姚旅·《露书》·《刑矮》英译

刑进士身矮，尝在鄱阳遇盗。盗既有其资，欲灭之以除患，方举刀，刑谕之曰：“人业呼我为刑矮，若去其头，不更矮乎？”盗大笑掷刀。

姚旅撰《露书》

Shortly Xing

There was a jingshi1 named Xing who was short of stature. Once he fell into the hands of a robber on Poyang Lake. After stripping him of all his valuables, the robber thought of killing him so as to remove the cause of future trouble. As he raised his sword, Xing said:

“People are already calling me Shortly Xing. If you must chop off my head, would that make me shorter still?”

At that the robber burst into a side-splitting laughter and threw down his sword.

Yao Lü: Lu shu (Book of Dew)

（卢允中 译）