Izposojeno bogastvo

Besedilo

Izposojeno bogastvo

Zhou Lanze was poor but devoted to the Way. He and his wife worked their fields at night, and when exhaustion overcame him, he lay down to rest. He dreamed that the Lord of Heaven passed by, took pity on him, and ordered his attendants to provide for him. The Arbiter of Fate consulted the registers and said, “This man is destined for poverty. His allotted fortune permits no more than this. There is, however, a certain Zhang Chezi who is to receive a fortune of ten million. Chezi has not yet been born; let us lend it to this man.” “Very well,” said the Lord of Heaven. At dawn Zhou awoke and told his wife the dream. Thereafter, husband and wife worked together with all their strength, earning their livelihood day and night. Everything they undertook prospered, until their wealth reached ten million. Some time before, a woman named Zhang had come to work for the Zhou household. She had become pregnant through an illicit union, and when her time came and she was about to give birth, she was sent outside. She took shelter beneath the cart shed and bore a son there. The master of the house went to see her and, pitying her poverty and lack of support, had gruel prepared for her to eat. “What will you name your child?” he asked. She replied, “Since he was born beneath the cart shed, and Heaven told me so in a dream, I shall call him Chezi.” Then Zhou understood. “I once dreamed that I received money from Heaven,” he said. “An attendant reported that Zhang Chezi’s money should be lent to me. This must be the child. The wealth is to return to him.” From that day onward, the Zhou household’s fortunes dwindled, while Chezi grew to manhood and became wealthier than the Zhous.