牛旺莊“瓜打金牛”的傳說

很久以前，濟南的東郊是一片泥水汪洋的葦子灣，每年夏秋月圓夜深時，有一頭金牛總會來灣中沐浴戲水。附近的居民看到這頭金牛后，都覺得這頭牛一定不是尋常之物，遂心生歹念，想盡辦法制服金牛，據為己有。但多番努力都付之東流，始終沒有人能夠接近那頭金牛，時間一長人們也就打消了捕捉金牛的念頭。金牛仍是定時來水灣戲水沐浴。

當時，灣邊住著一對善良年邁的老夫婦，夫妻倆生活拮據，和家中惟一的希望老黃牛一起苦熬時日。一天，黃牛將死，含著淚對老夫妻倆說：“我死后，把我的角埋到東墻下，來年就會發芽、開花、結瓜。結瓜七七四十九天后，你們把瓜摘下，等到金牛再次來到灣邊沐浴時，你們用瓜打灣中的金牛。打中之后，金牛就會被你們馴服，從此代替我聽您二老使喚。”說完，老黃牛就斷氣了。

夫妻二人依老黃牛所說，將牛角埋于東墻下，第二年果然長出一棵新苗。隨著時間的流逝，小苗漸漸長大、開花、結果。花落結瓜后的第49天，老兩口滿懷希望地前去摘瓜，可是來到瓜藤前卻怎么也找不著老黃牛所說的那個瓜，只得失望而歸。

瓜怎么會不翼而飛？原來，莊里有個二流子得知秘密后，在結瓜48天時將瓜偷走。第二天他來到灣邊，見金牛一到便用瓜擊之。由于金瓜早摘一天，未能制服金牛。金牛狂躁而起，用雙角將二流子抵死。地痞偷雞不成反蝕米，投機取巧，丟了性命。

金牛化作一道金光向西北方向跑去，從此再也沒有來過。金牛沒了，人們就把此地稱為“牛亡莊”。后來，人們認為“亡”不吉利，遂改為“牛旺莊”。

The Legend of “Hitting the Golden Bull with a Melon” in Niuwang Village

Once upon a time， there was a village in the eastern suburbs of Jinan， to the north of which there was a reed marsh. Every summer and autumn， during the late night when the moon appeared， a golden bull would play with water in the reed marsh. A kindhearted old couple lived beside the reeds with a yellow bull. One day， their yellow bull was about to die. Before dying， it said to them: “After I die， please bury my horns in the ground under the eastern wall， and they will bloom and bear fruit next year. On the 49th day after they fruit， you can pick off the melon and hit the golden bull with it at the time of the full moon. Then the golden bull will be at your beck and call.” The next autumn， as the bull had said， a melon appeared under the eastern wall. A loafer in the village heard the secret and stole the melon on the 48th day. The next day he came to the reed marsh and hit the golden bull with the fruit. But he didn’t succeed， since he picked the fruit one day ahead of the schedule. The golden bull went mad and killed the loafer with its horns. It drank all of the water in the reed marsh and ran off to the north. The golden bull was lost， so the local people changed the name of the village as “Niuwang，” which， in Chinese literally means “the bull is lost.”