There was once a nest of young larks in a field of corn that had just become ripe, and the mother was on the lookout every day for the reapers. Whenever she went in search of food, she told her young ones to report all the news they heard to her. One day, while she was absent, the master came to inspect the condition of the crops.
"It's high time to call together my neighbors and reap my corn,"he said.
When the mother lark came home, the young ones told her what they had heard and begged her to remove them from the field right away.
"There's plenty of time, "she said. "If he's counting on his neighbors, he'll have to wait a while yet for his harvest."
Next day, however, the owner came again, and finding the sun even hotter, the corn riper, and nothing done, he said, "There's not a moment to lose. Since I can' t depend on my neighbors, I must call together my relatives."And, turning to his son, he said, "Go call your uncles and cousins, and see whether they can begin tomorrow.”
In greater fear than ever before, the young ones repeated the farmer's words to their mother.
"If that's all there is," she said, "don't be frightened, for the relatives have their own harvest work to finish. But be sure you pay attention to what you hear the next time, and let me know what the farmer says."
The following day the mother went out in search of food, and the owner came once again. Finding that the corn was falling to the ground because it was too ripe, and seeing that nobody was at work, he called to his son.
"We can no longer wait for our neighbors and friends.Go and hire some reapers tonight,and we'll get to work ourselves tomorrow."
When the young ones told their mother what they had heard, she said, "Well then, it's time to be off, for when a man makes up his mind to do his work himself instead of leaving it to others to do, you can be sure that he means to do what he says."
Self-help is the best help.
從前，在一片剛剛成熟的玉米地裡有一窩小云雀，母親每天都觀察農田的主人。每當她去尋找食物時，她就告訴她的孩子們把聽到的所有消息都告訴她。有一天，她不在的時候，農夫來檢查莊稼的情況。
他說：“是時候召集我的鄰居來收割我的玉米了。”
當百靈鳥媽媽回家時，孩子們把聽到的都告訴了她，並求她馬上帶著他們搬走。
“還有很多時間，”她說，“如果他指望鄰居，他還得等一段時間才能開始收割玉米。”
然而，第二天，農夫又來了，發現太陽更熱了，玉米更裂了，什麼也沒做，他說：“一刻也不能等了。我不能依靠我的鄰居，所以我必須召集我的親戚。”他轉向兒子說，“去叫你的叔叔和堂兄弟，看看他們明天能不能開始。”
年幼的雲雀孩子們比以往任何時候都更害怕，把農夫的話重複給他們的母親聽。
“如果只有這些，”她說，“不要害怕，因為親戚們有自己的農忙工作要完成。但下次你們一定要注意聽，讓我知道農夫說了什麼。”
第二天，母親出去尋找食物，農夫又來了。他發現玉米因為太熟而掉到地上，看到沒有人在工作，就跟自己的兒子說。
“我們不能再等鄰居和朋友了。今晚去僱些收割者吧，明天我們自己去幹活。”
當小云雀告訴他們的母親他們所聽到的，她說：“那麼，現在是時候離開了，因為當一個男人下定決心自己做他的工作，而不是讓別人做，你可以肯定，他會說到做到的。”
自我幫助是最好的幫助方式。
閱讀更多 LULU原版英語故事分享 的文章
