The Hand that Gives, Gathers

能捨才能得

A farmer received some good quality maize seeds from his relative, he was not sure if the maize seeds could really increase the yield, so he made a trial on a small piece of his own farmland. Unexpectedly, the yield was twice that of the ordinary maize. The farmer was amazingly happy and thought he was going to make a good fortune out of these good quality maize seeds.

一位農民得到親戚送來的一些玉米良種,但他不確定這種子是否真的能提高產量,便先在自家的地裏試種了一小塊。沒想到, 這種玉米 的產量是一般玉米的兩倍, 這個農民樂透了。這回, 他要發財了。

The news spread to the villagers and they came to the farmer’s house one after another, wanting to buy his corn varieties. The farmer would not sell any of his good quality maize seeds, no matter what the villagers told him.  He was not willing to let others increase the harvest which would in turn affect his profit.

鄉親們知道了這事, 紛紛來到他家, 想要購買他的玉米良種, 可無論怎麼跟他說, 這位農民就是不答應。他才不願意讓別人都提高產量呢! 那不是影響他發財的機會了嗎?

When spring came, the farmer planted all these corn varieties in the field, and he was looking forward to a bumper harvest. Out of his expectation, the harvest was lower than in the past when he planted with his ordinary maize seeds. He was puzzled, and even suspected that the villagers did some dirty tricks on his good quality maize seeds.

春天來臨的時候, 這位農民在地裏全種上這些玉米良種, 他滿心期待豐收的到來。沒想到, 這年他家的玉米不但沒有豐收, 而且比過去普通玉米種子的產量還要低! 他百思不得其解, 甚至懷疑是因為鄉親們沒有得到玉米良種, 所以暗中對他家的玉米做了手腳。

It wasn't until one time that his relative visited him and told him the secret of the maize seeds. It turned out that if the quality maize were surrounded by the ordinary maize, the pollen from the ordinary maize would be transferred to the quality one, hence affected the harvest.  If all the surroundings were planted with good varieties of maize, the result would be different. The farmer then realized:  “ Helping others is in fact helping oneself.  The hand that gives, is the hand that receives.

直到有一次,他的親戚來看望他, 聽他說了此事, 才道出了真相。原來良種玉米的周圍如果都是普通玉米, 那麼良種玉米接受的大多是附近普通玉米的花粉, 這樣良種玉米也變成普通玉米 了。如果周邊全種上了良種玉米, 就不會出現這個結果了。 這位農民這才醒悟:「原來,幫助別人就是幫助自己,要能捨才能得啊!」