Once there lived a man among the hills, who possessed a statue wrought by an ancient master. It lay at his door face downward and he was not mindful of it.
One day there passed by his house a man from the city, a man of knowledge, and seeing the statue he inquired of the owner if he would sell it.
The owner laughed and said, “And pray who would want to buy that dull and dirty stone?”
The man from the city said, “I will give you this piece of silver for it.”
And the other man was astonished and delighted.
The statue was removed to the city, upon the back of an elephant. And after many months the man from the hills visited the city, and as he walked the streets he saw a crowd before a shop, and a man with a loud voice was crying, “Come in and behold the most beautiful, the most wonderful statue in all the world. Only two silver pieces to look upon this most marvelous work of a master.”
There upon the man from the hills paid two silver pieces and entered the shop to see the statue that he himself had sold for one piece of silver.
从前，有个人住在山里。他手里有一尊古代大师的雕像作品，那雕像就脸朝下搁在他门口，主人却没留意过。
有一天，一个城里人骑着马经过。这个人知识渊博，看到雕像就问主人卖不卖。
主人笑着说：“居然有人要买这么平淡无奇的脏石头？”
城里人说：“我用这枚银币跟你买。”
主人很吃惊，欣喜若狂。
雕像被运回城里，摆在一头大象的背上。几个月以后，山里人进城来，走在街上的时候看到一个商店前面人头攒动，一个人扯着嗓门喊：“瞧一瞧看一看了啊！世上最美最神奇的雕像！这可是大师的旷世之作，看一眼只要两个银币！”
山里人付了两个银币，进店一看，那雕像正是他自己用一个银币卖掉的那一尊。
-wrought [rɔːt] v. (work的过去式和过去分词)操作
-behold [bɪˈhəʊld] v. 注视
世间从不缺珍宝，缺的是发现珍宝的眼睛。