蒙學漢文初階 第一百十三課 Beginning Chinese - Entry Level Lesson #113 金母以橘二枚授二子 gold mother with mandarin_orange two [classifier] award/to_give two sons 幼子置不食 younger son put/place not eat 母問何故 mother ask what why 曰頃者 said awhile [see comment] 兒有過 son has mistake/wrong 父親禁勿食也 father dear forbid not eat [ep] 父適入聞之喜曰 father just_now enter heard him happy said 兒能不敢欺母 son able not dare deceive mother 可食橘矣 can eat mandarin_orange ah Mother Kim gave two mandarin oranges to her two sons. The younger put it away and did not eat. The mother asked why. After a bit of hesitation [he] said, "Your son misbehaved, father had forbidden me to eat." Just then the father entered and heard [the conversation]. Happily he said, "My son dare not deceive his mother. So [you] can eat the mandarin orange!" Notes: 1. Since this is a Korean text book, I believe Korean pronunciation should be used. 2. 者 has three meanings in classical Chinese. The most common one is "the one/thing who/which". The other meaning is "this" or "that". In this context, the third meaning applies. It is used as a pause for dramatic effect, not unlike the semicolon in English.