The swan is said to sing but once in its life-when it knows that it is about to die. A certain man, who had heard of the song of the swan, one day saw one of these birds for sale in the market, and bought it and took it home. A few days later, he invited some friends to have meal. He introduced the swan, and bade it sing for their entertainment, but the swan remained silent. In course of time, when it was growing old, it became aware of its approaching end and broke into a sweet, sad song. When its owner heard it, he said angrily, "If the creature only sings when it is about to die, what a fool I was that day I wanted to hear its song! I ought to have wrung1 its neck instead of merely inviting2 it to sing."

　　據(jù)說，天鵝一生只唱一次歌，只有在他死期臨近時才唱。一只曾經(jīng)聽過天鵝那優(yōu)美歌聲的人，偶然在市場上看到幾只天鵝正待出售，便買了一只帶回家。幾天后，他邀請幾個朋友來吃飯，并介紹了自己的天鵝，讓他唱歌來助興?？墒牵禊Z卻始終保持沉默。后來，終于有一天，天鵝慢慢老了，他知道自己死期將至，便展開歌喉，唱出了一曲甜美哀婉的歌，主人聽到后，生氣地說：“如果你真是臨死前才肯唱歌，那我多么愚蠢呀！我真應(yīng)該在那天擰斷你的脖子，而不僅僅是讓你唱歌了。“