孔子神算

文/裴傳永

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孔子神算

文/裴傳永

孔子辦學，有教無類。在他門下，聚集了來自魯國和周邊許多國家的貧賤子弟，子夏便是其中一位。

子夏家境之貧寒，從《荀子·大略》所謂“子夏家貧，衣若懸鶉”的記載中就可見一斑。何為“衣若懸鶉”？意思是說身上穿的衣服就像是鵪鶉的尾巴。鵪鶉的尾巴，眾所周知，那可是少皮無毛的。用鵪鶉的尾巴比喻子夏身上的衣服，可見那該是何等的破爛不堪！不過，老天爺是最公平的。它雖然沒有給予子夏優越的家境，但卻賦予了他過人的才智。子夏的頭腦，那可不是一般的聰明，即便是“至圣先師”的孔子，也每每為身邊有這么一位伶俐的弟子而倍感欣慰?？鬃咏趟麑W習《詩經》，他很快便領會了微言大義，并能夠舉一反三；教他學習《周易》，無論是義理還是占卜之術他都能融會貫通。至于《尚書》、《儀禮》、《樂經》、《春秋》，他也無不下功夫學習，并且都做到了全面掌握、深刻領會。正因如此，孔子對這位比自己小了近30歲的弟子充滿了喜愛之情。子夏也是其門下最杰出的十大弟子之一。

深得老師喜愛的子夏，在婚姻生活方面也十分順利——才貌雙全的他娶了一位如花似玉的姑娘，兩人情投意合、相敬如賓，惹得不少年輕后生羨慕和嫉妒。子夏的媽媽看在眼里、樂在心里，巴望著兒媳婦早日有喜，給自己生個大胖孫子?？墒?，春夏秋冬走過了多少個輪回，子夏媳婦的肚子卻一直是外甥打燈籠——照舊（找舅）。子夏媽媽心里甭提有多著急了。子夏媳婦又何嘗不是如此？她懷疑是自己的身子有毛病，多次央求子夏休了自己，只是子夏主意堅決，才這么日復一日地把日子過了下來。

有一天，子夏的媽媽悄悄來到孔子府上，把自己的苦衷傾訴了一番?？鬃勇犃T，微笑著說道：“難道你那位聰明兒子沒有給你說過什么？這小子也真夠絕的。你就把心放到肚子里吧。我早就占算過了，別看這對小夫妻眼下沒有個一男半女，待到你兒子40歲的時候，就會成為5個兒子的父親，也就是說，在你兒子年滿40歲時，你將會擁有5個孫子?！弊酉膵寢屒殷@且喜、將信將疑地告辭回了家。

不久之后，子夏媳婦終于懷上了孩子，一家人高興得謝天又謝地，當然也不會忘了向神機妙算的孔圣人報喜道謝。第一個孩子生下來之后，子夏媳婦又接連生了4個，而且果如孔子所占，這5個是清一色的男丁。

孔子神算的故事于是傳遍了四面八方，并被載入書冊。

ConfuCius the MagiCal ProPhet

C onfucius made no social distinctions in his teaching. Thus, many pupils from humble beginnings came to regard Confucius as their mentor. Zixia was among them.

Zixia had an exceptionally smart mind. Confucius was invariably satisfied with this brilliant pupil.

Zixia also had a perfect family, for he married a lady as pretty as a flower. However, his wife was still not pregnant after many years. Zixia’s mother was very worried about this situation and she asked Confucius for help. Confucius gave them a divination and said that Zixia would have five sons when he was 40. Indeed Zixia’s wife gave birth to five boys one after the other.

The story about Confucius and his magic soothsaying soon grew popular and it went down in history.