This story is called "The Farmer and the Snake." Every day, a farmer went to the city to sell his flowers and farm produce and then went home after selling all his things. One day, he left home very early, so early that when he arrived at the city, the gate was still closed. So he lay down to take a nap, when he awoke he found that the storage bin containing his farm produce had become empty except that there was a gold coin inside. Although all the things in the bin had vanished, the gold was much more valuable so he was still very happy. He thought most probably someone had taken his things and left the payment there, and went home happily with the money.
The next day, the farmer again went out to sell his things but again arrived too early so he slept outside the city gate just like he had done the day before. And the incident repeated itself. All the produce that the farmer had brought disappeared, and there was a gold coin in the bin! At that time, gold was very valuable. One gold coin had a value many times higher than the farmer's produce.
Then one day some time later, the farmer's father asked him, "Where have you gotten so many gold coins lately? Where did the money come from?" So the farmer revealed to his father what had happened. After listening to his story, the father thought, "One day I'll follow my son as he goes out, and see who's been consuming his things and leaving the money in the bin."
So one day, when the farmer went out to do business, his father quietly followed him. While the farmer was sleeping near the city gate, his father saw a snake crawl up to his bin and eat his produce. Having finished eating, the snake once again spat a gold coin into the bin as payment to the farmer before leaving. Seeing this, the farmer's father thought, "If I kill the snake, I'll be able to seize all its gold coins!" He then picked up a stone and cut the snake into two parts.
At that time, the head and trunk of the snake were already in its den, and only the tail was outside. The father thought that there must be a big treasure in the den so he told his son to reach inside for it. But unexpectedly, when the farmer reached his hand into the den, the snake bit and killed him! Even though it had been cut into two, the snake could still bite! I understand how this could have happened because that was how I got bitten when I was small. At that time, I saw a centipede that had been beaten and squashed by someone, leaving only the head intact. I thought it was dead, and to make sure, I poked it with my foot. It bit me hard and I cried for three days. (Laughter) I was really dumb! Remember! Don't play with a centipede even if it looks dead. Sometimes it just fakes death; it's not really dead.
這個故事叫做農夫和蛇。有一個農夫，每天到城裡去賣他自己種的花和農產品，賣完以後就回家。有一天，他很早出門，來到城門時，因為還太早，城門還沒開，所以他就先躺在那邊睡覺。當他醒過來時，看到他裝農產品的瓶子都空空了，裡面多了一塊黃金的錢。雖然瓶子裡的東西不見了，不過那塊黃金的錢已經很多了，所以他還是非常高興。他想大概有人拿走他的東西，然後放錢在那邊，於是就快樂地帶著錢回家了。
隔天，農夫又出門去做買賣，同樣也是來得太早，所以他又在城門那邊睡覺。結果又發生一樣的事情，農夫帶來的東西都不見了，瓶子裡面又多了一塊黃金的錢!那時候黃金是很有價值，所以一塊黃金的錢比農夫的農產品還高出好幾倍的價值。
後來有一天，農夫的父親問他：最近你怎麼忽然間得到那麼多黃金的錢?那些錢是從哪裡來的?農夫就把他遇到的事情告訴他的父親。他的父親聽了以後，心想：我要找一天跟著我的兒子出門，看看到底是誰吃他的東西，然後把錢放在他的瓶子裡面。
有一天農夫出去做買賣時，他的父親就默默跟著他。當農夫在城門附近睡覺的時候，他的父親看到一條蛇爬到他的瓶子那邊吃他的東西，吃完以後，就吐出一塊黃金的錢到瓶裡面，算是付錢給他這樣子，然後蛇就爬走了。農夫的父親想：「如果我把這條蛇殺掉，就可以得到它全部黃金的錢了!」於是他找了一塊石頭，把那條蛇割成兩段。
那時候，那條蛇的頭部和身體已經爬進它的窩裡面，只剩下尾巴露在外面。農夫的父親認為蛇窩裡面有很多寶藏，就叫農夫伸手去拿。沒想到當農夫把手伸進去時，卻被蛇咬死了!被割成兩段的蛇竟然還可以咬人啊!這種情形我知道，我小的時候也曾經被這樣咬過。那時候我看到一隻蜈蚣被人家打扁了，只剩下頭還沒扁，我認為它已經死了。為了要確定看看它是不是真的死了，我就用腳去撥看看，結果被咬了一口，哭了三天(大家笑)，太笨了!你們要記得，看到蜈蚣不應該玩，即使它已經死了，也不要跟它玩，因為有時候它只是裝死而已，還沒有真的死。
（實習編輯：宋天敏）