古代寓言原是民间口头创作，文学体裁的一种。含有讽喻或明显教训意义的故事。它的结构简短。主人公可以是人，可以是动物，也可以是无生物。多借用比喻手法，使富有教训意义的主题或深刻的道理在简单的故事中体现，而还需要自己去理解，思考，这就是和西方寓言的不同之处。

《古代寓言·只是没有糟》

余郡西三十里，有河洑山。山隈有王婆庙，不知何代人。父老相传，此婆酿酒为业。一道士往来其家，每索酒，辄予饮，累数百壶不酬值，婆不与较。一日道士谓婆曰：“予饮若酒，无钱相值，请为若掘井。”井成，泉涌出，皆醇酒。道士曰：“此以偿耳！”遂去。婆不复酿酒，但持井所出泉应酤者，比宿酿更佳，酤者踵至逾三年，得钱几数万，家遂富。前道士忽又至，婆深谢之。道士问曰：“酒好否？”答曰：“好倒好，只猪无糟耳！”道士笑题其壁曰：“天高不算高，人心第一高，井水做酒卖，还道猪无糟。”题讫去，自是井不复出酒矣。

——《雪涛小说》

No Dregs for the Swine

Thirty li west of my prefecture lies Hefu Mountain, in whose shelter nestles a temple dedicated to one Wang Po (Old Dame Wang). Nobody knows when this old woman lived. A story has it that she made a living by selling wine and that there was a Taoist priest who often came to her shop and drank wine without paying her. But the old woman did not seem to mind. One day, the priest said to her, "I have never paid you for any of the wine I have drunk, but I will sink a well for you." So the priest sank the well and it proved to contain the mellowest of wine. "This is my payment!" said the priest, and was gone.

The old woman no longer brewed her own wine but sold that from the well to the customers, who found it better than any they had ever tasted. Drinkers crowded her shop, and in three years she became very rich.

One day, the priest came again. The old woman thanked him.

"Is the wine good?" asked the priest.

"Very good," answered the old woman. "Only there are no dregs for the swine!"

The priest laughed and wrote on the wall the following lines:

High is the sky,

But higher is human desire.

Well water she sells as wine,

Yet complains for lack of dregs for her swine!

Then the priest went away and the well gave no more wine.

Stories by Xue Tao

（杨宪益、戴乃迭 译）

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