Prevod

In Chang’an, in the Jingzhao region, there lived a certain Zhang. Once, while he was alone in a room, a dove flew in from outside and alighted on his bed. Zhang addressed it: “If your coming bodes ill for me, fly up to the canopy overhead; if it bodes well, fly into my bosom.” The dove flew into his bosom. He reached in to feel for it, but the dove was nowhere to be found; instead, he drew out a golden hook. He treasured it from that day on. Thereafter, his descendants grew steadily richer, their wealth increasing ten thousandfold. A merchant from Shu came to Chang’an and heard the story. He gave a maid a generous bribe, and she stole the hook and handed it over to him. Once Zhang had lost the hook, his family’s fortunes gradually declined. Yet the merchant from Shu also suffered repeated hardships and misfortunes: the hook brought him no benefit. Someone told him, “This is Heaven’s decree. It cannot be gained by force.” So he took the hook back to Zhang, and the Zhang family prospered once more. Hence, west of the passes, people speak of the hook handed down in the Zhang family.