Listen to this article古代寓言原是民间口头创作，文学体裁的一种。含有讽喻或明显教训意义的故事。它的结构简短。主人公可以是人，可以是动物，也可以是无生物。多借用比喻手法，使富有教训意义的主题或深刻的道理在简单的故事中体现，而还需要自己去理解，思考，这就是和西方寓言的不同之处。
《古代寓言·铁杵磨针》
李白少读书，未成，弃去。道逢老妪磨杵，白问其故。曰：“欲作针。”白感其言。遂卒业。
——《潜确类书》
Grinding an Iron Pestle into a Needle
A schoolboy was playing truant in the street when he saw an old woman grinding an iron pestle on a stone.
Being curious, he asked her what she was doing.
“I am going to grind it into a needle to sew cloth with,” answered the old woman.
The child laughed. “But this is much a big pestle, how can you hope to grind it down to a needle?”
“It doesn’t matter,” replied the old woman. “Today I grind it, tomorrow I’ll grind it again, and the day after tomorrow again. The pestle will get smaller every day, and one day it will be a needle.”
The child saw the point and went to school.
Qian Que Lei Shu
（杨宪益、戴乃迭 译）
