89. THE BEE'S KISS

　　Lu Xiaozheng was a minor official in northwestern China during the first half of the seventh century, at the beginning of the Tang dynasty, one of the great periods of Chinese history.

　　Unfortunately, Lu was a tightwad. He couldn't get along with others. He was mean and even cruel. If his servants did anything he didn't like, he would bawl them out and beat them. If he was like that to people, just think how he treated animals!

　　One day he noticed that the tree growing in his yard had a beehive in it. He was so stingy he didn't even want bees taking advantage of his tree. He told his servant to get rid of the hive, but the bees were buzzing busily around the hive, and the servant was afraid of getting stung.

　　That made Lu angry. He told his servant to boil up a bucket of water and pour it over the beehive. Hundreds of innocent bees were scalded to death.

　　That May was hot. Lu was taking a nap in the living room. He was sound asleep. Suddenly he leapt off the couch with a screech and rubbed his mouth. Something really hurt!

　　It turned out that a huge bee had gotten into the living room and stung Lu right on the mouth! His mouth swelled up. The pain was unbearable. He groaned and bellowed.

　　The servants came to see what was the matter. They got a doctor who put ointment on Lu's mouth, but it didn't work. The swelling got worse and worse and wouldn't go down. Lu couldn't even open his mouth to eat, much less to chew!

　　When the doctor saw that, he shook his head and said, "The poison may have gone into his heart."

　　The pain didn't go away. Lu got hungrier and hungrier, and weaker and weaker. He thought back and remembered the beehive he had wiped out. Maybe this was the result of his cruelty. Maybe. But by the time he thought about that, it was too late to do anything for him.

89.蜂吻
　　
　　在公元七世纪上半叶，也就是中国最伟大的朝代之一——唐朝初期时候，在中国西北部有个叫陆小正的小官吏。

　　陆是一个吝啬鬼。他卑劣而且残忍，和谁都没法相处。如果他的仆人做了他不喜欢的事，他就把他们叫出来狠狠地打。如果他对人都这样，想想他会怎么对待动物吧！

　　有一天，他注意到自己院子里的树上有一个蜂窝。他吝啬到不希望蜜蜂上自己的树上做窝。他命令仆人把蜂窝处理掉，但是蜜蜂在蜂窝边来回嗡嗡叫，仆人们都害怕被蛰。

　　陆很生气。他叫仆人们烧一桶水，把水倒在蜂窝上。几百只无辜的蜜蜂就这么被烫死了。

　　这年五月特别热。陆就在客厅里打盹。他睡得很沉。忽然他从睡椅上尖叫着跳起来，揉着嘴。觉得非常疼！

　　原来是一只大蜜蜂飞进了客厅，叮在陆的嘴上！他的嘴肿了起来，疼得难以忍受。他咆哮哀叫着。

　　仆人们都跑过来看看是怎么回事。他们请来医生。医生把药膏擦在陆的嘴上，但是无济于事。他的嘴越来越肿，一点也没有消退。陆甚至没法张嘴吃东西，更不用说咀嚼了。

　　医生看到后，摇着头说，“毒已攻心。”

　　肿一点也没消退 。陆越来越饿，越来越虚弱。他回想往事，想起了自己灭掉的那个蜂窝。也许这就是他残忍的报应。也许。但是当他这么想的时候，一切都太晚了。