Clever Kids of Old China · chapter 3 of 4
Cao Chong Weighs the Elephant
曹冲称象
Sun Quan sends Cao Cao a gigantic elephant, and nobody at court can work out how to weigh it. Then Cao Cao's little son says he has an idea.
Read what you hear
- Narrator 一千八百多年前，孙权送给曹操一头大象。小曹冲跑来看。
Yìqiān bābǎi duō nián qián, Sūn Quán sòng gěi Cáo Cāo yì tóu dàxiàng. Xiǎo Cáo Chōng pǎo lái kàn.
More than eighteen hundred years ago, Sun Quan sent Cao Cao an elephant as a gift. Little Cao Chong came running to see it.
- Cao Chong 爸爸，快看！大象比我们的房子还高！
Bàba, kuài kàn! Dàxiàng bǐ wǒmen de fángzi hái gāo!
Father, look! The elephant is taller than our house!
- Cao Cao 哈哈！冲儿，这么大的东西，你见过吗？
Hāhā! Chōng'ér, zhème dà de dōngxi, nǐ jiànguo ma?
Ha ha! Chong'er, have you ever seen anything this big?
Chapter 3 is part of SayMei Stories ($2.99 a month) and SayMei Premium. Chapter 1 of Clever Kids of Old China 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 Chong 没见过！爸爸，这头大象有多重？
Méi jiànguo! Bàba, zhè tóu dàxiàng yǒu duō zhòng?
Never! Father, how heavy is this elephant?
- Cao Cao 问得好！我也想知道。你们谁能称一称它？
Wèn de hǎo! Wǒ yě xiǎng zhīdào. Nǐmen shéi néng chēng yi chēng tā?
Good question! I'd like to know that myself. Which of you can weigh it?
- The minister 这个不难！我们做一个大秤，很大很大的秤！
Zhège bù nán! Wǒmen zuò yí gè dà chèng, hěn dà hěn dà de chèng!
Nothing to it! We'll build a scale. A really, really big one!
- Cao Cao 那么大的秤，谁拿得起来？
Nàme dà de chèng, shéi ná de qǐlái?
A scale that big? Who could ever lift it?
- The minister 这……那我们找一百个人，一起拿！
Zhè… nà wǒmen zhǎo yìbǎi gè rén, yìqǐ ná!
Well… then we'll get a hundred men to lift it together!
- Cao Cao 一百个人？秤还没做好，大象都老了！
Yìbǎi gè rén? Chèng hái méi zuò hǎo, dàxiàng dōu lǎo le!
A hundred men? By the time that scale is built, the elephant will be old!
- The minister 这个也不难！我问问大象吧。大象，你有多重？
Zhège yě bù nán! Wǒ wènwen dàxiàng ba. Dàxiàng, nǐ yǒu duō zhòng?
That's no problem either! I'll just ask the elephant. Elephant, how heavy are you?
- Cao Chong 大象不会说话！
Dàxiàng bú huì shuōhuà!
Elephants can't talk!
- Cao Cao 这么多大人，都没有办法……
Zhème duō dàrén, dōu méiyǒu bànfǎ…
All these grown men, and not one of you has an answer…
- Cao Chong 爸爸，别急，我想一想……我有办法了！
Bàba, bié jí, wǒ xiǎng yi xiǎng… Wǒ yǒu bànfǎ le!
Don't worry, Father. Let me think… I've got it!
- The minister 你？一个小孩子，能有什么办法？
Nǐ? Yí gè xiǎoháizi, néng yǒu shénme bànfǎ?
You? What could a little child come up with?
- Cao Chong 我们去河边，让大象上一条大船。
Wǒmen qù hébiān, ràng dàxiàng shàng yì tiáo dà chuán.
Let's go down to the river and have the elephant step onto a big boat.
- Narrator 大家来到河边。大象一上船，船就低了很多。
Dàjiā lái dào hébiān. Dàxiàng yí shàng chuán, chuán jiù dī le hěn duō.
