佛教的故事:The Monkey King and the Water Demon_少儿英语故事

佛教的故事:The Monkey King and the Water Demon

　　After a little while， the water demon saw that none of the monkeys went into the water to drink. So he rose out of the middle of the pond， taking the shape of afrightening monster. He had a big blue belly， a white face with bulging green eyes， and red claws and feet. He said，Why are you just sitting around? Come into the pond and drink at once!

　　The monkey king said to the horrible monster， Are you the water demon who owns this pond? Yes， I am，said he. Do you eat whoever goes into the water? askedthe king. Yes， I do， he answered， including even birds.I eat them all. And when you are forced by your thirst to come into the pond and drink， I will enjoy eating you， the biggest monkey， most of all! He grinned， and saliva dripped down his hairy chin.

　　But the monkey king with the well trained mind remained calm. He said， I will not let you eat me or a single one of my followers. And yet， we will drink all the water we want! The water demon grunted， Impossible! How will you do that? The monkey king replied， Each one of the 80，000 of us will drink using bamboo shoots as straws. And you will not be able to touch us!

　　Of course， anyone who has seen bamboo knows there is a difficulty. Bamboo grows in sections， one after another， with a knot between each one. Any one sectionis too small， so the demon could grab the monkey， pull him under and gobble him up. But the knots make itimpossible to sip through more than one section.