One day, a colt（小马，生手） carried a bag of wheat to the mill.

 

As he was running with the bag on his back, he came to a small river. Water went gurgling（作汩汩声） on. The colt could not decide whether he could cross it. Looking around, he saw a cow grazing¹ 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 to his knees.

 

The colt was crossing the river when a squirrel² jumped down a tree and stopped him. The squirrel shouted, "Colt, stop! You'll be drowned! One of my friends was drowned yesterday just in the river." Not knowing what to do, the colt went home to consult his mom.

 

He told his mom his experience on the way. His mother said, "My child, don't always listen to others. You'd better go and try yourself. Then you'll know what to do."

 

Just at the river, the squirrel stopped the colt again. "Little horse, it's too dangerous!" "No, I want to have a try by myself", answered the colt. Then he crossed the river carefully. On the other side of the river, the colt realized that the river was neither as shallow as the cow said nor as as deep as the squirrel told him.

 

The fable³ tells us a truth: real knowledge comes from practices.

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