A Hole in the Fence

In a small village, a little boy lived with his father and mother. He was the only son.The parents of the little boy were very depressed due to his bad temper. The boy used to get angry very soon and taunt others with his words. His bad temper made him use words that hurt others. He scolded kids, neighbours and even his friends due to anger. His friends and neighbours avoided him, and his parents were really worried about him.

His mother and father advised him many times to control his anger and develop kindness. Unfortunately, all their attempts failed. Finally, the boy’s father came up with an idea.

One day, his father gave him a huge bag of nails. He asked his son to hammer one nail to the fence every time he became angry and lost his temper. The little boy found it amusing and accepted the task.

Every time he lost his temper, he ran to the fence and hammered a nail. His anger drove him to hammer nails on the fence 30 times on the first day! After the next few days, the number of nails hammered on the fence was reduced to half. The little boy found it very difficult to hammer the nails and decided to control his temper.

Gradually, the number of nails hammered to the fence was reduced and the day arrived when no nail was hammered! The boy did not lose his temper at all that day. For the next several days, he did not lose his temper, and so did not hammer any nail.

Now, his father told him to remove the nails each time the boy controlled his anger. Several days passed and the boy was able to pull out most of the nails from the fence. However, there remained a few nails that he could not pull out.

The boy told his father about it. The father appreciated him and asked him pointing to a hole, “What do you see there?”

The boy replied, “a hole in the fence!”

He told the boy, “The nails were your bad temper and they were hammered on people. You can remove the nails but the holes in the fence will remain. The fence will never look the same. It has scars all over. Some nails cannot even be pulled out. You can stab a man with a knife, and say sorry later, but the wound will remain there forever. Your bad temper and angry words were like that! Words are more painful than physical abuse! Use words for good purposes. Use them to grow relationships. Use them to show the love and kindness in your heart!”

Moral – Unkind words cause lasting damage: Let our words be kind and sweet.

译文：

篱笆上的洞

在一个小村庄里，有一个小男孩和他的父母住在一起。小男孩的父母因为他的坏脾气而非常郁闷。小男孩经常很快就生气，并用言语嘲弄别人。他的坏脾气让他用言语伤害别人。他因为愤怒而辱骂孩子、邻居甚至朋友。他的朋友和邻居都躲着他，他的父母也非常担心他。

他的父母多次劝他控制愤怒，培养善良。不幸的是，他们所有的努力都失败了。最后，男孩的父亲想出了一个办法。

一天，父亲给了他一大包钉子。他要求儿子每次生气发脾气时，就在栅栏上钉一颗钉子。小男孩觉得很有趣，就接受了这个任务。

每当他发脾气的时候，他就跑到栅栏边锤打钉子。第一天，他就在愤怒的驱使下在栅栏上敲了 30 次钉子！接下来的几天里，栅栏上钉钉子的次数减少了一半。小男孩发现锤钉子非常困难，于是决定控制自己的脾气。


渐渐地，钉在栅栏上的钉子越来越少，终于有一天，没有钉子了！那天，小男孩一点也没发脾气。接下来的几天里，他也没有发脾气，所以也没有锤钉子。

现在，他的父亲告诉他，每当男孩控制住自己的愤怒时，就把钉子拔掉。几天过去了，男孩终于拔掉了栅栏上的大部分钉子。但是，还有一些钉子他拔不出来。

男孩把这件事告诉了父亲。父亲很欣赏他，指着一个洞问他，"你看到了什么？"

男孩回答说："栅栏上的一个洞！"

他对男孩说："钉子是你的坏脾气，它们锤在人身上。你可以把钉子拔掉，但篱笆上的洞还会存在。栅栏再也不会是原来的样子了。它到处都是伤疤。有些钉子甚至拔不出来。你可以用刀捅人，事后说对不起，但伤口会永远留在那里。你的坏脾气和气话就是这样！言语比身体虐待更让人痛苦！善用言语。用它们来发展关系。用它们来表达你心中的爱和善良！"

寓意：不友善的言语会造成持久的伤害： 让我们的言语亲切甜美。