A Translation of Xiaohan's 枯与哭

Dying and Crying Published in Lian He Wan Bao 'Xiao Han Suan' Column There is a fable that goes... There was a tribal clan who lived in a primeval forest with no fruit trees. Without water, without food, without any walls of defence, there were imminent dangers of starvation or invasion. One smart man felt that the people should not live such an ignoble life any longer. He had to think of a way to alleviate the people of the situation. He had to help the people leave the forest in a fastest possible manner, and bring food and water back. And so he studied the geography of the forest, and found that to pave the fastest way out of the forest, he had to lead a group of men, chop down some massive trees, and destroy some people's homes. The people of wrecked homes would definitely protest and resist. But the smart man was busy chopping trees, busy paving the fastest path, and spare no time to negotiate with those people who were once friends. And so he gave warnings, but they refused to cease resistance, the smart man finally had no other resort but to tie them up. He knew then, he had made some enemies, and some innocent people were hurt in the process. He is prepared to shoulder the blames for the rest of his life. Ater the clan had a promising path paved in a shortest possible time, the smart man knew that if trees were not planted in time, people would starve. And so he used the most direct manner - by planting existing young fruit trees, and made use of great amounts of fertilizers to catalyse the growth of the trees. He even made friends with people from other clans, in order to tap on their strenghts and equipment. The man smart also made promise to the people of the clan who were willing to take care of the trees – they had the privilege to attain more fruits, hoping that they would stay loyal and faithful. The other people of the clan were responsible of harvesting the fruits, and using the wood to build a wall of defence, to fend of the invasions of outsiders. The trees grew rapidly, the walls were built, everyone survived, and lived in peace and harmony, and became a recognised and reputable clan. But some people who had too much of fruits to enjoy and too much of free time under the shades of trees started to complain, that they had enough of harvesting fruits and gathering woods, and that there were too many people to share the fruits with. They started to grumble that all the pains and suffering were caused by the smart man. The smart man appeared to be nonchalent because he had already given his best, just what else could he have done? Until the day the man left, bringing along with him a mixture of blames and fame, people finally recalled, that this flourishing forest was nothing but a barren piece of land with few pathetic trees. The fable has come to an end.