A fisherman, Bei Gongzhi got a very precious and rare luminous¹ pearl, and all his acquaintances came to congratulate him.

 

And the minister of the state of Song promised to take him to see the king of the state of Song and promised him that he would get wealth and rank soon.

 

At this time, this father had just come back home. After hearing this, his father has made a simple living by hunting for a dozen said, "My family has made a simple living by hunting for a dozen generations. It is easy to become rich and noble if I present the pearl to the king. But after you become rich and noble, it is easy for you to become haughty², and haughtiness³ will lead to atrocity⁴, and atrocity will lead to wild act, and that will be very close to danger, and a fatal disaster will be imminent⁵. At that time, it would be impossible to come back to live the simple life of today."

 

渔民北宫殖得到一颗稀世之珍的夜明珠后，熟人都来祝贺他.

 

宋国的大夫也答应带他晋见宋国国君，并允诺说富贵不日即至。

 

这时，他的父亲刚从秦国回到家中，听了这个消息后，不仅没有兴奋的表情，反而哭着说：“我家十几辈子一直安于捕鱼为生的清贫生活。把珠宝献给国君，富贵起来很容易。但富贵之后接着来的就是骄傲，骄傲必定导致凶暴，凶暴成性一定胡作非为，而这离危险就非常近了，随之而来的则是大祸临头。到了那个时候，再想过目前这种清贫而安宁的生活是绝对不可能的。”说完这些话后，便把夜明珠砸碎了。

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