Wu Song Beats Tiger 武松打虎

On his way to visit his brother， Wu Song was at a place called Mount Jingyang. Though a bit drunk， he began to climb the mountain. Before long he saw a sign posted on a tree： "Travelers are advised to group together to climb over the mountain since tigers have killed some singular travelers of late. Please do not risk your life." Wu Song reasoned that the sign must have been written by the inn keeper at the foot of the mountain for the sake of scaring travelers into spending the night in his inn. He did not pay attention to the sign and continued on this way . At sunset he came to an old temple on top of the mountain. There Wu Song saw another official sing tigers on the mountain. Still， he decided no to return to the inn at the foot of the mountain for fear that the owner would laugh at him. He felt too drunk to walk on， so he decided to lie down on a slab of gray stone. Just as he was about to fall asleep， he felt a gust of wind whistling around him： It was a mammoth tiger charging at him. Wu Song immediately turned his body and dodged the animal. The tiger leapt again， but Wu Song managed to evade it. The beast got so angry that it used its tail to sweep toward Wu Song. Wu Song jumped to dodge the attack. He lifted his cudgel to hit the tiger while it was turning around， but his cudgel caught the branches of a tree and broke in two. The tiger was annoyed and launched another assault. Wu Song threw away the remnant of his cudgel and jumped onto the back of the tiger. With his left hand， he grabbed the skin of the head of the tiger， and he used his other fist to hit the eyes， mouth， nose and ears of the tiger. Before long， the tiger was bleeding all over and lied on the ground motionless. Wu Song was afraid the tiger was pretending to be dead， so he wielded the broken cudgel to hit the tiger until he was sure the tiger was dead. The incident on Mount Jingyang made Wu Song famous far and wide.

武松回家探望哥哥，途中路过景阳冈。在冈下酒店喝了很多酒，踉跄着向冈上走去。兴不多事，只见一棵树上写着："近因景阳冈大虫伤人，但有过冈克上，应结伙成队过冈，请勿自误。"武松认为，这是酒家写来吓人的，为的是让过客住他的店，竟不理它，继续往前走。太阳快落山时，武松来到一破庙前，见庙门贴了一张官府告示，武松读后，方知山上真有虎，待要回去住店，怕店家笑话，又继续向前走。由于酒力发作，便找了一块大青石，仰身躺下，刚要入睡，忽听一阵狂风呼啸，一只斑斓猛虎朝武松扑了过来，武松急忙一闪身，躲在老虎背后。老虎一纵身，武松又躲了过去。老虎急了，大吼一声，用尾巴向武松打来，武松又急忙跳开，并趁猛虎转身的那一霎间，举起哨棒，运足力气，朝虎头猛打下去。只听"咔嚓"一声，哨棒打在树枝上。老虎兽性大发，又向武松扑过来，武松扔掉半截棒，顺势骑在虎背上，左手揪住老虎头上的皮，右手猛击虎头，没多久就把老虎打得眼、嘴、鼻、耳到处流血，趴在地上不能动弹。武松怕老虎装死，举起半截哨棒又打了一阵，见那老虎确实没气了，才住手。从此武松威名大震。