八、斷舌累子
法苑珠林上記載：唐高祖武德年間，有一位農夫，為人非常狠毒。
有一次，他到田間查看農田，剛好看見鄰家的牛，踐踏了他田裡的農作物。
8. Severing The Bull’s Tongue Harms His Sons
This story was recorded in the book Fayuan Zhulin. In the year of Wu-de during the reign of Tang Gao-zu, there lived a farmer, who was by nature a cruel man.
他非常忿怒的一把揪住牛頭，竟用繩繫緊牛舌，猛力將舌拉斷，可憐的牛，滿口鮮血淋漓，慘痛難言，不敢哀鳴。鄰里鄉人紛來圍觀，見此情狀，都指責農夫的手段太殘酷了。
後來他結婚生了三個孩子，都不能說話，成了啞吧。大家都認為這是他心地殘忍，招來的現實報應。
One day when he went to check his fields he saw that his neighbor’s bull was trampling on his crops. He was extremely angry and caught hold of its head. He tied the bull’s tongue with a rope and pulled so hard that the tongue was severed. The poor animal’s mouth was full of blood but it could not cry out in pain. The villagers who had gathered around witnessed his evil act and scolded him for being so cruel.
Later he got married and had three sons who were all born mute. Everyone knew that this was the visible retribution for a cruel and unkind man.