Creation of the Gods: Nezha Reborn · chapter 5 of 5
The Old Man by the River
河边的老人
Nezha meets a wise old man with a straight hook and learns the hardest trick of all. Then drums roll over the hills.
Read what you hear
- Narrator 渭河边，太阳很亮。一位老人坐在石头上，正在钓鱼。
Wèi Hé biān, tàiyáng hěn liàng. Yí wèi lǎorén zuò zài shítou shàng, zhèngzài diàoyú.
By the Wei River the sun was bright. An old man sat on a rock, fishing.
- Nezha 老爷爷！请问，你就是那位姜太公吗？
Lǎoyéye! Qǐngwèn, nǐ jiùshì nà wèi Jiāng Tàigōng ma?
Grandpa! Excuse me, are you Jiang Taigong?
- Jiang Ziya 哦？一个会飞的孩子。你是谁呀？
Ó? Yí gè huì fēi de háizi. Nǐ shì shuí ya?
Oh? A boy who flies. And who are you?
Chapter 5 is part of SayMei Stories ($2.99 a month) and SayMei Premium. Chapter 1 of Creation of the Gods: Nezha Reborn 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, The Odyssey, Robin Hood and Jiang Ziya Goes Fishing from start to finish.
- Nezha 我是哪吒！我的师父太乙真人，叫我来找你！
Wǒ shì Nézhā! Wǒ de shīfu Tàiyǐ Zhēnrén, jiào wǒ lái zhǎo nǐ!
I'm Nezha! My master told me to come and find you!
- Jiang Ziya 太乙的学生？他还好吗？欢迎，欢迎。
Tàiyǐ de xuéshēng? Tā hái hǎo ma? Huānyíng, huānyíng.
Taiyi Zhenren's student? Welcome, welcome.
- Nezha 你的钩是直的！这样怎么钓鱼呢？
Nǐ de gōu shì zhí de! Zhèyàng zěnme diàoyú ne?
Your hook is straight! How can you catch fish like this?
- Jiang Ziya 鱼想来，自己就会来。这叫愿者上钩。
Yú xiǎng lái, zìjǐ jiù huì lái. Zhè jiào yuànzhě shàng gōu.
If a fish wants to come, it will come by itself. That's called the willing ones bite.
- Nezha 愿者上钩？哈哈，那我也要钓一条！我想钓一条大的！
Yuànzhě shàng gōu? Hāhā, nà wǒ yě yào diào yì tiáo! Wǒ xiǎng diào yì tiáo dà de!
Ha ha, then I want to catch one too! A big one!
- Jiang Ziya 好啊。你先坐下来，安静地坐五分钟。
Hǎo a. Nǐ xiān zuòxià lái, ānjìng de zuò wǔfēnzhōng.
All right. First sit down and stay quiet for five minutes.
- Nezha 五分钟？我最多只能安静三……二……一……
Wǔfēnzhōng? Wǒ zuì duō zhǐnéng ānjìng sān… Èr… Yī…
Five minutes? The most I can do is three... two... one...
- Jiang Ziya 你看，你没有跑。这就是你的第一条鱼。
Nǐ kàn, nǐ méiyǒu pǎo. Zhè jiùshì nǐ de dì yī tiáo yú.
Look, you didn't run off. That's your very first fish.
- Nezha 咦？我钓到了什么？
Yí? Wǒ diàodào le shénme?
Huh? What did I catch?
- Jiang Ziya 你钓到了一件难事：等一等，想一想。这也是愿者上钩。
Nǐ diàodào le yí jiàn nánshì: děng yi děng, xiǎng yi xiǎng. Zhè yě shì yuànzhě shàng gōu.
You caught something hard: waiting a little and thinking.
- Nezha 我懂了！爸爸也说过，要先想一想再生气！
Wǒ dǒng le! Bàba yě shuō guò, yào xiān xiǎng yi xiǎng zài shēngqì!
I get it! Dad said that too, think first and get angry later!
- Li Jing 哪吒！原来你在这儿！
Nézhā! Yuánlái nǐ zài zhèr!
Nezha! So this is where you are!
- Nezha 爸爸！你怎么也来了？
Bàba! Nǐ zěnme yě lái le?
Dad! Why did you come too?
- Li Jing 姜太公请我来帮周国。我还带着宝塔呢。
Jiāng Tàigōng qǐng wǒ lái bāng Zhōu Guó. Wǒ hái dài zhe bǎotǎ ne.
Jiang Taigong asked me to help the state of Zhou. And I brought the pagoda.
- Jiang Ziya 李将军，欢迎你。周国需要你们这对父子。
Lǐ jiāngjūn, huānyíng nǐ. Zhōu Guó xūyào nǐmen zhè duì fùzǐ.
General Li, welcome. Zhou needs the two of you, father and son.
- Nezha 父子！爸爸，他说我们是父子！
Fùzǐ! Bàba, tā shuō wǒmen shì fùzǐ!
Father and son! Dad, he said we're father and son!
- Li Jing 当然。你是我的儿子。这一次，我不会再忘了。
Dāngrán. Nǐ shì wǒ de érzi. Zhè yí cì, wǒ bú huì zài wàng le.
Of course. You are my son. This time I won't forget again.
- Nezha 那我们要去做什么呢？我什么都可以做！
Nà wǒmen yào qù zuò shénme ne? Wǒ shénme dōu kěyǐ zuò!
So what are we going to do?
- Jiang Ziya 商王做了很多坏事，很多人不能安心地过日子。
Shāng Wáng zuò le hěnduō huàishì, hěnduō rén bù néng ānxīn de guòrìzi.
The Shang king has done many bad things, and many people cannot live in peace.
- Nezha 我有风火轮！我有火尖枪！龙王都怕我，我什么都不怕！
Wǒ yǒu fēnghuǒlún! Wǒ yǒu huǒjiān qiāng! Lóngwáng dōu pà wǒ, wǒ shénme dōu bú pà!
I have my wheels! I have my spear! I'm not afraid of anything!
- Li Jing 我有宝塔。爸爸和你一起去，我们一起帮助大家。
Wǒ yǒu bǎotǎ. Bàba hé nǐ yìqǐ qù, wǒmen yìqǐ bāngzhù dàjiā.
I have the pagoda. Your father will go with you.
- Jiang Ziya 好！可是先别说话，你们听……那是什么声音？
Hǎo! Kěshì xiān bié shuōhuà, nǐmen tīng… Nà shì shénme shēngyīn?
Good! But quiet for now. Listen... what is that sound?
- Nezha 是鼓！我还听见了很多人在走路的声音！
Shì gǔ! Wǒ hái tīngjiàn le hěnduō rén zài zǒulù de shēngyīn!
Drums! And lots of people marching!
- Li Jing 是商王的兵。他们已经来了。
Shì Shāng Wáng de bīng. Tāmen yǐjīng lái le.
It's the Shang king's soldiers. They're already here.
- Jiang Ziya 对。哪吒，李将军，我们的路，现在才开始！
Duì. Nézhā, Lǐ jiāngjūn, wǒmen de lù, xiànzài cái kāishǐ!
Yes. Nezha, General Li, our road is only just beginning!
Hear the chapter
What changed in the story?
- What is odd about Jiang Taigong's fishing?
“你的钩是直的！这样怎么钓鱼呢？”
- What does Jiang Taigong say about fish?
“鱼想来，自己就会来。这叫愿者上钩。”
- What is Nezha's first fish?
“你看，你没有跑。这就是你的第一条鱼。”
- Why has Li Jing come to the river?
“姜太公请我来帮周国。”
- What do they hear at the end?
“是鼓！我还听见了很多人在走路的声音！”