奇速英语

In a small village, there lived a porter(搬运工) who had a donkey. Every day his donkey would carry soil from the field to his house. Since the field was very far, the porter would rest under a tree, tying(拴) his donkey nearby.

One day, the porter forgot to take the rope with which he tied the donkey every day. When he reached the tree, he thought, “How do I tie this donkey today? He might run away when I sleep.” A wise man saw that and said, “Take the donkey to the place where you tie him every day. Pretend(假装) to tie him with an imaginary rope. He won’t run away.” The porter did what the wise man had said.

He left the donkey and went to take a nap. When he woke up, to his surprise and relief, he found the donkey standing in the same place. Soon the porter prepared to leave for home. But the donkey did not move. “What is wrong with this donkey?” the porter said in puzzlement. Luckily, the porter saw the wise man again. He told the wise man about the donkey’s strange behavior. The wise man said, “You tied up the donkey, but did you untie him? Go and pretend to untie the rope with which you had tied him.”

The porter followed the man’s advice. Now the donkey was ready to leave for home. The porter understood that donkey was tied by its thought, but not the rope.