English Original
A sportsman went into the woods to hunt and met a snipe.
"Dear friend," said the snipe, "please don't shoot my children."
"How will I know which ones are yours?" asked the sportsman. "What do they look like?"
"Oh!" replied the snipe, "My children are the prettiest in all the woods."
"Very well," said the sportsman, "I won't shoot them. Don't worry."
However, upon returning, the sportsman held a string of young snipes he had shot.
"Oh, no!" cried the snipe. "Why did you shoot my children after all?"
"What? These are your children?" exclaimed the sportsman. "But I shot the ugliest ones I could find!"
"How sad!" sighed the snipe. "Don't you know that everyone believes their own children are the prettiest in the world?"
中文翻译
一位猎人走进树林打猎，遇到了一只沙锥鸟。
“亲爱的朋友，”沙锥鸟说，“请不要射杀我的孩子们。”
“我怎么能认出哪些是你的孩子呢？”猎人问道，“它们长什么样？”
“哦！”沙锥鸟回答，“我的孩子们是整个树林里最漂亮的。”
“很好，”猎人说，“我不会射杀它们的，别担心。”
然而，猎人回来时，手里却提着一串他射杀的小沙锥鸟。
“哦，不！”沙锥鸟哭喊道，“你为什么最终还是射杀了我的孩子们？”
“什么？这些是你的孩子？”猎人惊呼，“可我射杀的是我能找到的最丑的啊！”
“真可悲！”沙锥鸟叹息道，“难道你不知道，每个人都认为自己的孩子是世界上最漂亮的吗？”