谁是小偷?

Who Is the Thief?

Many, many years ago, a band of merchants were going from one town to another. They were going through a forest. Each of them had a bag of gold with him.

One day, they camped near a river.

Suddenly a merchant came out of his tent and cried,"Someone has taken my bag of gold!"

But each of the other five said, "No, I did not do such things." So they had an argument. There came an old man on a white horse. He was a wise man. Then the merchant told him that he had lost gold and asked him for help.

"All right," said the old man. "Do you see my white horse? It is a very clever horse. It will help you to find the thief.I will putmy horse into your tent. Each man will go into the tent and pull my horse's tail. When the thief pulls its tail, the horse will neigh;when any otherman pulls its tail, the horse will not neigh."

The old man asked the five merchants to go in one by one and pull his horse's tail.The merchants followed the man's instruction,but the horse did not neigh for one time.

Then the old man said,"Now everyone must come up to me and show me your hand please."

He went up to the first man and put his face to the man's hands. Then he went to the second man and did the same…

At last, the old man pointed to the fifth one and said, "You are the thief."

The man fell on his knees and said, "Please forgive me. I took his gold and hid it in a hole behind the big tree." The merchant found his gold.

After that, the merchant asked the old man, "Your horse did not neigh. How did you find the thief?"

The old man smiled and said, "I know that my horse never neighs.I put some strong-smelling oil on its tail. Four men pulled its tail, but the thief did not pull it. His hands did not smell of the oil."

许多年前,有个商队来往于一些城镇做买卖。他们正穿过一片森林,每个人都带着一袋金子。

一天,他们在一条小河边露宿。

突然,一位商人从帐篷里冲出来,大喊道:“有人偷了我的那袋金子。”

可其余的五个人都说:“不是我,我从来不干那种事。”他们因此吵了起来。这时,一位骑白马的老人从这里经过。他是一位很有智慧的人。商人把丢金子的事告诉了老人,想请老人帮忙找找。

“好吧,”老人说道,“看到我这匹马了吧,它很聪明,能帮你找出偷了你金子的人。我把马牵进帐篷。你们每个人都得进帐篷去拉一拉马的尾巴。如果是贼拉马尾巴,马就会叫;若不是贼,马就不会叫。”

老人请五位商人依次进入帐篷拉马尾巴。商人们照做了,可马一次也没叫。

老人接着说:“现在,请每个人到我跟前来,伸出你们的手。”

于是老人走近第一位商人,用鼻子闻了闻他的双手。接着他又走近第二位商人,同样用鼻子闻闻他的手……

最后,老人指着第五位商人说:“你就是贼!”

这人马上跪下在地上哀求说:“请饶恕我吧!金子是我偷的,我把它们藏在大树后面的一个洞里了。”商人找回了金子。

事后,商人问老人:“您的马并没有叫,您是怎么知道谁是贼的?”

老人笑了笑说:“其实我的马从来不叫。我把一些气味很重的油涂在它的尾巴上。四个人都拉了马尾巴,可贼却不敢拉,因此他的手上也就闻不出油味来。这样我就找出了贼。”