(原版)澳大利亞語文第三冊(cè) LESSON 33

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LESSON 33 THE STONE IN THE ROAD

THE STONE IN THE ROAD

1. "What is everybody's business is nobody's business" is an old proverb [1] . Are you always careful to knock bits of orange and banana peel from the footpath? Or, if you see a piece of broken glass in the road, where horses and dogs would be likely to tread on it, do you at once pick it up, and put it where it will do no mischief [2] ? A part of your business and mine in this world is to make it clean and safe, as far as we are able.

2. In a far-off country, and in a far-off time, there lived a king whose delight it was to teach his people good habits. "Bad luck comes only to the lazy and the careless," said he; "but to the busy workers, God gives the good things of this life." One night, he put a large stone in the middle of a cutting through which the road passed near his palace, and then set a watch to see what the people who passed that way would do.

3. Early the next morning there came a young soldier, humming a merry tune as he walked along. He wore a gay uniform [3] , and a sword hung in its bright scabbard [4] at his side. He was fond of telling boastful stories of what he would do if a war arose. He held his head so high that he did not see the stone, but stumbled over it, and fell sprawling in the dust. He got up, and went on; but he did not sing any more.

THERE CAME A YOUNG SOLDIER.

4. Then a sturdy old farmer, named Peter, came along with a bullock-dray loaded with wheat. "Oh, these lazy people!" he cried; "here is a big stone right in the middle of the road, and no one will take the trouble to move it." He managed, however, to get past it, and went on his way, scolding about the laziness of other people, but never thinking of touching the stone himself.

5. About an hour later, there came down the road several merchants [5] in company. They were going to a fair in the town, and had their goods on pack-horses [6] . When they reached the stone, the road was so narrow that the horses jostled one another; and, for a time, there was a risk [7] of injuring both the animals and the goods.

6. "Did any one ever see the like?" they said; "there is that big stone in the road, and every man goes past it without stopping to take it away!" Yet, amongst them all, no one thought it his business to get off his horse to do it.

7. So the stone lay in the road for three weeks. It was in everybody's way, and yet everybody left it for somebody else to move.

Then the king sent word to all his people to meet together on a certain day at the cutting near his palace, as he had something to tell them.

8. The day came, and a crowd of men and women gathered in the road. Old Peter, the farmer, was there, and so was the soldier, and so were the merchants. "I hope the king will now find out what a lazy set of people he has around him," said Peter to one of the merchants whom he knew.

9. The king had promised to be at noon where he had appointed; and, two minutes before twelve o'clock, the sound of a bugle was heard, and the people saw him approaching.

10. He rode up to the stone, got down from his horse, and said: "My friends, it was I who put this stone here three weeks ago. It has been seen, I suppose, by every one of you, or, at least, by every one that has passed this way. It has been left, however, just where it was; and each one has scolded his neighbour for not moving it out of the way."

11. Stooping down, he rolled the stone over. Underneath it was a hollow, in which was a small iron box. The king held up the box so that all the people might see what was written on the piece of paper fastened to it. These were the words: "For him who lifts the stone." He opened the box, turned it upside down, and out of it fell a beautiful ring, and a score of bright gold coins.

12. Then, you may be sure, every one wished that he had moved the stone instead of going round it, and finding fault with his neighbour.

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[1] proverb: A common saying.

[2] mischief: Harm.

[3] uniform: The dress of a soldier.

[4] scabbard: The long case in which a sword is hung.

[5] merchants: Men who buy and sell goods.

[6] pack-horses: Horses used for carrying bundles on their backs.

[7] risk: Danger.