A young thief and his mother

A young man was caught stealing, and sentenced to death three days later.

He wanted to speak with his mother before the execution1. Of course this was granted.

When his mother came to him, he said, I want to tell you something. He said something but she could not hear. He whispered again, and when she came close to him, she put her ear to his mouth. He nearly bit off her ear. All the bystanders were horrified2.

It is to punish her, he said. When I was young I began stealing little things, and brought them home to mother. Instead of punishing me, she laughed and said, 'It will not be noticed.' It is because of her that I am here today.

一個小偷被逮了個正著，因此被判處死刑，三天后實行。

他想在行刑前與他的媽媽話別，當然這是允許的。

當他母親來到他的面前，他說：對你說一件事。他輕輕說了一遍，但她聽不到；等她走近些，小偷又輕聲說了一遍。媽媽將耳朵貼近時，兒子忽然咬住媽媽的耳朵，差點撕下來，周圍的人都驚呆了。

這是對她的懲罰，小偷說，我小時候小偷小摸，把偷的東西帶回家時，她不但不懲罰我，反而笑著說不要讓人看見。就是由于她我才落個今天如此的下場。