 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
> Summer Cicada and Pacific Tortoise
By sedron | October 27, 2007
According to legend, there was once a man named Peng Zu, who at 800 years old had lived the longest life ever. People exclaimed with excitement, “Wow, he is old!” Another, “You can say that again!!”
There is a small ephemeral insect called Morning Bug that is born in the morning and dies by nightfall. It doesn’t even know what a month is.
Then again, there is another insect called Summer Cicada that is born in the spring and dies in the summer. It doesn’t even know what the four seasons are.
In the southern Pacific Ocean, there once lived a giant wonder tortoise, to which five hundred years was merely a srping.
And a long long time ago, there lived a giant redwood sequoia tree, to which eight thousand years was merely an autumn.
People see Peng Zu as having lived a long life, but wasn’t he really just another tragic “short life” from the wonder tortoise’ and sequoia tree’s perspective?
小知不及大知，小年不及大年。奚以知其然也？朝菌不知晦朔，蟪蛄不知春秋，此小年也。楚之南有冥靈者，以五百歲為春，五百歲為秋；上古有大椿者，以八千歲為春，八千歲為秋。此大年也。而彭祖乃今以久特聞，眾人匹之，不亦悲乎！
Topics: Reader's Digest |