臺灣民間故事「自恨枝無葉，莫怨太陽偏」故事探論

中國人深受「命定」思想的影響，認為人生的劇本早已寫定了，而生命的歷程只是實踐既定的命運而已。台灣民間故事「自恨枝無葉，莫怨太陽偏」故事描述正是「貧富有定，非人力之所得而爭」宿命想法的典型，故事主人翁或為一富家子，天生乞丐命，雖娶賢妻企圖轉運，但終究還是家道中落，淪作乞丐；或主人翁是二名乞丐，同年同月同日生，只差一刻，姓名直取為枝無葉和太陽偏，但是二人命運大不同，枝無葉天生乞丐命，即使得到太陽偏的資助，仍舊無福消受。同時「自恨枝無葉，莫怨太陽偏」故事也是諺語和民間故事交互影響的例證。本文以此民間故事為基礎，試圖對此類故事進行分析，並對此類故事中與客家習俗「送窮」作一番考探，進而對於此類故事作了相關析論，期能對此類民間故事有更深入的認識。

關鍵字

乞食；枝無葉；太陽偏；民間故事；諺語；命定

並列摘要

Chinese people who are influenced deeply by the idea of ＂fate＂ believe that the scenario of life has already been determined and life is just the process of following the preordained destiny. The Taiwanese folktale, ＂Trees that don’t thrive blame the sun for being unfair,＂ is a typical story describing the idea of the predestination, that is, ＂being rich or poor is fate so it cannot be changed by humans.＂ One version of the tale is told: the hero was a rich man, but he had been destined to become a beggar. He got married to an intelligent wife in order to change his fate; finally, he still cannot escape from bankruptcy and then became a beggar. The other version says: there were two beggars who were born on the same day. The times of their deliveries were only a quarter apart. One was named Zhi wu-ye, and the other was Tai yang-pian. But, their fates were totally different. Zhi wu-ye was fated to be a beggar by birth. Though he received help from Tai yang-pian, he had no luck to make a fortune. The tale of ＂Trees that don’t thrive blame the sun for being unfair＂ shows the interaction between proverb and folktale.This investigation is based on the folktale to make analysis, and also compare it with the Hakka custom ＂Eliminating Poverty＂ for further study and understanding.