Everyone went down to the river. As soon as the elephant stepped on board, the boat sank much lower in the water.
- Cao Chong 你们看，水到了这里。我们在船上画一条线！
Nǐmen kàn, shuǐ dào le zhèlǐ. Wǒmen zài chuán shang huà yì tiáo xiàn!
Look, the water comes up to here. Let's draw a line on the boat!
- Cao Cao 然后呢？
Ránhòu ne?
And then?
- Cao Chong 然后大象下船，我们往船上放石头。一块，两块，三块……
Ránhòu dàxiàng xià chuán, wǒmen wǎng chuán shang fàng shítou. Yí kuài, liǎng kuài, sān kuài…
Then the elephant gets off, and we load stones onto the boat. One stone, two stones, three stones…
- Cao Chong 水到了那条线，就不放了。
Shuǐ dào le nà tiáo xiàn, jiù bú fàng le.
When the water comes up to the line, we stop.
- Cao Cao 我明白了！这些石头，和大象一样重！
Wǒ míngbai le! Zhèxiē shítou, hé dàxiàng yíyàng zhòng!
I see it now! Those stones will weigh just as much as the elephant!
- Cao Chong 对！大象太大，不能称。可是石头小，一块一块，都能称！
Duì! Dàxiàng tài dà, bù néng chēng. Kěshì shítou xiǎo, yí kuài yí kuài, dōu néng chēng!
Yes! The elephant is too big to weigh. But stones are small. We can weigh them one by one!
- Cao Cao 哈哈哈！好办法！大家快去做！
Hāhāhā! Hǎo bànfǎ! Dàjiā kuài qù zuò!
Ha ha ha! Brilliant! Everyone, get to work!
- Narrator 大家往船上放了很多石头，又一块一块地称。
Dàjiā wǎng chuán shang fàng le hěn duō shítou, yòu yí kuài yí kuài de chēng.
Everyone loaded stone after stone onto the boat, and then weighed them one by one.
- The minister 称好了！大象……真的很重很重啊！
Chēng hǎo le! Dàxiàng… zhēn de hěn zhòng hěn zhòng a!
All weighed! That elephant… is very, very heavy indeed!
- Cao Cao 冲儿，你比这些大人都聪明！
Chōng'ér, nǐ bǐ zhèxiē dàrén dōu cōngming!
Chong'er, you're cleverer than all these grown men!
- The minister 你这么聪明，那我问你：你知道孔融吗？
Nǐ zhème cōngming, nà wǒ wèn nǐ: nǐ zhīdào Kǒng Róng ma?
So you're clever, are you? Then tell me: have you heard of Kong Rong?
- Cao Chong 孔融？他也称过大象吗？
Kǒng Róng? Tā yě chēngguo dàxiàng ma?
Kong Rong? Did he weigh an elephant too?
- The minister 没有。他四岁的时候，家里吃梨。梨有大有小，他拿了最小的！
Méiyǒu. Tā sì suì de shíhou, jiā lǐ chī lí. Lí yǒu dà yǒu xiǎo, tā ná le zuì xiǎo de!
No. When he was four, his family sat down to eat pears, some big and some small. He took the smallest one!
- Cao Chong 最小的？为什么？大的不是更好吃吗？
Zuì xiǎo de? Wèishénme? Dà de bú shì gèng hǎochī ma?
The smallest? Why? Aren't the big ones tastier?
Hear the chapter
What changed in the story?
- Who sent Cao Cao the elephant?
“孙权送给曹操一头大象。”
- Why does Cao Cao think the giant scale won't work?
“那么大的秤，谁拿得起来？”
- What does Cao Chong mark on the side of the boat?
“水到了这里。我们在船上画一条线！”
- Why do the stones tell them the elephant's weight?
“水到了那条线，就不放了。……这些石头，和大象一样重！”
- What does the minister tell Cao Chong about Kong Rong?
“他四岁的时候……他拿了最小的！”