井中捞月

A long time ago, there was a Bo Luo Nai City in the State of Jia Shi. Outside the city was a large forest, where 500 macaques lived.

One night the 500 macaques wandered around and came to a ni ju lu (bodhi) tree. Under the tree was a deep ancient well. The water in the well was very clean and reflected the full moon in the sky.

The leading macaque bent over the well and watched carefully for a while. Then it jumped onto the edge of the well and said to the others: "Alas! Today the moon has died and fallen into this well. Let us scoop it up together; otherwise the nights will be dark forever."

All the macaques tweaked their ears and scratched their cheeks, saying:"The well is so deep. How can we scoop up the moon?"

The leading macaque had a sudden brainwave and said: "I have it! I will climb up the tree and grasp a branch, then another one grasps my tail. In this way, one following another in succession, can't we hang down into the well?"

When the other macaques heard this, they jumped with joy. So they linked their heads and tails together, extending longer and longer until they almost touched the surface of the well water. At this moment, the branch broke with a big crack and all 500 macaques fell into the ancient well.

很久以前，在伽尸国有一座波罗奈城。城外有一片大森林，森林里生活着五百只称猴。

有一天晚上，五百只称猴到处游逛，来到了一棵尼俱律树畔。树下，有一口很深的古井，井水清悠悠的，映出了天上的一轮圆月。

领头的称猴俯在井边仔细看了一阵，然后跳到井台上对大家说：“不好了，今天月亮死了，就落在这口井中。让我们一起把它捞出来，不然的话，夜晚就永远黑暗了。”

众猴听了，个个抓耳挠腮，说:“井这么深，怎样才能把月亮捞起来呢？”

领头的称猴灵机一动，说:“办法有了!我爬上树，抓住树枝，然后另一个抓住我的尾巴，这样一个一个接下去，不就可以垂到井里去了吗？”

大家一听，都高兴得欢蹦乱跳。于是，猴们头尾相连，越接越长，眼看就要碰到水面了。这时候，只听见咔嚓一声巨响，树枝断了，五百只称猴统统掉进了古井。