Old Man Yu Gong Moved Away Mountains

愚公移山

There were two high mountains between Jizhou in the south and Heyang in the north. One was called Taihang Mountain and the other Wangwu Mountain. Both of the mountains were more than seven hundred kilometers around and rose as high as 3，000 meters. Just to the north of the mountains lived an old man called Yu Gong who was nearly ninety years old. With the iwo high mountains just in front of his house，his family and he had to walk along way around the mountains when they had something to do on the other side of the mountains. One day，Yu Gong called all his family together to talk about how to move the two mountains to other places. His wife said，“An old man like you cannot even move a small hill，not to mention the two high mountains. Even if you can，where can you throw so much earth and stone"“They could be carried to the Bohai sea，and dumped¹ in the north of Yintu.”Yu Gong said. It was decided². His children started to dig³ the mountains，led by the old man Yu Gong. A man named Zhi Sou saw them working and tried to stop them with a smile，"You are so silly!You're so old and weak that you can't even take away the grass and trees. How can you move the high mountains" "You're wrong.”Yu Gong said with a sigh“Look, my sons can continue my work after my death. When my sons die，my grandchildren⁴ will continue. Generation after generation，there's no end，but the mountains can't grow higher. Don't you think I can move them away?" Seeing the old man so con-fident，Zhi Sou was tongue-tied.

太行、王屋两座山，方圆七百里，高约万丈，本来位于冀州之南、河阳之北有个叫北山愚公的老人，已经90岁了，面山而居。因为门前的两座大山，他和家人去山那边办事，总是要走很长的路，绕道而行。一天愚公招集家人商量如何将山移至别处。他的妻子怀疑说:“凭您的力量，都不能使魁父这座小山丘减少一点点，又能对太行、王屋这两座大山怎么样呢?况且，挖下来的土石放到什么地方呢?”愚公说道:“挖下来的土石搬运到渤海的边上，投放在隐土的北面。”事情就这样决定下来了。愚公率领子孙开始挖山。有个叫智雯的聪明人笑着制止愚公说:“你缺少智慧，也太过分了!以你的残年余力，甚至都不能毁坏山之一毛，又怎么来对付那些土石呢!”北山愚公长长地叹了一口气，说:“你错了。我死之后，还有儿子;儿子又会生孙子。子子孙孙，无穷无尽。而山不会增高，为什么会挖不平呢?”智雯被问得无话可说了。天帝知道此事后，被愚公的诚心所感动，就命令一个神背走了两座山。

Later, the Heaven God was reported the story of Yu Gong and greatly moved"by the ofd man's determination⁵. He then ordered another god to come down and take the two high mountains away. The story tells us that so long as one is deter-mined and sticks to it long enough，anything can be done，no matter how difficult it is.

后世常用“愚公移山”来比喻知难而进或有志者事竟成的精神。