A frog making his
home on the uneven bottom of a shallow well … once told
a big turtle from the East Sea: “ Oh, how happy I am! If I come up and out, I
am free to gambol on the curb, and if I want to have a rest, I can retire into
a hole down there in the broken wall. When I plunge into the water, it is deep
enough to reach my armpits and support my chin; when I step into the mud, it is
thick enough to hold my feet and cover up my insteps. Look at the wigglers, crabs
and tadpoles; they can’t be compared with me. Besides, I have all the water of
the well for myself, and great is my pleasure in frolicking here. Why don’t you
come down to have a look, once in a while?”
Intrigued, the
turtle of the East
Sea began climbing down,
but before his left foreleg could enter, his right one was caught on the curb.
He hesitated and then retreated, but he told the frog about the sea, saying:”
The sea is so vast that to talk of a thousand li does not describe its breadth;
it is so deep that to talk of a thousand fathoms does not describe its depth.
In the day of Yu, there was a flood nine out of ten years, but the sea never
had more than it could contain. In the days of Tang , there was a drought seven
years out of every eight, but the seashore remained as it was, without any
loss. So no length of time brings it any changes and no amount of water, either
more of less, affects its vastness. Here lies the great joy of living in the East Sea.”
The turtle’s
speech so astonished the frog in the well that it immediately realized its own
smallness and was at a complete loss.
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