A woman baked chapatti for members of her family and an extra one for a hungry passerby. She kept the extra chapatti on the window sill. Every day, a hunchback came and took away the chapatti. Instead of expressing gratitude, he muttered the following words as he went his way: “The evil you do remains with you: The good you do, comes back to you!”
一個女人給家人烤薄餅,還留出一個給饑腸轆轆的路人。她總是把留出的那個放在窗臺上,每天都有一個駝背的人來拿走薄餅。他沒說過一句“謝謝”,反而總是邊走邊咕噥著:“善有善報,惡有惡報!”
The woman felt irritated. “Not a word of gratitude,” she said to herself… “Everyday this hunchback utters this jingle! What does he mean?” One day, she decided to do away with him. She added poison to the chapatti she prepared for him!
女人很生氣,她自言自語地說:“這個駝背人從沒說過謝謝,卻每天都重復(fù)這句話,是什么意思呀?”一天,她決定弄死他,就在為他準(zhǔn)備的薄餅上下了毒。
As she was about to keep it on the window sill, her hands trembled. “What is this I am doing?” she said. Immediately, she threw the chapatti into the fire, prepared another one. As usual, the hunchback came, picked up the chapatti and muttered the words: “The evil you do, remains with you: The good you do, comes back to you!”
她正要把餅放在窗臺上,手就開始顫抖了,她說:“我在做什么?”她馬上把餅扔進(jìn)了火里,重新做了一張。一切照舊,駝背人來了,拿起薄餅,咕噥著:“善有善報,惡有惡報!”
Every day, as the woman placed the chapatti on the window sill, she offered a prayer for her son who had gone to a distant place to seek his fortune.
每天女人把餅放窗臺上時都為去遠(yuǎn)方賺錢的兒子祈禱。
That evening, there was a knock on the door. As she opened it, she was surprised to find her son standing in the doorway. He was hungry and weak. As he saw his mother, he said, “Mom, it’s a miracle I’m here. While I was but a mile away, I was so famished that I collapsed. I would have died, but just then an old hunchback passed by. He was kind enough to give me a whole chapatti. He said, “Your need is greater than mine!”
那天晚上,有人敲門,她打開門驚訝地發(fā)現(xiàn)兒子站在門口,他很餓很虛弱。一看見媽媽他就說:“媽媽,我能回來真是奇跡。離家還有一英里遠(yuǎn)的時候,我太餓了走不動了。我差點兒就死了,但就在那時一個老駝背人路過,他很善良給了我一整張餅。他說:‘你比我更需要它’。”
She remembered the poisoned chapatti that she had made that morning. Had she not burnt it in the fire, it would have been eaten by her own son!
她想起了那天早上做的有毒的餅,要不是她把餅燒了,就會被她兒子吃了!
It was then that she realized the significance of the words: “The evil you do remains with you: The good you do, comes back to you!” Do good and don’t ever stop doing good, even if it is not appreciated at that time.
那時她才意識到這句話的重要性:“善有善報,惡有惡報!”多行善舉,即使當(dāng)時不被人感激也要堅持下去。