Long, long ago, a minister asked his men, saying, "Who can collect debts for me in the villages far away?" A servant of his said he was willing to do it. The master a greed and then added, "When you come hack, buy something that I don't have."

The servant went to the villages one after another. He called together all the debtors and brought out their IOUs. He said, "My master has said that you shall not pay the debts any more." He burnt all the IOUs before them. They all shouted, "Long live the minister!"

The servant returned soon. His master was surprised to see the man had brought nothing back, so he asked, "Have you collected all the debts, man?"

"Yes, Master."

"What have you bought for me?"

"Didn't you say, 'Buy what I don't have'? I know you have lots of gold, jewels and servants.I don't think you have the love for the people. Now I've come back with it."

"What do you mean by the love for the people?"

"The villagers are very poor, too poor to pay off the debts. You have not shown them your love for them. But I did this for you by burning all their IOUs."

Hearing this the minister became very angry.

Two years later, when the minister was removed from office, he went to the country. The people there, old and young, all came out to welcome him.He said to the servant, "Today, I've come to know what the love for the people really means."

很久很久以前，一個(gè)部長(zhǎng)問他的手下：“誰(shuí)能為我到那些很遠(yuǎn)的村子里去討債?”一個(gè)仆人說(shuō)他愿意，部長(zhǎng)同意了，又補(bǔ)充說(shuō)：“你回來(lái)的時(shí)候，買一些我沒有的東西?！?/p>

仆人上路了，去了一個(gè)又一個(gè)的村子。他叫來(lái)所有的欠債人，拿出他們的借據(jù)說(shuō)：“部長(zhǎng)說(shuō)了，你們不用還債了。”他當(dāng)面把所有的借據(jù)都燒了。村民們大喊：“部長(zhǎng)萬(wàn)歲!”（接下頁(yè)）

不久仆人就回去了。他的主人看到他兩手空空地回來(lái)，感到很奇怪，就問，“你把債都要齊了嗎?”

“是的，主人?！?/p>

“那你給我買什么了?”

“您不是說(shuō)，‘買我沒有的東西嗎?我知道您不缺金銀財(cái)寶和仆人，我想您缺的是對(duì)民眾的愛。我現(xiàn)在就把它給您帶回來(lái)了?！?/p>

“你說(shuō)的對(duì)民眾的愛是指什么?”

“村民們都很窮，哪有錢還債。您尚未表達(dá)您對(duì)他們的愛，不過我已經(jīng)幫您做了，我把所有的借據(jù)都燒了?！?/p>

部長(zhǎng)聽了這話勃然大怒。

兩年后，部長(zhǎng)被罷免了官職，去了鄉(xiāng)下。那兒的村民，不論老少，都出來(lái)歡迎他。他對(duì)仆人說(shuō)：“今天，我總算明白關(guān)愛民眾有多么重要了?！?/p>