冯梦龙·《笑府·凳脚》 with English Translations

乡间坐凳，多以现成树丫叉为脚者。一脚偶坏，主人命仆往山中觅取。仆持斧出，竟日空回。主人责之，答曰：“丫叉尽有，都是向上生，更无向下的。”

Most stools in the countryside used ready-made branches as legs. One stool leg happened to be broken. The master asked his servant to search for one in the woods. The servant went out with an axe. He didn’t come back until quite late at night. His master asked what took him so long. He replied: “Though there are plenty of branches, they all grow upwards. I didn’t find a single one that goes downwards.”

（陈沅恺 译）

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