《古代寓言·井蛙》（中英对照）

坎井之蛙谓东海之鳖曰：“吾乐与！出跳梁乎井幹之上，入休乎缺甃之崖；赴水则接腋持颐，蹶泥则没足灭跗；还虷蟹与蝌蚪，莫吾能若也。且夫擅一壑之水，而跨跱坎井之乐，此亦至矣。夫子奚不时来入观乎？”

东海之鳖左足未入，而右膝已扎矣。于是逡巡而却，告之海曰：“夫千里之远，不足以举其大；千仞之高，不足以极其深。禹之时，十年九潦，而水弗为加益；汤之时，八年七旱，而崖不为加损。夫不为顷久推移，不以多少进退者，此亦东海之大乐也。”

于是，坎井之蛙闻之，适适然惊，规规然自失也。

——《庄子》

The Frog in the Well

A frog lived in a shallow well.

“Look how well off I am here!” he told a big turtle from the Easton Ocean. “I can hop along the coping of the well when I go out, and rest by a crevice in the bricks on my return. I can wallow to my heart’s content with only my head above water, or stroll ankle deep through soft mud. No crabs or tadpoles can compare with me. I am master of the water and lord of this shallow well. What more can a fellow ask? Why don’t you come here more often to have a good time?”

Before the turtle from the Eastern Ocean could get his left foot into the well, however, he caught his right claw on something. So he halted and stepped back, then began to describe the ocean to the frog.

“It’s more than a thousand li across and more than ten thousand feet deep. In ancient times there were floods nine years out of ten yet the water in the ocean never increased. And later there were droughts seven years out of eight yet the water in the ocean never grew less. It has remained quite constant throughout the ages. That is why I like to live in the Eastern Ocean.”

Then the frog in the shallow well was silent and felt a little abashed.

Zhuang Zi