Chinese Idiom Stories 2 · chapter 6 of 6
The Old Man Who Moved Mountains
愚公移山
Two huge mountains stand in front of Yu Gong's house, and he's nearly ninety. So he picks up a basket to move them. Clever Zhi Sou just laughs. Is he right to?
Read what you hear
- Narrator 这个故事叫“愚公移山”。很久以前，有两座大山：太行山和王屋山。
Zhège gùshi jiào “Yúgōng yíshān”. Hěn jiǔ yǐqián, yǒu liǎng zuò dà shān: Tàiháng Shān hé Wángwū Shān.
This story is called “The Foolish Old Man Moves the Mountains.” Long, long ago, there were two huge mountains: Taihang and Wangwu.
- Narrator 山的北边，住着一个老人，快九十岁了。大家叫他愚公。
Shān de běibian, zhùzhe yí gè lǎorén, kuài jiǔshí suì le. Dàjiā jiào tā Yúgōng.
North of the mountains lived an old man who was nearly ninety. Everyone called him Yu Gong, the Foolish Old Man.
- Yu Gong 这两座山，太大了！我们去哪儿，都要走很远很远的路。
Zhè liǎng zuò shān, tài dà le! Wǒmen qù nǎr, dōu yào zǒu hěn yuǎn hěn yuǎn de lù.
These two mountains are just too big! Wherever we want to go, we have to walk a long, long way around.
Chapter 6 is part of SayMei Stories ($2.99 a month) and SayMei Premium. Chapter 1 of Chinese Idiom Stories 2 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.
- Yu Gong 大家都来！我想好了：我们一起把山搬走！
Dàjiā dōu lái! Wǒ xiǎng hǎo le: wǒmen yìqǐ bǎ shān bān zǒu!
Everyone, come here! I've made up my mind: together, we're going to move these mountains!
- Yu Gong's wife 老头子，你快九十岁了！小山你都搬不动……
Lǎotóuzi, nǐ kuài jiǔshí suì le! Xiǎo shān nǐ dōu bān bú dòng…
Old man, you're nearly ninety! You couldn't even move a little hill…
- Yu Gong's wife 这么大的山，这么多土和石头，放在哪儿？
Zhème dà de shān, zhème duō tǔ hé shítou, fàng zài nǎr?
Mountains this big, with all that earth and stone, where would you put it all?
- Yu Gong 放在大海边！
Fàng zài dàhǎi biān!
We'll carry it all to the edge of the sea!
- Yu Gong 孩子们，走！我们去搬山！
Háizimen, zǒu! Wǒmen qù bān shān!
Come on, children and grandchildren! We're going to move a mountain!
- Little Stone 愚公爷爷！我叫小石头，我也来搬石头！
Yúgōng yéye! Wǒ jiào Xiǎo Shítou, wǒ yě lái bān shítou!
Grandpa Yu Gong! My name's Little Stone, and I want to carry stones too!
- Yu Gong 好孩子！你几岁了？
Hǎo háizi! Nǐ jǐ suì le?
Good boy! How old are you?
- Little Stone 七岁了！你看，我的牙都掉了一个！
Qī suì le! Nǐ kàn, wǒ de yá dōu diào le yí gè!
Seven! Look, I've already lost a tooth!
- Narrator 大海很远很远。他们从冬天走到夏天，才回来一次。
Dàhǎi hěn yuǎn hěn yuǎn. Tāmen cóng dōngtiān zǒu dào xiàtiān, cái huílái yí cì.
The sea was very, very far away. Each trip there and back took them from winter all the way to summer.
- Little Stone 爷爷，智叟爷爷来了！他说，他什么都知道！
Yéye, Zhìsǒu yéye lái le! Tā shuō, tā shénme dōu zhīdào!
Grandpa, here comes Grandpa Zhi Sou, the Wise Old Man! He says he knows everything!
- Zhi Sou 哈哈！愚公，你真是一个“愚公”！
Hāhā! Yúgōng, nǐ zhēn shì yí gè “yúgōng”!
Ha ha! Yu Gong, you really are a foolish old man!
