One day, a colt carried a bag of wheat to the mill.
As he was running with the bag on his back, he came to a small river. The water went gurgling on. The colt could not decide whether he could cross it. Looking around, he saw a cow grazing nearby. He asked, "Uncle 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 up to his knees.
The colt was about to cross the river when a squirrel jumped down from a tree and stopped him. The squirrel shouted, "Colt, stop! You'll drown! One of my friends drowned in this river just yesterday." Not knowing what to do, the colt went home to consult his mother.
He told his mother about his experience. His mother said, "My child, don't always rely on others' opinions. You'd better go and try for yourself. Then you'll know what to do."
Back at the river, the squirrel stopped the colt again. "Little horse, it's too dangerous!" "No, I want to try for myself," answered the colt. Then he crossed the river carefully. On the other side, the colt realized that the river was neither as shallow as the cow had said nor as deep as the squirrel had told him.
This fable tells us a truth: real knowledge comes from practice.