In ancient times, at the foot of Mount Tai surrounded by mountains, one often heard of tales of tigers devouring2 people

　　One day, Confucius and his disciples4 passed by Mount Tai. As they walked along, his disciples talked about what they had heard and seen.

　　Suddenly, they heard someone weeping in the distance. They went over and saw a young woman who, with her head covered with a white kerchief, wore white cotton clothes, trousers, shoes and stockings. She was kneeling in front of a new grave and weeping bitterly. The disciples didn't know what to do. Confucius ordered one of them to go forward and ask: "Who has died? Why are you weeping in such sorrow?"

　　The woman raised her head, wiped her red and swollen5 eyes, sobbed6 and answered intermittently7: "In the past, my father-in-law was devoured8 by a tiger. Later, my husband was devoured by a tiger too. Now my son has also been bitten to death by a tiger."

　　Confucius' disciple3 asked worriedly: "The tiger harmed the lives of three generations of your family. Why didn't you leave this place earlier and move to somewhere else?"

　　The woman sobbed, saying: "There are tigers here, but there are no exorbitant9 taxes, levies10 or heavy corvee here!" When Confucius heard this, he turned to his disciples and said: "Remember, tigers devour1 people, but tyranny is fiercer than tigers!"

　　古代，在群山環(huán)抱的泰山腳下，常常聽到老虎吃人的事情。

　　有一天，孔子帶著弟子路過泰山。弟子們一邊走，一邊談論著所見所聞。

　　忽然，聽到遠處傳來哭聲。大家便走了過去，一看原來是一個年輕的婦女，頭上包著白色的頭巾，身上穿著白布衣褲，腳上套著白布鞋襪，正跪在一座新墳前面痛哭。弟子們不知如何是好，孔子叫弟子上前詢問：“死了誰？你為什么哭得這么傷心？”

　　婦女抬起頭來，擦著紅腫的眼睛，抽泣著斷斷續(xù)續(xù)地回答：“從前，我的公公被老虎吃掉了。后來，我的丈夫又被老虎吃掉了。如今，我的兒子也被老虎咬死了。”

　　孔子的弟子著急地問道：“老虎傷害了你家三代人的性命，你為什么不早點兒離開這里，搬到別處去呢？”

　　婦女哭著說：“這里有老虎，但是沒有苛捐雜稅和繁重的搖役??！孔子聽到這兒，回過頭來，對弟子們說：“你們記住，老虎吃人，可是苛政比老虎還要兇猛??！”