592'

Stick It Out
坚持到底

There was a young hunter, who was a marksman, but couldn’t catch wild geese. So he went to an old man to ask for advice.
有一位年轻的猎手，枪法极准，但总捕不到大雁。
于是，他去向一位长者求教。

The old man took him to the reed habitat of wild geese, pointed at a wild goose standing at the highest point and said, “That wild goose is a sentry, which we call it wild goose slave. As long as it finds something unusual, it will give an alarm to the wild geese. But I have a method: Now you deliberately start the slave and then lurk there motionless.”
长者把他领到一片大雁栖息的芦苇地，指着站得最高的一只大雁说：“那只大雁是放哨的，我们管它叫雁奴。它只要一发现异常情况就会向雁群报警，所以接近雁群往往是很难的。但我有办法，你现在故意惊动雁奴，再潜伏不动。”
The young man did as he was told. Having found the young man, the slave immediately gave an alarm to its companions. After hearing the news, the wild geese roosting there fled, but they flew back in situ when they found nothing happened.
年轻人照着做了。雁奴发现年轻人后，立即向同伴发出警告。正在栖息的雁群闻讯后纷纷出逃，但没发现什么，便又飞回原地。
The old man let the young man follow suit for a few times. Finally, a few wild geese thinking they were fooled started attacking the slave. Repeatedly, almost all the wild geese thought the slave gave false military intelligence and vented all their discontent on the slave. The poor slave was pecked all over with cuts and bruise.
长者让年轻人如法炮制了好几回。终于，有几只一位受骗的大雁向雁奴发动攻击。如此再三，几乎所有的大雁都以为雁奴谎报军情，纷纷把不满发泄在雁奴身上。可怜的雁奴被啄得伤痕累累。
“Now, you can approach the geese,” reminded the old man .
So the young man strutted into the reeds. The slave saw the young man, but it was tired of caring. And the young man raised his gun…
“现在，你可以逼近雁群了。”长者提醒道。
于是，年轻人大摇大摆地走进了芦苇地。
雁奴虽然瞧在眼里，但也懒得再管。年轻人举起了枪…
The tragedy often occurs in this way: The loyal misunderstood while the misunderstood cannot stick it out.
悲剧往往就是这样发生的：忠诚的人被误解，被误解的人不能坚持到底。

大千百科
goose: a bird like a large duck with a long neck.（牛津）
大雁是群居动物，往往种群中体型最小的那一只就自觉地当上了雁奴。
我们的故事虽然用英文讲述，但是利用大雁天性在种群里制造混乱以成功捕猎的事迹并非国外才有。相似的故事早在明代著名文学家宋濂的《宋文宪公全集》中就有收录。

marksman:a person who is skilled in accurate shooting （牛津）
sniper: a person who shoots at sb from a hidden position （牛津）

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