58.治好丫環的烏龜 The Turtle Who Healed The Maid
- THE TURTLE WHO HEALED THE MAID
“Don’t forget to scrub that turtle thoroughly before you cook it,” the Chengs said on their way out to do some errands. “It’s so big you’ll have to be careful how you cook it. Be sure to do a good job.”
“Sure, I know,” their maid said. When they had left, she went to the kitchen and looked at the turtle, figuring out where to start. But when she saw the turtle sitting there on the floor, she felt sorry for it. “Poor turtle. Wouldn’t you rather be swimming in the river than swimming in gravy?”
Why did the maid feel sorry for this particular turtle? She had cooked plenty of turtles for the Chengs, because they loved to eat turtle. Well, who knows, she felt sorry for it, that’s all, so she picked it up and headed for the door to let it go.
“No, that won’t do, what’ll the Chengs do when they come back expecting a turtle feast and I tell them, sorry, I let it go? But even if they whip me, that won’t hurt me as much as cooking this turtle would hurt it.” So the maid made up her mind and let the turtle go.
Sure enough, when the Chengs came back ready for a feast and found the table bare, they bawled out the maid and beat her and whipped her. But she got over it, and everybody more or less forgot about it.
Later, there was an epidemic. The maid got terribly sick. The Chengs had the doctor in to look at her, and the doctor told them they might as well get her coffin ready, because she was a goner. That night, the maid sensed something crawling out of the pond, something slimy, wet, and muddy. It was coming closer to her. Closer and closer it came. It came into her room, and crept up to her bed. Then it crawled onto her bed, but for some reason, the maid wasn’t frightened.
Then that wet, muddy thing climbed up on top of her, and she felt cool allover. She hadn’t felt so comfortable for days.
The next morning, Mrs. Cheng came in with a tape measure to see what size coffin to buy, and found her maid sitting up. She was all muddy, but she looked much better. “You’re up?” Mrs. Cheng asked.
“Yes, Ma’am, it’s very strange, but I feel a lot better today.”
“why are you all muddy?”
The maid told her about what happened during the night. Mrs. Cheng really got worried then, because she thought her maid was delirious. She decided to keep watch that night.
At midnight, the Chengs saw that big turtle the maid had let go crawl back into the room and smear mud all over the maid. They couldn’t believe their eyes, but within days, their maid was up and around again, one of the only persons to recover from the epidemic.
From then on, the Chengs never ate another turtle.
58.治好丫環的烏龜
「別忘了在煮之前把烏龜擦乾淨，」程家的人出門辦事前說，「這龜很大，煮的時候小心點。好好做。」
「是，知道了。」丫環說。他們離開後，丫環去廚房看那只龜，思量該怎麼開始。但是當她看到地板上那只龜時，很同情它。「可憐的烏龜，你一定更願意在河里游泳而不是在肉湯里游泳吧？」
為什麼丫環會例外地同情這只龜呢？她為程家煮過很多次烏龜，因為他們很喜歡吃烏龜。誰知道呢，她就是同情這只烏龜。所以她把它提起來，走到門外把它放了。
「不，不行。當他們回來要吃龜肉時，而我說，對不起，我放了它了，他們會怎麼樣呢？但就算他們用鞭子抽我，我受的罪也不會比把烏龜被煮受的罪大吧。」所以丫環下了決心，要放走烏龜。
當然，當程家的人回來準備吃龜時，發現桌子是空的。他們責罵丫環，還鞭打她。但是她最後熬過去了，大家差不多都忘了這回事。
不久，出現了一場流行病。丫環病得很重。程家請了醫生來看她，但是醫生對他們說還是早點準備棺材吧，她快要死了。
那天，丫環感覺到有什麼東西從池塘里爬出來，那東西黏乎乎、濕漉漉的，還沾著泥巴。它向她爬得越來越近了。越來越近。它進了她的房間，爬上她的床。奇怪的是，丫環一點也不怕。
然後那個濕濕的、沾著泥的東西爬到她身上，她馬上覺得全身涼快。她已經很久沒有這麼舒服了。
第二天早上，程夫人拿了一根帶子進來想要量量看需要買多大的棺材，卻發現她的丫環坐起來了。她渾身都是泥，但是她看上去好多了。「你起來了？」程夫人問。
「是，夫人，很奇怪，但是我今天覺得好多了。」
「你怎麼全身都是泥？」
丫環把昨晚的事情告訴她。程夫人覺得有點擔心，她想她的丫環肯定是神志不清。她決定晚上要仔細觀察。
午夜的時候，程家人看到被丫環放走的那只大烏龜爬到房間里，把泥涂到丫環身上。他們簡直不敢相信自己的眼睛，但是沒幾天，他們的丫環又活潑潑的了，她是那個流行病中唯一康復的人。
從那以後，程家再也不吃烏龜了。