译文：曾子的妻子要到集市去，她的孩子边跟着她边小声哭，母亲对他说：“你先回去，等我回家后再杀猪给你吃。”妻子刚从集市回来，就看见曾子要抓住猪把它杀了，妻子阻止他说：“刚才只不过是和小孩子开玩笑罢了。”曾子说：“孩子是不能和他随便开玩笑的。孩子是要听从父母的教导。如今你欺骗他，就是教他学会欺骗。母亲欺骗孩子，孩子就不会再相信母亲，这不是教育孩子该用的方法。”曾子于是就把猪煮了。这个故事说明了要用诚实守信的人生态度，不可欺骗别人。
《古代寓言·曾参杀猪》
曾子之妻之市，其子随之而泣。其母曰：“女还，愿反为女杀彘。”
妻适市来，曾子欲捕彘杀之。
妻止之曰：“特与婴儿戏耳。”
曾子曰：“婴儿非也戏也！婴儿非有知也，待父母而学者也，听父母之教。今子欺之，是教子欺也。母欺子，子而不信其母，非以成教也。”
遂烹彘也。
——《韩非子》
Why Zeng Shen Killed the Pig
One day, when Zeng Shen's wife was going to the market, their son cried and clamoured to go with her.
"Go back now!" she wheedled him. "When I get home we'll kill the pig for you."
Upon her return, she found Zeng Shen about to kill the pig. She hastily stopped him.
"I didn't really mean it," she protested. "I just said that to keep the boy quiet."
"How can you deceive a child like that?" asked Zeng Shen. "Children know nothing to begin with, but they copy their parents and learn from them. When you cheat the boy, you are teaching him to lie. If a mother deceives her child, he will not trust her, and that is no way to bring him up."
So he killed the pig after all.
Han Fei Zi
