The Tangerine Seller..........Liu Ji

卖柑者言

刘基

杭有卖果者，善藏柑，涉寒暑不溃。出之烨然，玉质而金色。置于市，贾十倍，人争鬻之。

予贸得其一，剖之，如有烟扑口鼻，视其中，则干若败絮。予怪而问之曰：“若所市于人者，将以实笾豆，奉祭祀，供宾客乎？将炫外以惑愚瞽也？甚矣哉，为欺也！”

卖者笑曰：“吾业是有年矣，吾赖是以食吾躯。吾售之，人取之，未尝有言，而独不足子所乎？世之为欺者不寡矣，而独我也乎？吾子未之思也。

今夫佩虎符、坐皋比者，洸洸乎干城之具也，果能授孙、吴之略耶？ 峨大冠、 拖长绅者，昂昂乎庙堂之器也，果能建伊、皋之业耶？盗起而不知御，民困而不知救，吏奸而不知禁，法斁而不知理，坐糜廪粟而不知耻。观其坐高堂，骑大马，醉醇醴而饫肥鲜者，孰不巍巍乎可畏，赫赫乎可象也？又何往而不金玉其外，败絮其中也哉？今子是之不察，而以察吾柑！”

予默默无以应。退而思其言，类东方生滑稽之流。岂其愤世疾邪者耶？而托于柑以讽耶？

The Tangerine Seller

Liu Ji

  A tangerine seller in Hangzhou is good at storing tangerines, and his tangerines do not rot for a whole year. When he takes them out, they still look brilliant, with jade-like texture and a golden color. When he puts them up for sale on the market at a price ten times that of the other tangerines, people still rush to buy his.

  Once I bought a tangerine from him. When I cut it open, my mouth and nostrils were greeted by something like a puff of smoke. Looking at the inside of the tangerine, I found it dried up as run-down cotton. I was perplexed and asked him: “Are you selling tangerines for people to put them in the bamboo basket as sacrifice, or use them to entertain guests? Are you beguiling the clumsy and the blind with their nice appearance? Such kind of cheating is really too much!”

  The tangerine seller smiled and said, “I have been in this business for many years, which I depend on for my livelihood. I sell them and people buy them. So far people have said nothing, but you are the only one that does not rest contented. Quite many people in the world are cheating now. Am I the only one? You haven’t thought the matter through.

  Those generals that bear tiger-shaped tallies and sit on tiger-fur cushioned chairs, look powerful and mighty, as if they were indispensable to the defence of the country, but are they really capable of Sun Wu and Wu Qi’s military strategy? Are those men, wearing their tall hats and long waist belts and sitting majestically in the imperial court, really able to attain merits as great as those of Yi Yin and Gao Tao? In face of robbers they do not know how to cope with them; people are poverty-stricken but they do not lend a helping hand; officials are crafty but they do not try to end their malpractice; laws are corruptly flouted but they fail to establish correct governance; and they extravagantly waste rice and food without shame. Look at those who sit in high halls, ride massive horses, indulge in nectareous wine and satiate delicious food,is there anyone among them who isn’t majestic-looking and forbidding, and isn’t so impressive as to deserve emulation? But no matter where they are, none of them does not have the appearance of gold with their inside rotten like run-down cotton.You fail to see through those guys, but only criticize my tangerines!”

  I had nothing to say in reply. I returned and considered what the tangerine seller had said. I felt as if he had acted like Dongfang Shuo, who was a witty, sarcastic and argumentative man. Was the tangerine seller a cynic man full of hatred against the evils of the world, and a man who used the tangerine for a satire?

Translated by Jin Deming