昔有婆子,供一庵主、經二十年,常令一二八女子送飯給待。一日令女
抱定曰,正與麼時如何。主曰、古木倚寒巖、三冬無暖氣。女子歸舉似婆。
婆曰、我二十年袛供養得俗、遂遣出燒却庵。
There was an old woman who supported a hermit. For twenty years she always had a girl, sixteen or seventeen years old, take the hermit his food and wait on him.
One day she told the girl to give the monk a close hug and ask, "What do you feel just now?"
The hermit responded,
An old tree on a cold cliff;
Midwinter-no warmth.
The girl went back and told this to the old woman. The woman said, “For twenty years I've supported this vulgar good-for-nothing!" So saying, she threw the monk out and burned down the hermitage.
The old woman was bighearted enough
To elevate the pure monk with a girl to wed.
Tonight if a beauty were to embrace me
My withered old willow branch would sprout a new shoot!
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