水里游来游去。他非常高兴，看得都不愿离开了。鹅渐渐游远了，他也就跟着鹅沿着河向前走。走啊走啊，来到了一座寺院前。他看见这几只鹅进寺院里去了，就去敲门了。一会儿院门开了，走出一个道人。道人认出他就是大书法家王羲之，马上把它让进屋里了，和他闲谈起来。

One day, Wang Xizhi was on the way to visit a friend when he passed a stream. He spotted some geese swimming to and fro in the pristine waters. He was thrilled, and couldn’t bring himself to leave. As the geese swam farther and farther into the distance, he followed them along the banks of the stream. It wasn’t long before he arrived at the gates of a temple. He watched the geese swim inside, and went to knock on the gates. The gates swung open and out came a Daoist monk. The monk recognised the famous calligrapher Wang Xizhi and promptly invited him inside, chatting as they went.

道人说： “是什么风把您给吹来了？”

The Daoist monk inquired: “What brings you to this neck of the woods?”

王羲之回答说：“是您的几只鹅把我‘引’来的。你的鹅太可爱了，能卖给我吗？”

Wang Xizhi replied: “Those geese of yours ‘seduced’ me here. They’re so cute, would you consider selling them to me?”

道人说：“哪儿能要您的钱呢？如果您喜欢鹅，我全都送给您。不过，有件事要请您帮忙：您能不能替我炒一篇道德经？”

The monk said: “It wouldn’t feel right to take your money. If you are fond of the geese, consider them a gift from me. Maybe you can do me a small favour in return: could you write me a copy of the Dao Dejing?”

王羲之满口答应，马上提笔抄写起来。写完之后，王羲之谢过道人，就赶着几只鹅，动身到朋友家去。

Wang Xizhi was happy to oblige, grabbed his brush and set about the task immediately. Once he had finished, Wang thanked the monk and started herding the geese towards his friend’s house.

走到半道上，正好碰上了那位朋友。朋友看见他赶着几只鹅：边走，边比比划划，就奇怪地问他：“你这是干什么？怎么像孩子一样赶着鹅到处跑，不怕人笑话？”

On the way there, he bumped into the friend he was visiting. Bemused by the way Wang was herding the geese, flailing his arms wildly back and forth, his bemused friend asked: “What are you doing? You’re acting like a child, chasing a gaggle of geese. Aren’t you worried about what people might say?”

王羲之笑着回答说：“我赶的这些鹅也是我的‘老师’。你看，鹅的脖子是多么灵活，转动自如伸屈有力而自然；体态又是多么优美呀！它教了我不少写字运笔的方法呢！”

Wang Xizhi replied: “These geese that I’m herding are all my ‘teachers’. Look how flexible their necks are: they twist and turn, moving to and fro with such power and ease; see how they hold themselves with such poise and grace! They have taught me a lot about how to move the brush when writing.”

#王羲之 #鹅池 #道人 #道德经 #运笔 #WangXizhi #GeesePond #Geese #Daoist #DaoDeJing

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