Chapter 92 91. Bean and Beef

A woman is cooking beans.A poor woman passed by and asked her for a bowl of beans. "If I gave you the beans, what would I eat?" said the woman who was cooking the beans.The poor woman therefore called out to her, "Let all the beans in your pot turn into children!" and left. The fire went out, and a hundred children jumped out of the pot like beans, each one as small as a pea, and began to cry, "Mother I'm hungry! Mother I'm thirsty! Mother hold me!" And then the beans were scattered into drawers, stoves and pots.The woman who cooked the beans was startled, and hurriedly squeezed them with a mortar and pestle, as if she was making bean paste.When she was sure she had crushed the beans, she began to prepare meals for her husband.But remembering what she had just done, she burst into tears and said, "Well, if only I had kept one, then he could help me now, and he could also send rice to his father to the workshop."

Then she heard a small voice saying, "Mother, don't cry, there is me." It was one of the youngest children, who survived by falling behind the handle of the kettle. The woman was very happy, and she said, "Oh dear, come out, what's your name?" "My name is Xiaodouzi." The boy slipped off the kettle and stood on the table. "That's great, Little Douzi!" said the woman, "Now, you have to go to the workshop to bring food to your father." She prepared the food basket and put it on Little Douzi's head. Little Bean was on the road, but people could only see the basket, as if the basket was walking alone.He asked several people the way, and they were astonished, for they all thought the basket was talking.Just like this, the child came to the door of the workshop and shouted loudly: "Dad, Dad, come quickly! I'll bring you food!"

His father thought to himself, "Who is calling me? I never had a son!" He went out of the shop, saw a basket, and heard a voice under the basket saying, "Daddy, you pick up the basket and You can see me now. I am your son, Xiaodouzi, who was born this morning." Father lifted the basket and saw little beans. "That's great, little Bean!" said the father, who was a blacksmith. "Now come with me, and I'll go round the farmers' houses and see if there's anything that's worn out that needs to be repaired." Just like that, my father put the little bean in his pocket, and the two of them went out together.On the way, the two of them just chatted, and the others thought he was crazy when they saw this man talking to himself.

The blacksmith went from house to house and asked, "Is there anything to fix?" "Yes, we have something to fix," they replied, "but not to you, because you are mad." "Crazy? I'm more sensible than you! What are you talking about?" "We mean you talk to yourself all the time on the road." "Why talking to yourself? I'm talking to my son." "Then where is your son?" "in the pocket." "Look what we said, you're crazy." "Okay, I'll let you meet him." He pulled the little bean out of his pocket and let him ride on one of his fingers.

"Oh, what a handsome boy! Let him work with us, we will let him herd the cows." "Would you like to go, little bean?" "willing." "Then I'll leave you here and pick you up tonight." Xiaodouzi is sitting on the horns of a cow, which seems to be alone in the field.Two thieves passed by and saw that the cow was unguarded, so they wanted to steal it away. Xiaodouzi shouted: "Master, come quickly, master!" The farmer came running, and the thieves asked him, "Good-hearted man, where does this sound come from?" "Ah," said the master, "it's Little Bean. Don't you see? There he is, on one of the horns of the ox."

The two thieves looked at the little bean and said to the farmer, "If you lend him to us for a few days, we will make you rich." The farmer then let the little bean go with the thieves. The thieves put the beans in their pockets and came to the king's stable to steal the horse.The stable door was closed, but Bean slipped through the keyhole, opened the door, and unhooked the horses, and then, hiding in the horse's ears, ran out with the horses.The two thieves who were waiting for him got on their horses and ran all the way home. When they got home, they said to Little Douzi, "Listen, we are very tired and going to bed. Get some feed for the horses."

Xiaodouzi put a collar on the horse, but because of sleepiness, he fell asleep in a collar.The horses didn't notice him and ate him along with the hay. The thief did not see him back, so he searched everywhere in the stable. "Little Douzi, where are you?" "Here I am," said a small voice, "in the belly of a horse." "Which one?" "This horse." The thieves killed the horse but did not find him. "Not this one, which one are you in?" "This one!" The two thieves killed another horse. They slaughtered the horses one by one, but they didn't find Xiaodouzi until the last horse was killed.They were tired and said, "Unfortunately, we lost him. He got away so easily! And we killed all the horses." They carried the horse's carcass on a meadow, and went back to sleep .

A hungry wolf passed by, saw the pile of dead horses, and ate a feast.The little bean was still in the belly of a horse, and was swallowed by the wolf.In this way, he came into the wolf's stomach again. Soon, the wolf was hungry again. It approached a sheep tied in the field, and the little bean yelled loudly in its stomach: "There are wolves! There are wolves!" until the owner of the sheep rushed over. , Drive the wolf away. The wolf thought: "How can I make these noises? I must be full of gas!" So it started to fart hard. "Well, there's nothing in there now," thought he, "I'm going to eat the head sheep."

However, as soon as it approached the sheepfold, the little bean yelled in its stomach again: "There are wolves! There are wolves!" until the owner of the sheep woke up. The wolf became sad because of this: "This gas is still in my stomach and makes me make these noises." So it started to fart as hard as possible.One sound, two sounds, and when the third sound came, Xiaodouzi also jumped out and hid in the bushes.The wolf felt relieved, and walked towards the sheepfold again. Three thieves pass by and sit down to count the stolen money.One of them counted: "One, two, three, four, five..." Xiaodouzi, who was hiding in the bushes, followed him: "One, two, three, four, five..."

The thief said to his two companions, "Shut up and leave me alone. I'll kill whoever speaks a word." Then he started counting again: "One, two, three, four, five..." Xiaodouzi also said: "One, two, three, four, five..." "Ah, you don't want to shut up?" said the thief to one of his buddies, "I'll kill you now!" So he killed him, and said to the other: "If you want to be like him, you know what to do?" Then he counted: "One, two, three, four, five..." Xiaodouzi repeated: "One, two, three, four, five..."

"I didn't say that," said the other burglar, "I swear, it wasn't me..." "Do you think you can deceive me? I'll kill you!" So he killed him again. "Now I'm all alone," said the thief to himself, "and I can count the money in peace and keep it all for myself. One, two, three, four, five..." Xiaodouzi still followed him and said, "One, two, three, four, five..." The thief was so frightened that his hair stood on end: "Someone is hiding here, I'd better run away." He ran away and left the money there. Xiaodouzi put the money bag on his head and went home, knocking on the door.His mother opened the door and saw only a money bag. "It's Bean!" she said.She picked up the purse, saw her son below, and hugged him. (Florence area)