A sly boy

西鄰母有好李，苦窺園者，設井牆下，置糞穢其中。黠豎子呼類竊李，登垣，陷井間，穢及其衣領，猶仰首於其曹：“來來！此有佳李！”其一人復墜。方發口，黠豎子遽掩其兩唇，呼來來不已。俄一人又墜。二子相與詬病。黠豎子曰：“假令二子者有一人不墜井中，其笑我終無已時！”

A woman in the west of the neighbourhood grew fine plums. Concerned about others peeping into her garden, she dug a well under the wall and poured excrement into it. A sly boy called on his fellows to steal the plums. He climbed over the wall and fell into the well.  The filth soiled his collar, [yet he] still looked up and shouted to the others, “Come quick! Great plums here!” Another boy fell in too. Before he could speak, the sly boy immediately covered his mouth and shouted on, “Come quick!” After a moment, yet another boy fell in. Both fellows blamed the sly one. The sly one said, “Whoever hadn’t fallen in would never ever stop laughing at me."

* Feng Menglong 馮夢龍 (1574-1646) ed., Gujin tangai 古今譚概 (Beijing: Zhonggua shuju, 2008), 313-314.

Ceramic bowl with a "Children at play" (yingxi 嬰戲) motif in underglaze blue, 1465-1487

Image credit: National Palace Museum, Taipei

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