- Zhi Sou 你九十岁了，还能搬几年？山上的草，你都搬不完！
Nǐ jiǔshí suì le, hái néng bān jǐ nián? Shān shang de cǎo, nǐ dōu bān bù wán!
You're ninety! How many years of carrying do you have left? You couldn't even move all the grass on that mountain!
- Yu Gong 智叟，你不明白。我老了，可是我有儿子。
Zhìsǒu, nǐ bù míngbai. Wǒ lǎo le, kěshì wǒ yǒu érzi.
Zhi Sou, you don't understand. I'm old, but I have sons.
- Yu Gong 儿子有孙子，孙子又有儿子……一直没有完！
Érzi yǒu sūnzi, sūnzi yòu yǒu érzi… yìzhí méiyǒu wán!
My sons will have sons, and their sons will have sons… it never ends!
- Yu Gong 山不会再长高了。那为什么搬不走？
Shān bú huì zài zhǎng gāo le. Nà wèishénme bān bù zǒu?
But mountains don't grow any taller. So why can't they be moved?
- Zhi Sou 这……这……
Zhè… zhè…
Well… well…
- Little Stone 智叟爷爷，你说不出来了吧！
Zhìsǒu yéye, nǐ shuō bù chūlái le ba!
Grandpa Zhi Sou, you've got nothing to say, have you?
- Narrator 山神听见了。他怕愚公真的把山搬走，就去告诉了天帝。
Shānshén tīngjiàn le. Tā pà Yúgōng zhēn de bǎ shān bān zǒu, jiù qù gàosu le Tiāndì.
The god of the mountains heard this. Afraid that Yu Gong really would carry his mountains away, he hurried off to tell the Emperor of Heaven.
- Narrator 天帝很感动。那天夜里，两个大力神来了，背走了两座大山。
Tiāndì hěn gǎndòng. Nà tiān yèli, liǎng gè dàlìshén lái le, bēi zǒu le liǎng zuò dà shān.
The Emperor of Heaven was deeply moved. That night, two mighty gods came and carried the two mountains away on their backs.
- Little Stone 爷爷！爷爷！快出来看！山……山没有了！
Yéye! Yéye! Kuài chūlái kàn! Shān… shān méiyǒu le!
Grandpa! Grandpa! Come out and look, quick! The mountains… the mountains are gone!
- Yu Gong 真的没有了！门前有路了！
Zhēn de méiyǒu le! Mén qián yǒu lù le!
They really are gone! There's a road right outside our door!
- Little Stone 智叟爷爷，你也来了？你还笑吗？
Zhìsǒu yéye, nǐ yě lái le? Nǐ hái xiào ma?
Grandpa Zhi Sou, you came too? Are you still laughing now?
- Zhi Sou 不笑了……愚公，我错了。你不笨，笨的是我。
Bú xiào le… Yúgōng, wǒ cuò le. Nǐ bú bèn, bèn de shì wǒ.
No more laughing… Yu Gong, I was wrong. You're no fool. The fool was me.
- Zhi Sou “愚公移山”……一天一天地做，大山也能搬走！
“Yúgōng yíshān”… yì tiān yì tiān de zuò, dà shān yě néng bān zǒu!
The Foolish Old Man moves the mountains… do a little every day, and even a mountain can be moved!
- Little Stone 愚公移山！爷爷，山那边有什么？
Yúgōng yíshān! Yéye, shān nàbiān yǒu shénme?
The Foolish Old Man moves the mountains! Grandpa, what's on the other side?
- Yu Gong 走！我们一起去看看！
Zǒu! Wǒmen yìqǐ qù kànkan!
Come on! Let's go and see together!
Hear the chapter
What changed in the story?
- Why does Yu Gong want to move the mountains?
“我们去哪儿，都要走很远很远的路。”
- What does Yu Gong's wife worry about?
“这么多土和石头，放在哪儿？”
- How does Little Stone show he is big enough to help?
“七岁了！你看，我的牙都掉了一个！”
- Why does Yu Gong believe the mountains can be moved?
“儿子有孙子，孙子又有儿子……一直没有完！……山不会再长高了。”
- Who carries the mountains away in the end?
“天帝很感动。那天夜里，两个大力神来了，背走了两座大山。”