English Original
Once upon a time, a man lived in a big house with a large oven, but his family was small—just himself and his wife. When winter arrived, he kept the oven burning all day, using up his entire stock of firewood in a month. With nothing left to feed the fire, the house grew cold.
Desperate for warmth, the man began to break up his fences and burn the boards. Once the fences were gone, the house, now unprotected from the wind, became even colder. Still without firewood, he started tearing down the ceiling to burn in the oven.
A neighbor saw this and exclaimed, "Why, neighbor, have you lost your mind? Tearing down your ceiling in winter? You and your wife will freeze to death!"
But the man replied, "No, brother. I'm doing this to fuel my oven. It's a curious thing—the more I heat it, the colder we feel!"
The neighbor laughed and said, "Well, after you've burnt the ceiling, you'll tear down the house. You'll have nowhere to live. Only the oven will remain, and even it will be cold!"
"That is my misfortune," sighed the man. "All my neighbors have enough firewood for the winter, but I've already burnt my fences and ceiling, and have nothing left."
"All you need is to rebuild your oven," advised the neighbor.
But the man retorted, "I know you're jealous of my house and oven because they're larger than yours. That's why you tell me to rebuild it." He ignored the advice, burnt his ceiling, then his entire house, and in the end, had to go and live with strangers.
中文翻译
从前，有个人住在一幢大房子里，里面有个大火炉，但他家人口很少——只有他和妻子。冬天来临，他让炉子整天烧着，一个月就用光了所有存柴。无柴可添，屋子变得寒冷。
为了取暖，他开始拆掉篱笆，烧木板。篱笆烧完后，房子失去了挡风的屏障，变得更冷。柴火依旧没有，他又开始拆天花板扔进炉子里烧。
一位邻居看到后惊呼：“哎呀，邻居，你疯了吗？大冬天拆天花板？你和妻子会冻死的！”
但这人说：“不，兄弟。我拆天花板是为了给炉子添柴。这炉子真怪——越烧我们觉得越冷！”
邻居笑道：“那么，烧完天花板，你就要拆房子了。你会无处容身，只剩下炉子，连它也会是冷的！”
“这就是我的不幸，”男人叹息道，“所有邻居都有足够的柴火过冬，我却已烧光了篱笆和天花板，一无所有。”
“你只需要把炉子重建一下就好，”邻居建议道。
但男人反驳说：“我知道你嫉妒我的房子和炉子比你的大，才劝我重建。”他对建议充耳不闻，烧掉了天花板，接着烧掉了整栋房子，最终只得离乡背井，寄人篱下。