A Pony Crosses the River

A pony and his mother lived in a beautiful green countryside, through which ran a small river. He
accompanied his mother everywhere, except when she delivered grain to the village on the other side of
the river. Time passed quickly and the Pony grew up happily.

One day his mother said to him: “My dear boy, you have grown big enough to begin helping your
mother. Would you help me deliver this bag of grain to the village over on the other side of the river?”

“Yes, I’d be happy to help you, mama,” the Pony replied. And because of his mother’s confidence,
feeling very proud of himself, he immediately grabbed a bag of grain and ran to the river’s edge.

As soon as he approached the riverbank he noticed that there wasn’t a bridge anywhere in sight to
provide easy access to the other side of the river. The only way to cross over was to ford the river. “I
wonder how deep the river is. Could it be too deep to cross?” The Pony hesitated and looked around and
found uncle Ox grazing on the grass nearby. He dashed over to uncle Ox and asked, “Uncle Ox, Uncle
Ox, do you know how deep the river is? Will I be able to cross here?” Uncle Ox straightened his
towering body, regarded the river with self-assurance, smiled and said, “Why, it’s not deep at all. Don’t
worry my boy. You can cross it easily. The water only touches my knees. “

Persuaded by Uncle Ox’s confidence, the Pony once again picked up his load of grain and ran back to
the river. But no sooner did he dip one hoof into the river than he heard a small voice pleading, “Pony,
Pony, please be careful! Don’t try to cross the river here! It’s very deep and you’ll put yourself in great
danger!” The Pony couldn’t find the source of this warning until he looked down and saw a lovely little
squirrel. The squirrel twitched her pretty tail, opened her round eyes wide, and in a serious tone told him
about her recent experience. “Two days ago,” she said, “one of my friends accidentally fell into this
river and it swept him away. I may never see him again." As she recounted the story she began to sob.

The Pony was very sad for her and did not know what to do. Uncle Ox claimed the river wasn’t deep at
all, and yet the little squirrel said it was very deep and killed her friend. “What I am going to do?” The
pony considered the question and decided, “I should go back and ask mama.”

Meanwhile, the Pony’s mother had been watching her little Pony carry the grain down to the river and
then saw him coming back again. She wondered why he was returning and thought, “My little pony
must have come across a big problem.” She walked toward her Pony and asked him what was wrong.
The Pony cried and told her what Uncle Ox had told him, following this with little squirrel’s sad story.
The Pony’s mother comforted him, and said, “Don’t worry, we’ll find the answer together.”
So, Pony went back to the river with his mother. This time, his mother told him to test the depth of the
water himself. The Pony stepped into the water carefully, and waded toward the other bank just as
carefully. Finally, he had crossed the river! He realized that the river was neither as shallow as Uncle
Ox had claimed, nor as deep as little squirrel warned. One can only judge whether the river is deeper
than he can handle by testing the water himself.

The Pony looked at his mother affectionately, and said: “Thank you mama!” Then he turned around and
ran to the village to deliver his grain. He felt so happy, do you know why?

小马过河
　　小马和他的妈妈住在绿草茵茵的十分美丽的小河边。除了妈妈过河给河对岸的村子送粮食的时候，
他总是跟随在妈妈的身边寸步不离。 他过的很快乐，时光飞快地过去了。

有一天，妈妈把小马叫到身边说：“小马，你已经长大了，可以帮妈妈做事了。今天你把这袋粮食
送到河对岸的村子里去吧。”小马非常高兴地答应了。

他驮着粮食飞快地来到了小河边。可是河上没有桥，只能自己淌过去。可又不知道河水有多深呢？
犹豫中的小马一抬头，看见了正在不远处吃草的牛伯伯。小马赶紧跑过去问到：“牛伯伯，您知道那河
里的水深不深呀？” 牛伯伯挺起他那高大的身体笑着说：“不深，不深。才到我的小腿。”

小马高兴地跑回河边准备淌过河去。他刚一迈腿，忽然听见一个声音说：“小马，小马别下去，这河可
深啦。”小马低头一看，原来是小松鼠。小松鼠翘着她的漂亮的尾巴，睁者圆圆的眼睛，很认真地说:
“前两天我的一个伙伴不小心掉进了河里，河水就把他卷走了。”小马一听没主意了。 牛伯伯说河水浅，
小松鼠说河水深，这可怎么办呀？只好回去问妈妈。

　　马妈妈老远地就看见小马低着头驮着粮食又回来了。心想他一定是遇到困难了，就迎过去问小马。
小马哭着把牛伯伯和小松鼠的话告诉了妈妈。妈妈安慰小马说：“没关系，咱们一起去看看吧。”

　　小马和妈妈又一次来到河边，妈妈这回让小马自己去试探一下河水有多深。小马小心地试探着，一
步一步地淌过了河。噢，他明白了，河水既没有牛伯伯说的那么浅，也没有小松鼠说的那么深。只有自
己亲自试过才知道。

　　小马深情地向妈妈望了一眼，心里说：“谢谢你了，好妈妈。”　然后他转头向村子跑去。他今天
特别高兴，你知道是为什么吗？