A salt seller used to carry big bags of salt on his donkey's (驴的) back as he made his way to the market every day. On the way there, they had to cross a river. One day, the donkey took a sudden fall into the river. The big bags of salt also fell into the water. The salt seller didn't notice, but some of the salt dissolved (溶解)in the water, making the bags much lighter to carry. The donkey realized this and felt much more comfortable on his way to the market.
The next day, the donkey did the same thing, except this time, he fell in the water on purpose. Again, the bags were lighter and easier to carry.
The salt seller soon found out what was going on and decided to teach his donkey a lesson. The next day, he put two big bags of cotton on the donkey's back. Again the donkey played the same trick (把戏),hoping that the bags would become even lighter.
But the cotton that fell into the water instead became very heavy to carry. The donkey could only pay for his dishonesty, walking slowly with the wet cotton on his back.
Sometimes, we might feel lucky to take shortcuts (捷径) or cheat when we have a lot of hard work to do. However, taking shortcuts and cheating will often come back to harm us later. It is better to simply work honestly.
