郭橐駝，不知始何名。病僂，隆然伏行，有類橐駝者，故鄉人號之“駝”。駝聞之，曰：“甚善。名我固當。”因舍其名，亦自謂橐駝雲。

Camel Guo—no one was aware of where the name came from. He was hunch-backed because of a hump on his back like a camel due to the afflicted spine; therefore, the folks nicknamed him camel". Guo responded, "It is an appropriate name for me, and it is fine. So, he discontinued using his original name and has called himself Camel Guo ever since.

其鄉曰豐樂鄉，在長安西。駝業種樹，凡長安豪富人為觀游及賣果者，皆爭迎取養。視駝所種樹，或移徙，無不活，且碩茂，早實以蕃。他植者雖窺伺效慕，莫能如也。

He lived in the county of Fengle, located on the west side of Changan. Guo lived by planting trees, and the wealthy people who were doing the business of landscape architecture and fruit in the city of Changan had catered to Guo for help. They observed that the trees Guo planted or migrated had all grown well, were tall and exuberant, and had fruited bigger and earlier. Even other people tried to learn from him on the sly, but it was all in vain.

有問之，對曰：“橐駝非能使木壽且孳也，能順木之天，以致其性焉爾。凡植木之性，其本欲舒，其培欲平，其土欲故，其築欲密。既然已，勿動勿慮，去不復顧。其蒔也若子，其置也若棄，則其天者全而其性得矣。故吾不害其長而已，非有能碩茂之也；不抑耗其實而已，非有能早而蕃之也。他植者則不然，根拳而土易，其培之也，若不過焉則不及。苟有能反是者，則又愛之太恩，憂之太勤，旦視而暮撫，已去而復顧，甚者爪其膚以驗其生枯，搖其本以觀其疏密，而木之性日以離矣。雖曰愛之，其實害之；雖曰憂之，其實仇之，故不我若也。吾又何能為哉！”

Some people asked Guo why he acquitted himself well in planting. He replied to the questions, "I cannot make trees live longer and grow faster; I just let them be to accommodate their nature, which contains an unrestrained root and an even patch of tightly pressed soil, the same as culculating its seed. After finishing doing these things, just leave the tree alone and dont worry about it any more. When culculating, meticulously treat the tree like you treat your children. When finished, just put it aside untended. In so doing, its nature can be well preserved. A planter like me is just not going to hinder it from growing. So, I dont have any knack for making the tree grow faster and bigger, nor do I know how to make it fruit in abundance. But other planters do otherwise. When noticing the roots are twisted, they hasten to change soil; when culculating, they may either press the soil too tight or too loose. Even if they have done the right things, they may care about the trees too much and worry about them too often: visiting them in the mornings, caring for them in the evenings, and coming back right after leaving. Those caring planters may even scratch the skin of the trees open to see if they are still alive and shake them to see if their roots are solid enough. Therefore, the nature of the trees is gradually disappearing. They treat the trees nice; actually, they treat them bad. They care about the trees; in fact, they harbor rancor toward them. Hence, they are all inferior to me in planting, so what else can I do to help them?

問者曰：“以子之道，移之官理，可乎？”駝曰：“我知種樹而已，官理，非吾業也。然吾居鄉，見長人者好煩其令，若甚憐焉，而卒以禍。旦暮吏來而呼曰：‘官命促爾耕，勖爾植，督爾獲，早繅而緒，早織而縷，字而幼孩，遂而雞豚。’鳴鼓而聚之，擊木而召之。吾小人輟飧饔以勞吏者，且不得暇，又何以蕃吾生而安吾性耶？故病且怠。若是，則與吾業者其亦有類乎？”

Someone asked Guo, "Is your principle of plantation also applicable to the governance? Camel Guo replied to the question, "I am only familiar with planting, and governance is not my specialty." However, in the county here, I have seen many officials love to give orders to the folks, one after another. It seems the government cherishes its people, but eventually the people are the victims of those orders. In the mornings and in the evenings, some petty officials came and yelled that per orders from the top, you guys must culculate this, plant that, watch out for your harvest, cocoon earlier and weave faster, foster your children, feed your chickens and pigs, and so on. Every now and then, they summoned our folks by drumming or clappin wood, and we had to stop our eating as to entertain those officials, which had spared the folks no time to rest. Under these circumstances, how could we lay ourselves down and raise our children naturally? So, folks are all tired of this kind of tough love and feel sick of it. Is there any similarity to my theory of planting?

問者曰：“嘻，不亦善夫！吾問養樹，得養人術。”傳其事以為官戒。

The man asked the question and then said, "Ha, is that a good idea? I got the method of governance by asking him how to plant trees." Thus, the author jotted down the story as a salutary warning to the officials.