21. BURIAL BY BIRDS

　　 A lonely man lived by himself in a little hut.
　　
　　 His name was Sun Liang. He was dirt poor, but he was honest and kind. He did odd jobs. His pay was very low. Whenever he saw an animal in a trap, if he had any money, he would buy the animal and set it free in the forest.
　　
　　 In this way, he saved many animals, but he didn't save any money, so he was still very poor.
　　
　　 When he was too old to work, he had to beg for food to stay alive. One day when he was over seventy years old, he was too weak to get up from his bed,and before long, he left this world.
　　
　　 Sun Liang had no relative and no friends. He was so poor that he didn'teven have enough money for a coffin, and for Chinese people, the worst possible fate is to die and not get buried. But there was nobody to look after him. His neighbors were almost as poor as he was. They didn't know he was dead, and even if they had, they certainly didn't have enough money to buy him a coffin and bury him.

　　 The morning after Sun Liang died, the neighbors were amazed to see the sky full of birds. Thousands of birds came from all directions and flew into Sun Liang's hut. The neighbors came to see what was wrong. They saw Sun lying dead on his bed. They thought the birds must have come to peck the flesh off his bones.
　
　　 Then they saw that every bird brought a little soil in its beak, and dropped the soil on Sun's body. They had come to show their gratitude by burying their savior!

　　 Thousands and thousands of birds came. They flew back and forth. Before noon, they had filled his whole hut with soil and turned it into a tomb for Sun Liang.
　
　　 The neighbors were deeply touched when they saw this. From then on, they never caught another animal in a trap or a net.
　　

21.鸟儿举行的葬礼

　　一座小屋里，住着一个孤独的人。

　　他叫孙良。他既诚实又善良，但是一贫如洗。他为别人打零工，得到的报酬很少。然而每当他看到落入陷阱的动物，只要他有钱，一定把它买下来放归树林。

　　就这样，他救了很多动物，但是他没省下一个钱，因此一直很穷。
　
　　当他老得不能干活的时候，只好乞食度日。他已经超过70岁了。有一天，他虚弱得再也不能从床上起来，不久后就离开了人世。
　　
　　孙良没有亲戚朋友。他甚至穷得连一副棺材也买不起。对中国人来说，世界上最悲惨的事莫过于死无葬身之地。但是没有人来照料他，他的邻居们也像他一样穷。他们不知道他已经死了，即使知道，他们也没有钱去买一副棺材来埋葬他。
　　
　　孙良死的那个早晨，邻居们惊奇地发现空中飞满了鸟儿。成千上万的鸟从四面八方飞进孙良的小屋里。他们进去看个究竟，发现孙良已经死在床上，他们想那些鸟儿一定是来啄掉他的肉的。
　
　　接着他们看到每只鸟嘴里都衔着一小块土，还把土撒在孙的尸体上。它们是来埋葬恩人以表达谢意的！
　　
　　无数的鸟儿来来回回的飞着。在中午以前，它们就把小屋埋起来，把它变成了孙良的坟墓。
　　
　　邻居们被他们看到的景象深深感动了。从此以后，他们再也不用陷阱或网来诱捕动物了。