Reply to Pei Zhuo, Aide to the Heir Apparent答裴拙庶子書
1The sparrow has many ailments, and the crane has come from far away
某遠離海島。旅宦江皐。比者暫願退居。稍期肄業。來投樂國。冀濟窮塗。本望少贍山資。便諧谷隱。伏蒙太尉念以雀有多病。鶴自遠來。特署職名。俾趨恩化。尋緣狂花有失。腐芥無依。轉知山鹿野麋。唯宜退縮。永謂鴻儔鵠侶。不合攀瞻。況乃器比斗筲之人。身隨刀筆之吏。旅舍旣拘於雉堞。閒門可設其雀羅。自前年伏承庶子暫阻朝天。偶來避地。便欲托金牌之幸會。敍玉季之奬憐。專候起居。願搜誠懇。蓋慮迹賤而動多悔吝。才微而易見棄捐。強自微攀舊恩。是爲玷浼淸德。以此跧藏形影。綿歷歲時。雖知提帚有門。唯恐負荊無路。豈料庶子恕以未陳禰刺。先降劉牋。閱温言而楚纊覆身。捧華翰而隋珠耀掌。兼蒙賢弟起居未移曩顧。遠賜榮緘。不遺異域之人。特辱同年之字。金膏珠粉。旣垂摩拂之恩。驥尾龍髥。重有依攀之望。莫不駑駘長價。瓴甋生光。不唯誇衒於親朋。實所輝榮於遠俗。謹當占筮撰日。齋沐拜塵。隳肝而盡瀝卑誠。擢髮而少逃厚責。其他所奉尊旨。謹具別狀啓陳云云。
I left the islands of the sea far behind and served as a traveler in office by the river shore. Of late I wished to withdraw for a while and looked to practice my studies a little. I came and threw myself upon this happy land, hoping to be saved from a road that had run out. What I wanted from the first was to make my mountain funds a little fuller and so to meet a life hidden in a valley. The Grand Commandant thought of me as a sparrow with many ailments and a crane come of itself from far away, and he entered my name for an office on purpose, so that I might hurry to his kindly teaching. But soon the mad blossom suffered loss, and the rotten straw had nothing to lean on. I came to know the better that a mountain deer or a field elk should only draw back and withdraw, and I thought forever that the flock of the wild goose and the company of the swan were not for me to clasp or look up to. Still more, my vessel ranks with men of a peck and a hamper, and my person follows the clerks of knife and brush. My traveler's lodging was already hemmed in by the battlements, and a net for sparrows might be spread before my quiet gate. Since last year I have heard that you, Aide, were barred for a time from attending at court and had come by chance to take refuge here. At once I wished to lean on the lucky meeting of the golden tablet and to tell over the encouragement and care of your worthy younger brother. I waited only to ask after your health and hoped to lay out my sincere and earnest heart. But I feared that my traces were low, so that a move would bring much regret, and that my talent was slight, so that I would easily be cast away. To take hold even a little of an old kindness by force would be to stain your pure virtue. And so I have kept my shape and shadow crouching out of sight, and the seasons and the years have gone by. Though I knew there was a gate where I might take up the broom, I feared only that there was no road on which to bear the thorns. How could I have reckoned that you, Aide, would forgive me for not yet presenting the card of Mi Heng and would send down the letter of Liu first? When I read your warm words, the cotton of Chu covered my body. When I took up your splendid writing, the pearl of the Marquis of Sui shone in my palm. Along with it your worthy younger brother asked after me, and his care had not moved from what it was before. He sent me a glorious letter from afar. He did not cast off a man of a strange land, and he stooped to use the words of one of the same year. Gold paste and pearl powder have already let fall the kindness of their polishing, and I have the hope of clinging once more to the tail of the swift horse and the beard of the dragon. There is nothing in it but that the worn-out nag rises in price and the roof tile takes on a shine. Not only can I boast of it to my kin and my friends. It is truly a shining honor among a far-off people. I shall duly cast lots to choose a day, fast and bathe, and bow in your dust. I shall break my liver and pour out my low sincerity to the last, and though I pull out my hairs to count them I shall hardly escape a heavy charge. As for the other matters of your honored instruction, I shall set them out with respect in a separate letter, and so on.