提 要

「庸人自擾」源於《新唐書．陸像先傳》：唐睿宗時，朝中監察御使陸像先，為人寬容，因故被貶到益州當按察使，對百姓十分寬厚仁慈，他對建議任何事都應動刑的酷吏說：「本來沒什麼了不起的事，只是見識淺陋、平庸無能之輩，自己騷擾自己，結果把容易解決的事情搞砸了。」

類似的英文也有一句：「Much Ado About Nothing」出自莎士比亞劇作《無事生非》，也就是俗語說的：「天下本無事，庸人自擾之。」

Once upon a time, there lived a man who had a long beard that he was very proud of. Every day, he would clean his bushy beard and comb it neatly. Then, he would stroke his bread, stretching his neck with pride. "My long beard makes me look scholarly and dignified," he would think and smile himself.

One night, the man was sitting his house and reading a book by candle-light. Suddenly, he was come across a sentence that read: A man with a long beard is a fool.

At first, he couldn’t believe he was reading it correctly. He blinked his eyes, rubbed them many times, opened them wide, and read the sentence again. It clearly said: A man with a beard is a fool.

At this, the man was very disappointed. He walked up to the window, holding his beard in his hand. “How can I believe such a remark!” he wondered.

“The bearded fool!” “If it is true, then I am a fool! Oh, what a stupid thought!” he murmured, brushing the suggestion away from his mind.

The bearded man tried to forget what he had read in the book but it kept haunting him. “I always thought a long beard was a sign of intelligence. Was I under a delusion?” The deeper the man pondered, the more depressed he became. “No, no! I can’t take any chances. Maybe what is written in the book is true.”

Finally, he decided to get rid of his long beard. “What is the use of nurturing something that makes me look like a fool?” So, he grabbed his beard in one hand, and walked up to the place where the candle was burning.

Then, closing his mouth tightly, he held the tip of his beard to the candle’s flame. It instantly caught fire and began to burn. “Eeeaaaaa!” the man screamed in panic; he had never expected that the fire would spread so fast. Before he realized what was happening, his beard and moustache were burnt to ashes.

Then, a spark leapt up and landed on his head, causing the fire to burn the hair on his head as well. Hearing his cries, the neighbors came running. They splashed buckets of water on the man’s face and put out the fire. “How did it happen?” they asked.

The man took a deep breath and said, “I read in a book that a man with a long beard is a fool. And indeed I have proved it!”

解 說

曾經有一個人留著一把長長的鬍鬚，讓他非常自豪。每天，他會清理自己濃密如樹叢的鬍子，梳理整齊。然後，他會拍拍下巴，得意地伸長脖子說：「我的鬍子讓我看起來像是有尊嚴的學者。」想著想著，還會自己笑出來。

一天晚上，這個男人坐在他的屋子裡，就著蠟燭讀書。突然，他看到了一句話：「留鬍鬚的人是笨蛋。」

起初，他不能相信他看得對不對，他眨了眨眼睛、揉了很多次，再睜大眼睛讀一遍。那行字還是清清楚楚地寫著：「留鬍鬚的人是笨蛋。」

在這種情況下，鬍鬚男失望透頂。他走向窗前，手裡握著鬍子。「我怎麼能相信這樣的話呢！」他思忖著。

「留鬍鬚的是笨蛋。」 「如果這是真的，那麼我是個笨蛋囉！哦，什麼愚蠢的想法！」 他嘟囔著，把愚蠢想法從腦海中掃出去。

鬍鬚男試圖忘記他在書中讀到的句子，但那句話一直困擾著他：「我一直認為鬍鬚代表智慧，我是在妄想嗎？」他思考得愈深，變得愈鬱鬱寡歡。 「不，不行，我不能冒險，也許這本書中寫的句子是真的。」

最後，鬍鬚男決定擺脫長鬍子：「保留讓我看起來像笨蛋的東西作什麼？」於是，他一手抓住自己的鬍子，走到蠟燭燃燒熊熊火光的地方。

接著，他閉緊雙唇，把鬍子的尖端放到蠟燭的火焰上，它立刻開始燃燒。「咿呀呀呀呀！」長鬚男驚慌尖叫，他從來沒有想過火會燒得這麼快。在察覺發生了什麼之前，他下巴和鬢角的鬍子已經全部都燒成灰燼。

然後，一個火苗彈起，落在他的頭頂，使火燒向他的頭髮。聽到他的哭喊，鄰居們跑來，在無鬚男的臉上頭頂一桶一桶地潑水、把火撲滅，「怎麼會發生這種事？」他們問。

無鬚男深深地吸了一口氣說：「我在一本書中讀到『留長鬍鬚的人是笨蛋。』而我竟已經證明這句話是對的！」