English Original
A fisherman named Bei Gongzhi obtained a rare and precious luminous pearl. All his acquaintances came to congratulate him.
The minister of the State of Song promised to take him to see the king, assuring him that wealth and rank would soon follow.
At this time, his father had just returned home. Upon hearing the news, his father, whose family had lived a simple life by fishing for generations, said with tears, "It is easy to become rich and noble by presenting the pearl to the king. But after gaining wealth and rank, it is easy to become haughty. Haughtiness leads to atrocity, atrocity leads to reckless acts, and that brings one perilously close to danger. A fatal disaster will then be imminent. At that point, it would be impossible to return to the simple, peaceful life we have today." After saying this, he smashed the luminous pearl.
中文翻译
渔民北宫殖得到一颗稀世之珍的夜明珠。他所有的熟人都来祝贺他。
宋国的大夫答应带他去觐见宋国国君，并向他保证富贵不日即至。
此时，他的父亲刚回到家中。听到这个消息后，他的父亲——其家族世代以捕鱼为生，过着清贫的生活——流着泪说：“把宝珠献给国君，富贵起来很容易。但富贵之后，人容易变得骄傲。骄傲必定导致凶暴，凶暴成性就会胡作非为，而这离危险就非常近了，随之而来的则是大祸临头。到了那个时候，再想回到我们今天这种清贫而安宁的生活是绝对不可能的。”说完这些话，他便把夜明珠砸碎了。