A cock was once strutting1 up and down the farmyard among the hens when suddenly he espied2 something shinning amid the straw. "Ho! ho!" quoth he, "that's for me," and soon rooted it out from beneath the straw. What did it turn out to be but a pearl that by some chance had been lost in the yard? "You may be a treasure," quoth master pock, "to men that prize you, but for me I would rather have a single barley-corn than a peck of pearls."
Precious things are for those that can prize them.
在农场的庭院里有一只公鸡正昂首阔步地在一群母鸡中间来来回回。突然他瞥到稻草中有什么东西在闪闪发光。“哈哈”他说“那是我的”。然后迅速把它从稻草中刨了出来。他刨出出来的是一颗不知什么时候遗落在庭院里的珍珠“你也许这是个宝贝”,公鸡大人说,“对于人类来说,他们会珍惜你,但在我看来,我宁可要一粒大麦也不想琢一粒珍珠。”
只有懂得价值的人才会珍惜宝物。