《聰明的小牧童》正文
從前有個小牧童，由于別人無論問什么，他都能給出個聰明的回答，因而名聲遠揚。那國的國王聽說了，不相信他有這么厲害，便把牧童招進了宮。國王對他說：“如果你能回答我所提出的三個問題，我就認你做我的兒子，讓你和我一起住在宮里。”牧童問：“是什么問題呢?”國王說：“第一個是：大海里有多少滴水?”小牧童回答：“我尊敬的陛下，請你下令把世界上所有的河流都堵起來，不讓一滴水流進大海，一直等我數(shù)完他才放水，我將告訴你大海里有多少滴水珠。”國王又說：“第二個問題是：天上有多少星星?”牧童回答：“給我一張大白紙。”于是他用筆在上面戳了許多細點，細得幾乎看不出來，更無法數(shù)清。任何人要盯著看，準(zhǔn)會眼花繚亂。隨后牧童說：“天上的星星跟我這紙上的點兒一樣多，請數(shù)數(shù)吧。”但無人能數(shù)得清。國王只好又問：“第三個問題是：永恒有多少秒鐘?”牧童回答：“在后波美拉尼亞有座鉆石山，這座山有兩英里高，兩英里寬，兩英里深;每隔一百年有一只鳥飛來，用它的嘴來啄山，等整個山都被啄掉時，永恒的第一秒就結(jié)束了。”
國王說：“你像智者一樣解答了我的三個問題，從今以后，你可以住在宮中了，我會像親生兒子一樣來待你的。”
《聰明的小牧童》英文版
Once upon a time, there was a little shepherd boy who became famous because he could give a clever answer to whatever others asked. When the king of that country heard about it, he didn't believe he was so powerful, so he called the shepherd boy into the palace. The king said to him, "if you can answer my three questions, I will recognize you as my son and let you live in the palace with me." The shepherd boy asked, "what's the problem?" The king said, "the first one is: how many drops of water are there in the sea?" The little shepherd boy replied, "Your Majesty, please order to block all the rivers in the world and prevent a drop of water from flowing into the sea. Wait until I count them. I will tell you how many drops of water there are in the sea." The king said, "the second question is: how many stars are there in the sky?" The shepherd boy replied, "give me a big white paper." So he poked many fine points on it with his pen, which was so thin that he could hardly see it, let alone count it. Anyone who wants to stare will be dazzled. Then the shepherd boy said, "there are as many stars in the sky as those on my paper. Please count them." But no one can count. The king had to ask again, "the third question is: how many seconds does eternity have?" The shepherd boy replied, "there is a Diamond Mountain in post Pomerania, which is two miles high, two miles wide and two miles deep. Every hundred years, a bird comes and pecks the mountain with its mouth. When the whole mountain is pecked off, the first second of eternity is over."
The king said, "you answered my three questions like a wise man. From now on, you can live in the palace. I will treat you like my own son."
