One day, a poor man walked past a restaurant. He had only one piece ofbread to eat. There was a large pot of soup on the table. The poor man held hisbread over the soup, so the steam (蒸汽) from the soup went into the bread, and gave it a good smell. Thenhe ate the bread.
The restaurant owner was very angry. He asked the man for money inexchange for the steam from the soup. The poor man had no money, so therestaurant owner took him to a judge(法官).
The judge took some money from his pocket. He held the coins next to therestaurant owner's ear, and shook them, so that the restaurant owner could hearthe sound of the coins.
"What was that?" asked the restaurant owner.
"That was the payment for you," answered the judge.
"What do you mean? That was just the sound of coins!" said therestaurant owner.
"The sound of the coins is the payment for the steam of the soup,"answered the judge. "Now go back to your restaurant."