To Move the Mountains（愚公移山）
By-Abby
Tanghang and Wangwu are two mountains covering an area of seven hundred li square and reaching a great height of thousands of ren. They located in the south of Jizhou and the north of Heyang.
In the north of mountains, there was an old man named Yugong (which means foolish man) who was nearly 90 years old. Faced with two mountains, Yugong found it was very inconvenient to go out. So he gathered his family members in a room to discuss the matter.
“We should exert ourselves to move two mountains out of our way to the south of Yu and the southern bank of Han River. What’s your opinion?” said Yugong.
Everyone agreed with him. But his wife was skeptical of his solution.
She said“you are too weak to move the hill of Kuifu. Not to mention the mountains like Taihang and Wangwu. Supposing you are strong enough to do it, where can you place the earth and stone?”
Somebody said“Throw it to the end of Bo Sea and the north of Ying area.”
Therefore Yugong guided three people of his descendant to dig the stone of the mountains. Then they carried the earth and stone to the end of Bo Sea with dustpan. His neighbor----a widow whose family
name was Jingcheng had a seven-year old boy who was happy to help them. From winter to next summer, they can return once.
An old man called Zishou laughed at Yugong and tried to prevent him from moving the mountains.
He said“It is very foolish to move the mountains. With your weak body, you can’t eliminate the grass in the mountains. How can you move the earth and stone of the mountains?”
Yugong sighed and said“Compared to the brain of the widow and her child, yours is very inflexible. Though I will die someday, my son live on. He will have his own son and my grandson will have his descendant too. This is unlimited. But the size of that two mountains will not grow anymore. In this way, why can’t we succeed in moving mountains?” Zishou had nothing to say then.
When the God of mountains knew the thing that Yugong wanted to do, he was afraid that Yugong would not stop digging the mountains. So he told the king of the God that Yugong’s planning of moving the mountains. The king of the God was touched by Yugong’s sincerity. The king ordered two sons of Kua’eshi to take the mountains away. One took a mountain to the east of Shuozhou. The other took it to the south of Yongzhou. From then on, there was nothing to hinder the transportation of Han River.
