§77 搆驴乳喻

(77) to milk a donkey

昔边国人，不识于驴，闻他说言，驴乳甚美，都无识者。尔时诸人，得一父驴，欲搆其乳，争共捉之。

once upon a time, there was a group of frontiersmen who had never seen a monkey before. thus they could not identify it. they were told that its milk was delicious. it happened that they found a male donkey and they tried to milk it. they began their wrangling about apprehending it.

其中有捉头者，有捉耳者，有捉尾者，有捉脚者，复有捉器者，各欲先得，于前饮之。中捉驴根，谓呼是乳，即便搆之，望得其乳。众人疲厌，都无所得，徒自劳苦，空无所获，为一切世人之所嗤笑。

one seized its head: another, its ears; the third, its tail; the fourth, its feet; and finally the fifth, its penis. all wanted to be the first to drink its milk. the one who grasped the donkey's penis called out that he could get milk there from. then he began to extract. finally, this group of people felt tired and bored, for they could not get what they had wanted. they got nothing in return, despite of their effort. they were all laughed at by the people at large.

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