The Dog That Could Plow the Land
故事全文
There were once two brothers named Bagu and Bada. They had lived separately since their parents passed away. After the elder brother Bagu got married, he took the entire family fortune, leaving only an ox for Bada. One day, Bagu told his younger brother,“My ox is too old to plow the land, it can’t even drag the plow. So I am going to take your ox home.”Bada said,“If you take my ox, I shall have nothing left.”Bagu replied,“I can give you my dog. He can keep you company.”Then, Bagu dragged the ox away.
Bada said sadly,“How shall I plow the land without my ox?”He looked at his dog and got an idea.“I shall let my dog plow the land! Though he cannot pull the plow as fast as an ox, it is better than nothing.”And so, Bada made a plow for his dog, and prepared a few scraps of meat. He took the dog to the field, and threw a scrap of meat in front of the dog. The dog moved to eat the meat, pulling the plow behind him. Bada kept throwing scraps of meat in front of the dog until the whole land was plowed.
Bada and his dog became very close. After learning that Bada’s dog knew how to plow the land, Bagu came and told Bada,“I heard that the dog I gave you can plow the land. Give him to me. I want my dog back.”Bada said,“No, the dog is mine. I won’t let you take him away.”The brothers started to argue. Eventually, Bagu killed the dog in a fit of rage. Bada buried his dog under a huge tree. A few days later, he noticed something growing out of the grave.“Isn’t this bamboo?” he said.“The dew on the leaves turn to gold upon hitting the ground. How amazing!” Bada’s greedy brother heard about the magic bamboo, and wanted the gold too. So, he and his wife came to the foot of the huge tree early the next morning, and shook the bamboo leaves hard. However, what rained down was not gold, but lumps of stinky mud.
