17. One day, a colt (小马) took a bag of food to a new place. As he was running with the bag on his back, he came to a small river.
The colt could not know if he could cross it. Looking around, he saw Aunt Cow. He asked, " Aunt Cow, could you tell me if I can cross the river?" The cow told him that he could and the river was not very deep, just knee high.
The colt was crossing the river when a squirrel (松鼠) jumped down a tree and stopped him. The squirrel shouted, "Colt, stop! You will fall! One of my friends fell into the river yesterday." Not knowing what to do, the colt went home to ask his mom.
He told his mom his experience on the way. His mother said, "My child, don't always listen to others. You'd better go and try yourself. Then you'll know what to do."
Later, at the river, the squirrel stopped the colt again." Little horse, it's too dangerous!" "No, I want to try myself, " answered the colt. Then he crossed the river carefully. On the other side of the river, the colt realized that the river was not as shallow (浅) as the cow said or as deep as the squirrel told him.
Don't let other people's words influence you, for real knowledge comes from practice.