The Wise Man Ended the Rumor

杨礼根

Life is often like a game of cards—you can’t help the hand you’re dealt， but you can help the way you play it. It is easy for us to do something without careful thinking， but it’s hard for us to take back what we have done.

人生如一场纸牌游戏，手中的牌无法更改，怎么玩却由自己决定。我们往往会不经认真思考就做出一些事情，但是做出的事将覆水难收。

There was once a woman who repeated a rumor about a neighbour. Within a few days， the whole neighbourhood knew the story. The victim2 it concerned was deeply hurt and annoyed. Later， the woman who was responsible for spreading the rumor learned that it was completely untrue. She was very sorry and went to a wise old man to find out what she could do to make up for the damage.

从前，有个妇人到处说她邻居的谣言。没过几天，整个街坊都知道这件事。受害人饱受伤害和困扰。之后，散布了这个谣言的妇人发现谣言并不属实。她为此感到很抱歉，于是向一位智慧的长者寻求帮助，看看自己还能做些什么来弥补已造成的伤害。

“Go to the marketplace，” he said， “and buy a chicken， and have it killed. Then on your way home， pluck3 its feathers and drop them one by one along the road.” Although surprised by this advice， the woman did what she was told.

他说：“你去集市上买只鸡，把它杀了。回来的路上，你拔下鸡毛，沿路一根一根地撒下来。”妇人对这个建议很是诧异，不过她还是照做了。

The next day， the wise man said， “Now， go and collect all those feathers you dropped yesterday and bring them back to me.”

第二天，智者说：“现在，你去找到你昨天撒下的所有鸡毛，带回来给我。”

The woman followed the same road， but to her disappointment4， the wind had blown all the feathers away. After searching for hours， she returned with only three in her hand. “You see，” said the wise man， “It’s easy to drop them， but it’s impossible to get them back. So it is with rumor. It doesn’t take much to spread a rumor， but once you do， you can never completely make up for the wrong behavior.”

妇人沿着昨天的路，却失望地发现，大风已经把鸡毛都吹跑了。四下寻找了几个小时之后，她的手里只拿着三根鸡毛回来。智者说：“你看吧，把鸡毛撒出去很容易，要收回它们就不大可能了。正如谣言一样，你可以毫不费力就散布一个谣言，但是一旦你这么做了，你可能将永远无法弥补这种错误的行为所造成的伤害。”