《聪明的小牧童》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."