70. BUTCHER STEW

　　"You have to go, whether you want to or not！" The fierce butcher hauled on the rope with all his might. The old cow on the other end of the rope knew what was going on. It lowered its head and refused to budge.

　　"Hurry up, will you!" The butcher pulled out a whip, and cursed as he whipped the old cow. They struggled all the way up the street this way, one cursing and pulling, the other silently resisting.

　　When they got to a bank, the cow suddenly dropped to its knees in front of the door and started to cry. Big tears rolled down its bovine face. The president of the bank came out to see what the commotion was about. The cow looked so sad!
　
　　"Butcher, what is the price for this cow?" he asked.
　　
　　"It cost 8,000, but I'm not selling it!"

　　"I'11 give you 10,000, what do you say?" The bank president was touched by the cow's tears, and had decided to save its life.
　
　　But the butcher sneered and said, "This cow has given me a load of trouble!I've had it with this cow. I'm going to chop off its head and hack it to death,that's what I'm going to do! And I'm NOT going to sell it to you, so don't even bother to raise your price!"
　
　　The old cow seemed to understand human speech. When it heard that, it got to its feet with a sigh and went with the butcher.
　
　　The butcher was furious that the cow had tried to beg for its life. Instead of taking it to the market, he took it to his own house and chopped it into pieces.He threw the pieces into his biggest wok to cook.

　　By then it was late, so he left the wok on the fire overnight, so it would be thoroughly cooked and delicious in the morning. Then he went to bed.
　
　　But early the next morning, his wife heard him get out of bed. "I'm going to check the fire and see how the beef is doing," he said.
　　
　　Much later, his wife realized that he still hadn't come back yet. She got out of bed to look for him. In the kitchen, she saw the fire was still going under the wok -- somehow her husband had slipped and fallen into the wok and was cooking with the beef!

70.炖屠夫

　“你给我走，不管你愿不愿意！”凶狠的屠夫使劲拉着绳子。绳子另一端，是一头老牛，它知道将会发生什么事，低下头，坚决 不走了。

　　“快点！”屠夫拿出了一根鞭子，一边鞭打老牛一边咒骂。他们就这样子艰难地在街上对峙着，一个一边拉一边骂，一个默默地反抗。

　　当他们来到一个银庄前的时候，那头牛忽然在门前跪下来，痛哭流涕。大颗大颗的眼泪从它的脸上滑落。银庄老板出来看看外面的骚动是怎么回事。那头牛看上去那么悲伤！

　　“屠夫，这头牛的价钱是多少？”他问。

“8000块，但我不卖！”

　　“我出10000，怎么样？”银庄老板被牛的眼泪感动了，他下决心一定要救它的命。

　　屠夫冷笑了一下，说，“这头牛给我惹了一堆麻烦！我让它折腾够了。我要把它的头砍下来，杀死它，这就是我将要做的！我绝对不会卖给你的，你也不必这么麻烦抬价了。”

　　老牛好像能听懂人言。它听了后，叹了一声，站起来，随屠夫走了。

　　屠夫因为老牛曾经求人饶命而勃然大怒。他没有把牛带到市场去，而是带回了家。他把牛剁成碎片，然后把牛肉扔到最大的一口锅里煮。

　　这时候已经很晚了，所以他把锅放在炉上煮过夜，这样第二天就有香喷喷的熟牛肉了。然后他上床睡了。

　　第二天一大早，他的妻子听到他起床了。“我去看看火，顺便看看那些肉怎么样了。”他说。

　　很久后，他的妻子才意识到他还没有回来，于是她起床去找他。在厨房里，她看到锅底的火还在熊熊烧着 ——她丈夫不知道怎么滑到锅里去了，正和牛肉一起被煮着呢！