這是一篇阿拉伯當地經典的童話故事。生活周遭是不是像故事裡的人物一樣？你我從中可攫取到一些似曾相識的角色。
故事開宗明義敘述這對自認聰明的夫妻居住簡陋，對於如何賺錢自有想法，但終究仍不曾掙到錢。因為他們是對傻瓜夫妻。
自以為聰明的夫妻—老實無心機的市井小民，其所作所為在村人的眼中卻是傻瓜行徑。丈夫本來是想把牛賣個好價錢，再拿來修整殘破的木屋，沒想到買他牛的人為了把這頭牛儘速轉賣出去，就誇說這頭乳牛可以擠出好喝的奶，而且還吃得少哩。丈夫聽了這翻富麗堂皇的話便很不捨，於是用十五個硬幣的高價把牠“收購”了回來。妻子也挺絕妙。她把線拿到市場賣，買家誇讚線的質地優，但因為重量不夠買主不想成交，自作聰明的妻子偷偷把手鐲塞進線裏面，於是把線賣了五個硬幣。他們彼此都認為自己絕頂聰明，但他們有的錢似乎比以前更少了。
這有點譏諷。
真正聰明的人反而是那個收售乳牛的人，只費三寸不爛之舌從中獲取淨利。界臨貧窮的妻子卻又平白損失了手鐲，但她卻毫不自覺已做了虧本生意。
現實生活裏一些人汲汲營營於蠅頭小利，一些人將本求利；一些人自我奉獻，一些人追求自我實現；一些人選擇向上提昇，一些人選擇向下沉倫。這些人誰才是傻瓜呢？是否有這麼一把尺，刻量在你的心中？
In Arabia, long ago, a husband and wife lived in a small tumbledown shack. They had many ideas about how to make money, but they never seemed to have any. The reason was obviously to everyone else in their village-they were both noodlehead.
One morning, the husband looked at their crumbling cottage and said, “Our home is falling to pieces. We’ve got to find a way to get some money to repair it.”
“Oh, that’s not a problem,” replied his wife. “You take our cow to market to sell. She’s worth at least ten coins. I have some extra thread I can sell. Between the two of us, we’ll easily make enough to repair our house.”
The husband agreed, and together they set off for the market.
Once there, he gave the cow to the man in charge of selling animals. Since a lot of people were standing around, the salesman tried to sell the cow at once. He called out: ”Everyone, look at this excellent cow! She gives delicious milk. She eats very little for her size. She’s in the best of health. You won’t find a better cow anywhere. Who’ll give me ten coins for her?”
“I’ll bid ten!” yelled one of the men in the crowd.
“Eleven! Shouted another.
The noodlehead was amazed to hear his cow described in such glowing terms and to have people bidding on her without hesitation. He thought to himself, “Why, she truly is fine cow. I can’t let my prize cow go to someone else.” He took out his money and counted fifteen coins.
“Fifteen!” he cried out.
“Sold,” shouted the salesman. And much to the amazement of the crowd, the foolish man paid fifteen coins for his own cow. The man hurried to find his wife and said, “Dear, you won’t believe how clever I am. Let me tell you about the bargain I got!”
“First, I must tell you about the shrewd bargain I just made,” replied his wife. “Then we can decide who is more clever.”
“All right,” agreed the husband. “Go on, if you must.”
“Well, dear, I quickly found a buyer for my thread. He praised its quality but wanted to weight it before paying my price of five coins. It didn’t weight as much as he thought, and he was about to back out of our deal. But I suddenly had a brilliant idea. When he wasn’t looking, I took my silver bracelet and slipped it in among the thread. Then, I told him to weight it again. This time he was pleased and paid my full price. He never even knew that he took home my bracelet as well.
The husband praised his wife’s quick thinking and then told her what had happened to him. “Oh, husband,” she replied. “Is it fortunate that we are both so clever. When we put our brains together, we can solve any problem.”
Afterwards, they did wonder why, in spite of their cleverness, they seemed to have less money than before. Perhaps they’ve repaired their little house by now, but if they haven’t, it hardly matters. For the two noodleheads still have their cow…and each other.
本篇阿拉伯版的故事收錄於W.A. Clouston 的 The Book of Noodles (London: Elliot Stock, 1888)
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