One day， a nobleman caught a little nightingale and wanted to put it in a cage. But the bird said， “Sir， please let me go and I will give you some good advice. It may help you one day.”

The nobleman agreed to let it go.

The nightingale said， “My lord， my advice to you is to never be sorry for anything that cannot be brought back， and never trust any idle words.”

The nobleman heard the advice and let the nightingale go.

The bird flew out and said， “Too bad you let me go. I have a huge golden coin under my wing. If you had taken it， you would become even richer.”

When the nobleman heard that， he was very angry. He jumped up and tried to catch the nightingale again.

The bird turned towards him and said， “Now I know， master， that you are a greedy and foolish man.You want to bring back the golden coin that you could not have. And you believed in my idle words！ Look how small I am. How could I be hiding a large golden coin under my wing？”

And after these words the bird flew away.

一天，一個贵族抓住了一只小夜莺，想把它放进笼子里。但是夜莺说道：“先生，请放我走吧，我会给您一些有用的建议。这些建议也许有一天会帮助到您。”

这个贵族同意放走夜莺。

夜莺说道：“尊敬的主人，我对您的建议是：不要对不能挽回的事情感到遗憾，也不要相信任何无用的话。”

贵族听取了建议，把夜莺放走了。

夜莺飞起来了，说道：“您放走我真是太可惜了。在我的翅膀下面有一枚大金币，如果您拿走它，一定会变得更富有。”

贵族听了夜莺的话以后，变得很生气。他跳起来想再次抓住夜莺。

夜莺转身对着贵族说道：“现在我知道了，主人，您是一个贪婪且愚蠢的人，您想得到本来并不属于您的金币，而且您也相信了我说的毫无意义的话！看我这么小，怎么可能在翅膀下面藏着一枚大金币呢？”

夜莺说完就飞走了。

Vocabulary

idle adj. 无效的;无用的

wing n. 翅膀

greedy adj. 贪婪的;贪心的