A Merchant and his Donkey

One beautiful spring morning, a merchant loaded his donkey with bags of salt to go to the market, in order to sell the salt. The merchant and his donkey were walking along together. They had not walked far when they reached a river on the way.

Unfortunately, the donkey slipped and fell into the river. As it scrambled up the bank of the river, it noticed that the bags of salt loaded on his back had become lighter.

There was nothing the merchant could do except return home, where he loaded his donkey with more bags of salt. As they reached the slippery riverbank again, the donkey fell into the river, this time deliberately. Thus the salt was wasted again.

By now the merchant knew the donkey’s trick. He wanted to teach the animal a lesson. As he returned home the second time with the donkey, the merchant loaded bags of sponges on its back.

The duo set out on their trip to the market a third time. On reaching the river, the donkey very cleverly fell into the water again. But now, instead of the load becoming lighter, it became heavier.

The merchant laughed at the donkey and said, “You foolish donkey, your trick has been discovered. You should know that you cannot fool anyone too many times.”

译文：

商人和他的驴子

在一个春光明媚的早晨，一个商人用驴子驮着一袋盐去市场卖盐。商人和他的驴子一起走着。他们走了没多远，就到了一条河边。

不幸的是，驴子脚下一滑，掉进了河里。当它爬上河岸时，发现背上的盐袋变轻了。

商人无计可施，只得回家，给驴子装上更多的盐袋。当他们再次到达湿滑的河岸时，驴子掉进了河里，这次是故意的。就这样，盐又浪费了。

现在，商人知道驴子的把戏了。他想给驴子一个教训。第二次牵驴回家时，商人在驴背上装了几袋海绵。

两人第三次出发去市场。到了河边，驴子很聪明地又掉进了水里。但现在，货物不但没有变轻，反而变得更重了。

商人嘲笑驴子说："你这头蠢驴，你的把戏被识破了。你应该知道，你骗不了别人太多次。"