Seeing is believing

One day the king of animals asked a cat to see how his palace was built. After a few hours, the little cat came back and said to the tiger, “Oh, your palace is very large, tall and beautiful. ”Several days later the tiger asked a pig to see it. He said, “Go and see how my palace is built. ”But when the pig came back, he said to the tiger, “My dear king, I thought your palace is beautiful, but it suits yourself only. ”　　

The tiger was very surprised when he heard it. “Why are the cat’s and the pig’s answers not the same? ”he said to himself. He then asked a camel to go to have a look. Before long the camel ran back out of breath and said to the tiger, “Oh, your palace is too small for you to live in, my king. ”　　

The king became very angry when he heard what the camel said. He said to the animals angrily, “Maybe somebody of you tell lies. Three people have three ideas. I want to kill you. ”Just at the moment, a fox came out to stop the tiger from doing that. He asked the tiger himself to go to see it before killing them. 　　

After the tiger saw the palace himself, he thought that their answers were all right. He said to the animals, “To see with one’s own eyes is more important than only to hear others. ”

译文

眼见为实

一天，百兽之王让一只小猫去看看他的宫殿建造得怎么样。几个小时之后，小猫回来了，对老虎说：“您的宫殿非常大，又高又漂亮。”几天后，老虎又让一只猪去看看。他说：“去看看我的宫殿建造得如何。”但是，猪回来之后却对老虎说：“亲爱的国王陛下，虽然您的宫殿很漂亮，但是它只容得下您自己。”　　老虎听到这些话感到很吃惊。“为什么猫和猪说的话不一样呢？”老虎自语着。然后他又让一头骆驼去看一看。骆驼很快便气喘吁吁地跑回来了，它对老虎说：“我的国王，您的宫殿对于您来说，实在是太小了，都没法住。”当老虎听到骆驼所说的话时，变得非常生气。他生气地对动物们说：“你们三个人中有人说谎了，三个人有三个看法。我要处死你们。”就在这时，一只狐狸过来阻止老虎那样做。他请求老虎在*他们之前，自己亲自去看看。老虎亲自看完宫殿后，认为他们的答案都是对的。他对动物们说：“眼见为实，耳听为虚。”