A CLOSE CALL

　　招魂

　　"This is bizarre，" Yin Anyan asked his family， "Who on earth killed my donkey？"

　　"太怪了，"殷安嚴(yán)問他的家人，"究竟是誰殺了我的驢？"

　　"What？"

　　"什么？"

　　"Yeah， somebody killed my donkey and left the skin in the yard." They went out to look.

　　"是的，有人殺了我的驢，還把驢皮留在院子里。"他們都出去查看。

　　"Looks like somebody ate the meat and left the hide." They were all pretty angry. It had been a nice donkey.

　　"看上去好像是有人吃了驢肉，把驢皮留下了。"他們都很生氣，那是一頭很好的驢。

　　A year or two after this strange event， somebody accosted Yin on the street and said， "Your time is up. The soul-catchers will collect you tomorrow." And then the person disappeared in thin air.

　　這件事發(fā)生一兩年后，路上忽然有個(gè)人對(duì)殷搭話說，"你時(shí)間到了。鬼使明天就來逮你了。"說完那個(gè)人就不見了。

　　Yin was covered with goose bumps. He went straight to Cumen Temple，where he knew some of the monks， and sat down in the chapel. He didn't go home that night， but spent his time kowtowing， telling the Buddha Amitabha's name， and reciting sutras.

　　殷全嚇得全身起了雞皮疙瘩，徑直走到楚門寺，因?yàn)樗J(rèn)識(shí)那里的一些和尚。他在大殿里坐下來。那天晚上他沒回家，而是不停地叩頭、念佛、誦經(jīng)。

　　Sure enough， the next morning he saw a dozen demons coming with spears and halberds and swords to fetch him. They stood outside the temple and roared， "Get out here as quick as you can！" Yin ignored them， and kept reciting his sutra.

　　果然，第二天早上他看見許多帶著槍、戟、劍的鬼怪來抓他。他們站在寺門外，大聲嚷著，"快出來！"殷對(duì)他們視而不見，繼續(xù)念經(jīng)。

　　"I told you we should have got him yesterday. Now he's in there reciting a sutra and there's not a thing we can do." Yin's hair stood on end when he heard that. He buried his nose in the sutra. The demons went into a huddle. Then they left to fetch other souls， but they stationed one demon at the door to catch Yin if he stepped outside.

　　我告訴你們我們昨天就應(yīng)該把他抓走。現(xiàn)在他在里面念經(jīng)，我們一點(diǎn)辦法都沒有。"殷聽到后寒毛倒立，只顧埋頭讀經(jīng)，鬼怪們商量 了一會(huì)，決定先去抓別的靈魂。他們?cè)陂T口留下一個(gè)鬼怪，只要殷一出門，就把他抓走。

　　Soon that sentry said， "Look， why don't you come along peacefully without any fuss？ It'll be easier for us all around. We don't have anything against you personally. We're just doing our job.

　　不久，這個(gè)鬼怪說，"你看，你為什么不安安靜靜地出來讓我們把你帶走呢？這對(duì)你我都有好處。我們對(duì)你并無惡意，我們只是在執(zhí)行任務(wù)。"

　　"The problem is that the donkey you murdered has filed a suit against you， so we have to take you in. Sorry， man， but that's the way it has to be."

　　"問題在于，你殺了的那頭驢子告了你一狀，所以我們才來抓你。對(duì)不起了，這是例行公事。"

　　"You can ask my family！" Yin said. "I didn't kill that donkey at all！ Somebody else did， and left the skin in my yard. I'm innocent！"

　　"你可以問我的家人！"殷說，"我沒有殺那頭驢！別人干的，還把驢皮留在院子里。我是無辜的！"

　　"Tell it to the judge."

　　"對(duì)法官說吧。"

　　"Look， let's do it this way. I'll recite sutras and hold ceremonies for the soul of my old donkey， but I can't do that if I'm dead， can I？ Could you go ask the donkey if that's okay？"

　　"這樣吧。我會(huì)為我的老驢誦經(jīng)做超度法事。如果我死了，我就做不成了。請(qǐng)你回去問問那頭驢，這樣行不行？"

　　"All right， I'll go see what I can do. But if the donkey doesn't buy that， we'll be back for you tomorrow， with a warrant， so it won't do you any good to hide in here. If we don't come for you tomorrow， that means it's a deal." The demon disappeared in a puff of smoke.

　　"好吧。我問問行不行。如果那頭驢不買你的帳，我們明天還是會(huì)奉命回來抓你的。你老在這里躲著也沒有什么用的。如果我們明天不回來，說明它同意了。"鬼怪化成一陣煙消失了。

　　The next day Yin was on pins and needles all day， but the demons didn't show up. Yin recited sutras for the dead donkey's soul， and performed ceremonies to release it from its suffering.

　　第二天，殷一整天如坐針氈，但是鬼怪沒有再出現(xiàn)。殷為驢子的靈魂念經(jīng)，還做法事減輕它的痛苦。

　　But even better than that， Yin learned an important lesson. He learned that all living creatures love their lives. From then on， he and his entire family never ate another bite of meat.

　　比這更好的是，殷得到了重要的教訓(xùn)。他明白了所有的生物都愛惜自己的生命。從此，他和全家再也沒吃過肉了。

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