《聪明的小牧童》正文
从前有个小牧童，由于别人无论问什么，他都能给出个聪明的回答，因而名声远扬。那国的国王听说了，不相信他有这么厉害，便把牧童招进了宫。国王对他说：“如果你能回答我所提出的三个问题，我就认你做我的儿子，让你和我一起住在宫里。”牧童问：“是什么问题呢?”国王说：“第一个是：大海里有多少滴水?”小牧童回答：“我尊敬的陛下，请你下令把世界上所有的河流都堵起来，不让一滴水流进大海，一直等我数完他才放水，我将告诉你大海里有多少滴水珠。”国王又说：“第二个问题是：天上有多少星星?”牧童回答：“给我一张大白纸。”于是他用笔在上面戳了许多细点，细得几乎看不出来，更无法数清。任何人要盯着看，准会眼花缭乱。随后牧童说：“天上的星星跟我这纸上的点儿一样多，请数数吧。”但无人能数得清。国王只好又问：“第三个问题是：永恒有多少秒钟?”牧童回答：“在后波美拉尼亚有座钻石山，这座山有两英里高，两英里宽，两英里深;每隔一百年有一只鸟飞来，用它的嘴来啄山，等整个山都被啄掉时，永恒的第一秒就结束了。”
国王说：“你像智者一样解答了我的三个问题，从今以后，你可以住在宫中了，我会像亲生儿子一样来待你的。”
《聪明的小牧童》英文版
Once upon a time, there was a little shepherd boy who became famous because he could give a clever answer to whatever others asked. When the king of that country heard about it, he didn't believe he was so powerful, so he called the shepherd boy into the palace. The king said to him, "if you can answer my three questions, I will recognize you as my son and let you live in the palace with me." The shepherd boy asked, "what's the problem?" The king said, "the first one is: how many drops of water are there in the sea?" The little shepherd boy replied, "Your Majesty, please order to block all the rivers in the world and prevent a drop of water from flowing into the sea. Wait until I count them. I will tell you how many drops of water there are in the sea." The king said, "the second question is: how many stars are there in the sky?" The shepherd boy replied, "give me a big white paper." So he poked many fine points on it with his pen, which was so thin that he could hardly see it, let alone count it. Anyone who wants to stare will be dazzled. Then the shepherd boy said, "there are as many stars in the sky as those on my paper. Please count them." But no one can count. The king had to ask again, "the third question is: how many seconds does eternity have?" The shepherd boy replied, "there is a Diamond Mountain in post Pomerania, which is two miles high, two miles wide and two miles deep. Every hundred years, a bird comes and pecks the mountain with its mouth. When the whole mountain is pecked off, the first second of eternity is over."
The king said, "you answered my three questions like a wise man. From now on, you can live in the palace. I will treat you like my own son."
