有献不死之药于荆王者
Someone Presented a Pill for Immortality to Chu's King
【原文】
有献不死之药于荆王者，谒者操以人。中射之士问曰可食乎？” 曰广可。”因夺而食之。王怒，使人杀中射之士。中射之士使人说王曰：“臣问谒者，谒者曰可食，臣故食之。是臣无罪而罪在谒者也。且客献 不死之药，臣食之而王杀臣，是死药也。王杀无罪之臣，而明人之欺 王。”王乃不杀。
【今译】
有人给楚王进献长生不老药，负责引见宾客的官员拿着药进了宫。 宫廷侍卫问道可以吃吗？”负责？见宾客的官员说可以。”于是他就 夺过来吃了。楚王很憤怒，让人杀死宫廷侍卫。宫廷侍卫让人劝说楚王道广我问负责引见宾客的官员，他说可以吃，所以我才吃了。我没有 罪，有罪的是负责引见宾客的官员。再说客人进献长生不死的药，我吃 了它，大王就把我杀了，这就成了致死的药了。大王杀死无罪的我，就 表明献药的人是在欺骗大王.”于是楚王没有杀他。
Someone presented a pill for immortality to the king of the state of Chu. The officer in charge of receiving guests took it and entered the palace. A palace guard asked the officer, “Is it eatable?” “Yes，，，said the officer. Then the guard seized it and swallowed it. The king was angry and told his people to kill the guard. The guard sent someone to advise the king as follows； “I asked the officer in charge of receiving guests and he told me that one can eat the pill for immortality. So I ate it. In this case, I am innocent and the officer is guilty. Moreover，our guest has presented this pill for immortality. Your Majesty is going to kill me because I ate it. Thus it h nothing but a deadly poison. If you kill an innocent person like me，you are showing others that the guest is cheating you. ” So the king absolved him,