Once upon a time a certain tradesman was leading a caravan¹（大篷车） to another country to sell his goods. Along the way they came to the edge of a severe hot-sand desert. They asked about, and found that during the daytime the sun heats up the fine sand until it's as hot as charcoal²（木炭） , so no one can walk on it -- not even bullocks（小公牛，阉牛） or camels! So the caravan leader hired a desert guide, one who could follow the stars, so they could travel only at night when the sand cools down. They began the dangerous night-time journey across the desert. A couple nights later, after eating their evening meal, and waiting for the sand to cool, they started out again.

 

Later that night the desert guide, who was driving the first cart saw from the stars that they were getting close to the other side of the desert. He had also overeaten, so that when he relaxed, he dozed³ off（打瞌睡） to sleep. Then the bullocks who, of course, couldn't tell directions by reading the stars, gradually turned to the side and went in a big wide circle until they ended up at the same place they had started from! By then it was morning, and the people realized they were back at the same spot they'd camped at the day before. They lost heart and began to cry about their condition. Since the desert crossing was supposed to be over by now, they had no more water and were afraid they would die of thirst. They even began to blame the caravan leader and the desert guide -- "We can do nothing without water!", they complained.

 

Then the tradesman thought to himself, "If I lose courage now, in the middle of this disastrous⁴ situation, my leadership has no meaning. If I fall to weeping and regretting this misfortune⁵, and do nothing, all these goods and bullocks and even the lives of the people, including myself, may be lost. I must be energetic and face the situation!" So he began walking back and forth⁶, trying to think out a plan to save them all. Remaining alert⁷, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a small clump⁸ of grass. He thought, "Without water, no plant could live in this desert." So he called over the most energetic of his fellow travelers and asked them to dig up the ground on that very spot. They dug and dug,and after a while they got down to a large stone. Seeing it they stopped, and began to blame the leader again,saying "This effort is useless. We're just wasting our time!" But the tradesman replied, "No no, my friends, if we give up the effort we will all be ruined and our poor animals will die -- let us be encouraged!" As he said this, he got down into the hole, put his ear to the stone, and heard the sound of flowing water.

 

Immediately, he called over a boy who had been digging and said, "If you give up, we will all perish⁹ -- so take this heavy hammer and strike the rock." The boy lifted the hammer over his head and hit the rock as hard as he could -- and he himself was the most surprised when the rock spilt in two and a mighty¹⁰ flow of water gushed¹¹（涌出，迸发） out from under it! Suddenly, all the people were overjoyed. They drank and bathed and washed the animals and cooked their food and ate. Before they left, they raised a high banner¹² so that other travelers could see it from afar（遥远地） and come to the new spring in the middle of the hot-sand desert. Then they continued on safely to the end of their journey. The moral¹³ is. Don't give up too easily keep on trying until you reach the goal.

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