Three Kingdoms: Borrowing Arrows with Straw Boats · chapter 5 of 6
Thank You for the Arrows
谢谢丞相的箭
Drums boom through the fog outside Cao Cao's camp, and the most suspicious man in China has to decide what to do about it.
Read what you hear
- Narrator 这时候，在江的北边，曹操大营里的人都听见了江上的鼓和喊声。
Zhè shíhou, zài jiāng de běibian, Cáo Cāo dàyíng lǐ de rén dōu tīngjiàn le jiāng shang de gǔ hé hǎnshēng.
Just then, on the north bank, everyone in Cao Cao's camp heard the drums and shouting out on the river.
- Yu Jin 丞相！丞相！江上有很多船，又是鼓，又是喊！江东的人打过来了！
Chéngxiàng! Chéngxiàng! Jiāng shang yǒu hěn duō chuán, yòu shì gǔ, yòu shì hǎn! Jiāngdōng de rén dǎ guòlái le!
Prime Minister! Prime Minister! There are lots of boats on the river, with drums and shouting! The Jiangdong army is attacking!
- Cao Cao 于禁，别急。雾这么大，他们为什么突然来了？不对，这里面一定有问题。
Yú Jìn, bié jí. Wù zhème dà, tāmen wèi shénme tūrán lái le? Bú duì, zhè lǐmiàn yídìng yǒu wèntí.
Calm down, Yu Jin. Why would they suddenly turn up in fog this thick? Something's not right here.
Chapter 5 is part of SayMei Stories ($2.99 a month) and SayMei Premium. Chapter 1 of Three Kingdoms: Borrowing Arrows with Straw Boats is free, and so are The Second Cup of Tea, Mulan, The Butterfly Lovers, Journey to the West: The Monkey King, Cinderella, The Night of the Nian, Chang'e and the Moon, The Great Race: The Twelve Animals, Aesop's Fables, Little Red Riding Hood, The Three Little Pigs, The Ugly Duckling, Pangu and Nüwa: How the World Began, Beauty and the Beast, The Magic Lotus Lantern, Alice in Wonderland, Zhong Kui the Demon Queller and The Odyssey from start to finish.
- Cao Cao 他们是想让我们出去。雾里一定还有很多人，在等着我们！
Tāmen shì xiǎng ràng wǒmen chūqù. Wù lǐ yídìng hái yǒu hěn duō rén, zài děng zhe wǒmen!
They want to lure us out. There must be many more of them hiding in the fog, waiting for us!
- Yu Jin 那……丞相，我们怎么办？
Nà… chéngxiàng, wǒmen zěnme bàn?
Then… what should we do, Prime Minister?
- Cao Cao 谁也别出去！让所有的士兵，都向江上放箭！
Shéi yě bié chūqù! Ràng suǒyǒu de shìbīng, dōu xiàng jiāng shang fàng jiàn!
Nobody goes out there! Have every soldier shoot arrows at the river!
- Cao Cao 再去叫后面的士兵，也都来放箭！
Zài qù jiào hòumiàn de shìbīng, yě dōu lái fàng jiàn!
And call up the soldiers from the camps behind us to shoot as well!
- Yu Jin 是！放箭！快放箭！
Shì! Fàng jiàn! Kuài fàng jiàn!
Yes, sir! Shoot! Shoot, now!
- Narrator 一万多个士兵一起放箭。箭像下雨一样，飞进了大雾里。
Yí wàn duō gè shìbīng yìqǐ fàng jiàn. Jiàn xiàng xià yǔ yíyàng, fēi jìn le dà wù lǐ.
More than ten thousand soldiers shot at once. The arrows flew into the fog like rain.
- Lu Su 哎呀！箭！好多箭！先生，快低下头！
Āiyā! Jiàn! Hǎo duō jiàn! Xiānsheng, kuài dī xià tóu!
Oh no! Arrows! So many arrows! Sir, get your head down!
- Lu Su 这支箭，差一点儿就打到我的帽子了！
Zhè zhī jiàn, chà yìdiǎnr jiù dǎ dào wǒ de màozi le!
That arrow very nearly hit my hat!
- Zhuge Liang 别怕，鲁兄。你听，箭都打在草上了。
Bié pà, Lǔ xiōng. Nǐ tīng, jiàn dōu dǎ zài cǎo shang le.
Don't be afraid, Brother Lu. Listen: the arrows are all landing in the straw.
- The Young Soldier 先生！这边的草把子上，全是箭！快放不下了！
Xiānsheng! Zhèbiān de cǎo bǎzi shang, quán shì jiàn! Kuài fàng bu xià le!
Sir! The straw bundles on this side are full of arrows! There's hardly room for more!
- Zhuge Liang 好！把船转过来，让另一边也来接箭！
Hǎo! Bǎ chuán zhuǎn guòlái, ràng lìng yì biān yě lái jiē jiàn!
Good! Turn the boats around so the other side can catch arrows too!
- The Young Soldier 是！大家快转船！另一边的草上，还没有箭呢！
Shì! Dàjiā kuài zhuǎn chuán! Lìng yì biān de cǎo shang, hái méiyǒu jiàn ne!
Yes, sir! Everyone, turn the boats! The straw on the other side hasn't got a single arrow yet!
- Lu Su 我明白了！草把子……是接箭用的！
Wǒ míngbai le! Cǎo bǎzi… shì jiē jiàn yòng de!
Now I understand! The straw bundles… they're for catching arrows!
- Lu Su 原来，这就是你说的“到时候”！
Yuánlái, zhè jiù shì nǐ shuō de “dào shíhou”!
