One day, a little horse was asked to mill¹ flour by his mother ，He carried the two bags of wheat and left home. He was walking happily.When he came to a river,the mill was on the other side of the river and there was no bridges over the water. Now, what would the little horse do. Looking at the flowing water, he got confused². Then he saw an old cow eating grass on the bank, . So he asked him : “ Uncle cow, is the water deep ? And can I walk across it ? ” “ Not at all ! ” the cow said. “It’s just as high as my lower³ legs, you can go across it. It’s safe. ” Then the little horse was ready to go across the water. Just then, a squirrel⁴ in the tree shouted to him : “Little horse, don’t go in the water. It’s too deep. You’ll get drawned, and one of my friends got drawned in it a few days ago. ” So the little horse drew back his legs quickly, he had to go back to ask his mother what to do. When his mother heard his story, she laughed and said to him : “ My child, it’s not enough if you only listen to the others. you must try it by yourself, then you'll find the truth. ”

有一天，一匹小马的妈妈让他去磨房磨面，他背着两袋子麦子离开了家，他很快乐的走着。当他来到了一条河，磨房在河对面，可河上没有桥。现在小马该怎么办呢？看着滚滚的河水，他困惑了，然后他看见一头老牛在河岸边吃草，于是他问道：“牛叔，水深吗？我能过河吗？”牛叔答道：“一点也不深，你可以过河，水只到到我的小腿肚，很安全。”于是小马就准备过河了，就在那时，树上的小松鼠对小马大喊道：“小马，不要过河，水太深了，你会被淹死的，我的一个朋友前些天才被溺水了。”于是小马马上把腿收回来，他必须得回家问问妈妈该怎么办？当他妈妈听到这件事后，笑着对小马说：“我的孩子，如果只听别的那是不够的，你得自己亲自去尝试，找到真相。”

The little horse came back to the river again. When he put his legs in the water again, the squirrel cried out again : “ Little horse, it’s dangerous, you can’t do that ! ” “Let me have a try.” The horse said. And with those words he walked carefully across the river. The water was neither that shallow⁵ as the cow had told him nor that deep as the squirrel had described. It was just OK for him.

于是小马又来到河边，当他再次把腿放进水里时，松鼠又大叫起来了：“小马，很危险，你不能那么做。”小马说：“让我试试。”边说着，小马便小心翼翼的过了河，水既不如牛叔说的一样浅，也不像松鼠说的那样深，对他来说刚刚好。