A man had two daughters, one of whom he gave in marriage to a gardener, and the other to a potter. After a time he thought he would go and see how they were getting on, and first he went to the gardener's wife. He asked her how she was, and how things were going with herself and her husband. She replied that on the whole they were doing very well: "But," she continued, "I do wish we could have some good heavy rain: the garden wants it badly." Then he went on to the potter's wife and made the same inquiries1 of her. She replied that she and her husband had nothing to complain of: "But," she went on, "I do wish we could have some nice dry weather, to dry the pottery2." Her father looked at her with a humorous expression on his face. "You want dry weather," he said, "and your sister wants rain. I was going to ask in my prayers that your wishes should be granted3; but how it strikes me I had better not refer to the subject."

　　某人有兩個(gè)女兒，一個(gè)嫁個(gè)了園丁，另一個(gè)嫁給了陶藝人。過(guò)了些日子，父親心想應(yīng)該去看看女兒們的生活如何。于是，他先來(lái)到嫁給園丁的女兒家里，他問(wèn)女兒生活過(guò)得怎么樣，她的丈夫又過(guò)得怎么樣。女兒回答說(shuō)一切都很好，“但是，“ 她又補(bǔ)充道，“我真希望能下場(chǎng)大雨，園子里太需要水了。”接著，他又來(lái)到嫁給陶藝人的女兒家里，問(wèn)了同樣的問(wèn)題。女兒說(shuō)她和丈夫什么都不缺，“可是”，她繼續(xù)說(shuō)，“我只希望能有個(gè)陽(yáng)光充足的好天氣，好讓陶器快點(diǎn)干。”父親帶著滑稽的表情看著女兒，對(duì)她說(shuō)：“你希望出太陽(yáng)，而你姐姐卻盼著下雨，本想祈禱讓你的愿望也成真，可是現(xiàn)在，我認(rèn)為自己最好什么也不管了。”