So this is your “when the time comes”!
- Zhuge Liang 曹操有那么多箭，借我们十万支，他不会不高兴吧？
Cáo Cāo yǒu nàme duō jiàn, jiè wǒmen shíwàn zhī, tā bú huì bù gāoxìng ba?
Cao Cao has so many arrows. Surely he won't mind lending us a hundred thousand?
- Lu Su 一支，两支，三支……哎呀，太多了，我数不过来了！
Yì zhī, liǎng zhī, sān zhī… āiyā, tài duō le, wǒ shǔ bu guòlái le!
One, two, three… oh my, there are too many! I can't count them all!
- Zhuge Liang 别数了，鲁兄。回去以后，让都督的五百个士兵慢慢数吧。
Bié shǔ le, Lǔ xiōng. Huíqù yǐhòu, ràng dūdū de wǔbǎi gè shìbīng mànmàn shǔ ba.
Don't bother counting, Brother Lu. Once we're back, the commander's five hundred soldiers can take their time counting them.
- Narrator 太阳出来了，雾慢慢地散了。二十条船上，到处都是箭。
Tàiyáng chūlái le, wù mànmàn de sàn le. Èrshí tiáo chuán shang, dàochù dōu shì jiàn.
The sun came up, and the fog slowly lifted. There were arrows everywhere on all twenty boats.
- The Young Soldier 先生，船越来越重了，都快走不动了！
Xiānsheng, chuán yuè lái yuè zhòng le, dōu kuài zǒu bu dòng le!
Sir, the boats are getting so heavy they can hardly move!
- Zhuge Liang 箭够了，雾也要散了，我们回去！大家一起喊：谢谢丞相的箭！
Jiàn gòu le, wù yě yào sàn le, wǒmen huíqù! Dàjiā yìqǐ hǎn: Xièxie chéngxiàng de jiàn!
We have enough arrows, and the fog is lifting. Home we go! Everyone, shout together: Thank you, Prime Minister, for the arrows!
- The Young Soldier 谢谢丞相的箭！谢谢丞相的箭！
Xièxie chéngxiàng de jiàn! Xièxie chéngxiàng de jiàn!
Thank you, Prime Minister, for the arrows! Thank you, Prime Minister, for the arrows!
- Cao Cao 什么？谢谢……我的箭？
Shénme? Xièxie… wǒ de jiàn?
What? Thank you… for my arrows?
- Yu Jin 丞相，雾散了，您看！那些船上都是草，草上全是我们的箭！
Chéngxiàng, wù sàn le, nín kàn! Nàxiē chuán shang dōu shì cǎo, cǎo shang quán shì wǒmen de jiàn!
Prime Minister, the fog's gone, look! Those boats are covered in straw, and the straw is full of our arrows!
- Cao Cao 我上了他们的当了！快追！快追！
Wǒ shàng le tāmen de dàng le! Kuài zhuī! Kuài zhuī!
They've tricked me! After them! After them!
- Yu Jin 丞相，他们的船又小又快，已经走远了，追不上了！
Chéngxiàng, tāmen de chuán yòu xiǎo yòu kuài, yǐjīng zǒu yuǎn le, zhuī bu shàng le!
Prime Minister, their boats are small and fast. They're already far away. We'll never catch them!
- Cao Cao 唉！十万多支箭啊……就这样给了他们！
Ài! Shíwàn duō zhī jiàn a… jiù zhèyàng gěi le tāmen!
Argh! More than a hundred thousand arrows… just handed over to them!
- Lu Su 哈哈哈！先生，曹操一定气坏了！他的箭，现在都是我们的了！
Hāhāhā! Xiānsheng, Cáo Cāo yídìng qì huài le! Tā de jiàn, xiànzài dōu shì wǒmen de le!
Ha ha ha! Sir, Cao Cao must be fuming! His arrows are all ours now!
- The Young Soldier 先生，前面就是我们的江边了！都督的士兵，都在那里等着呢！
Xiānsheng, qiánmiàn jiù shì wǒmen de jiāngbiān le! Dūdū de shìbīng, dōu zài nàlǐ děng zhe ne!
Sir, there's our riverbank up ahead! The commander's soldiers are all waiting there!
- Lu Su 哎呀！都督……都督要是知道，船是我借给你的……
Āiyā! Dūdū… dūdū yàoshi zhīdào, chuán shì wǒ jiè gěi nǐ de…
Oh no! The commander… if the commander finds out that I'm the one who lent you the boats…
- Zhuge Liang 鲁兄，那这一次，你说，还是不说？
Lǔ xiōng, nà zhè yí cì, nǐ shuō, háishi bù shuō?
So, Brother Lu, this time: will you tell, or won't you?
- Lu Su 我……我……哎呀，这可怎么办？
Wǒ… wǒ… āiyā, zhè kě zěnme bàn?
I… I… Oh dear, what now?
Hear the chapter
What changed in the story?
- Why won't Cao Cao let his soldiers go out?
“他们是想让我们出去。雾里一定还有很多人，在等着我们！”
- What does Cao Cao order instead?
“让所有的士兵，都向江上放箭！”
- Why does Zhuge Liang have the boats turned around?
“把船转过来，让另一边也来接箭！”
- What does Lu Su finally realize?
“草把子……是接箭用的！”
- Why can't Cao Cao's soldiers catch the boats?
“他们的船又小又快，已经走远了，追不上了！”
All chapters in Three Kingdoms: Borrowing Arrows with Straw Boats.