1、The Eagle and the Farmer
老鹰与农夫
One beautiful summer morning, a farmer went to check his animal traps. In one tap, he found a beautiful eagle. At first, he thought that he would hill the eagle and eat it.
But then he thought to himself, “This is a beautiful and special bird. It often catches rabbits and mice that eat my crops. I’ll let it go.”
He opened the trap, and the eagle spread its wings and flew up into the blue shy.
The eagle was very grateful to be free again. It continued to live on the farmer’s land and catch mice and rabbits.
Later that summer, the farmer was building a wall. It was high and made of large stones. Suddenly, the wall started to fall, but the farmer did not notice.
The eagle, flying above, saw that the farmer was in danger. It flew down and grabbed the farmer’s hat off his head. The farmer shouted, Hey! Bring that back!”
The eagle flew a short distance and then dropped the hat. The angry farmer picked up his hat and walked back. He saw that the stone wall had fallen. The farmer smiled and thought, “The eagle repaid me when I most needed help.”
2、The Donkey and the Shopkeeper
驴子与店主
A hardworking shopkeeper drove his donkey to the market to buy salt. On their way home, they had to cross a stream. The donkey was very tired, and he slipped on a rock and fell into the water.
To the donkey’s surprise, his load was now much lighter. The water had washed away almost all of the salt. The shopkeeper took the donkey back to the market and bought even more salt than before. This time when they reached the stream, the donkey fell into the water on purpose.
The shopkeeper saw through the donkey’s trick. He returned to the market and bought sponges instead of salt.
When they reached the stream, the donkey used his trick again and fell into the water. But this time the trick was on him. The sponges became heavy with water and the weight of his load greatly increased.
“I hope you’ve learned your lesson,” the shopkeeper said to the donkey. “If you use a trick to avoid work, you will just end up with more work in the end.”