Puppies for Sale
待售的小狗
Once a farmer painted an advertisement for puppies to sell and was fixing it on the edge of his yard. As he was hitting the last nail for the board to be fixed on its place he felt a tug on his overalls.
有一次，為了賣小狗，一位農民專門畫了個廣告，然後把它固定在自家院子邊上。當他正在敲打固定木板的最後一塊釘子時，他感覺有人拉了一下他的工作衣。
When he looked behind he saw a little kid. He asked, 「What do you want kid??」
扭頭看到了一個小孩。他問道，「孩子，你想要什麼？」
he kid replied, 「I want to buy a puppy.」
小孩回答說：「我想買一隻小狗。」
The farmer replied, 「Well kid. These pups are quite expensive as they came from a very good breed of dog.」
農夫回答說：「好的孩子。這些幼崽非常貴，因為它們的品種非常好。「
The little boy dropped his head but after a moment, reaching deep down into his pants pocket he pulled some coins from his pocket and held it up to the farmer and said, 「Sir, I have got only 50 cents. would that be enough for a puppy?」
小男孩低下了頭，但過了一會兒，他把手深深揣進褲兜裡，從口袋裡掏出一些硬幣拿到農夫面前，說：「先生，我只有50美分。這些夠買小狗的錢嗎？「
The farmer smiled and said, 「Yes.!!」
農夫笑著說：「可以的。!」
Then the farmer whistled and called out his dog. The dog came along with its four puppies running behind it out of dog house. The boy was delighted to see them.
然後農夫吹著口哨，喊他的狗出來。狗狗從狗屋裡跑出來了，後面還跟著四隻小狗。男孩看到他們非常高興。
The boy noticed that behind four puppies there was the little one who was slowly coming out of that dog house and in an awkward manner that little puppy was trying to catch up with others.
小男孩注意到四隻小狗裡最後那一隻正慢吞吞而又笨拙地往狗屋外面跑，試圖趕上別的狗狗。
The boy pointed toward that puppy and said, 「I want that one.」
男孩指著那隻小狗說：「我想要那隻小狗。」
The farmer replied, 「Kid, you don’t want that. he will not be able to play or run with you like other puppies.」
農夫回答說：「孩子，你不會想要他的。他不能像其他小狗一樣和你一起玩耍，一起跑。「
Listening to this, the kid took a step back from the fence and began rolling up one leg of his trousers revealing a steel brace which was attached with specially made shoes which kid was wearing and said, 「Sir, I don’t run too well myself and that puppy will need someone who understands.」
聽到這個，孩子從圍欄前退了一步，慢慢捲起一條褲腿，露出一個裝著特製鞋子的鋼架，孩子說道：「可是先生，我也跑得不利索，我想那隻小狗需要一個懂他的人。「
Moral:
Every one of us has our own Weakness but if we Willing to Accept it instead of opposing then we can make Advantage out of our own Weakness.
寓意：
我們每個人都有弱點，但如果我們選擇接納自己的弱點而不是抗拒，那麼我們就可以善用自己的弱點，照亮生命的角落。
文末彩蛋
小孩與小狗，充滿純真的一對朋友。我選擇了你，也許不是因為你有多麼出眾，而是你與我是如此相似，我懂你，是因為我能與你感同身受，我知道我該怎麼照顧你，讓我來愛你吧，不論貧窮、富有或是疾病，不離不棄。
願每個鏟屎官都善待自己的小可愛。