English Original
A sportsman went out into a wood to shoot and met a snipe.
"Dear friend," said the snipe, "don't shoot my children."
"How shall I know your children?" asked the sportsman. "What are they like?"
"Oh!" said the snipe, "mine are the prettiest children in all the wood."
"Very well," said the sportsman, "I won't shoot them. Don't be afraid."
But when he came back, he had a whole string of young snipes in his hand which he had shot.
"Oh! Oh!" cried the snipe. "Why did you shoot my children after all?"
"What? These your children!" said the sportsman. "Why, I shot the ugliest I could find!"
"Poor them!" said the snipe. "Don't you know that each one thinks his own children are the prettiest in the world?"
中文翻译
一位运动员去树林里打猎，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。”
“我怎么能认出你的孩子呢？”运动员问道，“它们长什么样？”
“哦！”沙锥鸟说，“我的孩子是整个树林里最漂亮的。”
“很好，”运动员说，“我不会射杀它们的，别担心。”
但当他回来时，手里却提着一串他射杀的小沙锥鸟。
“哦！哦！”沙锥鸟哭喊道，“你为什么最终还是射杀了我的孩子？”
“什么？这些是你的孩子！”运动员说，“哎呀，我射杀的是我能找到的最丑的！”
“可怜的孩子！”沙锥鸟说，“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？”