One day, a colt took a bag of wheat to the mill.

　　As he was running with the bag on his back, he came to a small river. The colt could not decide whether he could cross it. Looking around, he saw a cow grazing nearby. He asked, “Aunt Cow, could you tell me if I can cross the river?” The cow told him that he could and that the river was not very deep, just knee high.

　　The colt was crossing the river when a squirrel jumped down a tree and stopped him. The squirrel shouted, “Colt, stop! You'll drown! One of my friends drowned just yesterday in the river.” Not knowing what to do, the colt went home to consult his mom.

　　He told his mom his experience on the way. His mother said, “My child, don't always listen to others. You'd better go and try yourself. Then you'll know what to do.”

　　Later, at the river, the squirrel stopped the colt again. “Little horse, it's too dangerous!”

　　“No, I want to try myself”, answered the colt. Then he crossed the river carefully.

　　On the other side of the river, the colt realized that the river was neither as shallow as the cow said nor as deep as the squirrel told him.

　　You see, real knowledge comes from practice.

　　一天，小马驮着麦子去磨坊。

　　当他驮着口袋向前跑去时，突然发现一条小河挡住了去路。小马为难了，这可怎么办呢?

　　它向四周望了望，看见一头奶牛在河边吃草。小马问道：“牛阿姨，请您告诉我，这条河我能趟过去吗?”奶牛回答说：“水很浅，刚到膝盖。”

　　小马正准备过河，突然丛树上跳下一只松鼠，拦住它大叫道：“小马，别过河!你会被淹死的。昨天，我的一个伙伴就在这条河里淹死啦!”小马不知如何是好，于是决定回家问问妈妈。

　　小马把路上的经历告诉了妈妈。妈妈说：“孩子，光听别人说是不行的，你自己亲自去试一试，就知道答案了。”

　　小马回到河边，刚要下水，松鼠又大叫起来：“小马，你不要命啦?”小马说：“让我自己试试吧。”它一面回答一面下了河，小心地趟了过去。原来河水既不像老牛说的那样浅也不像松鼠说的那样深。