In a faraway country, there were two carpenters (木匠) who were both so good at their job that no one could tell who was better.
One day, the country's king thought of a way to figure out which one was better. He would have them compete against each other in a contest. The winner would become the official royal (皇家的) carpenter.
The king sent for the two carpenters and the contest began. The carpenters were given three days to carve (雕刻) a wooden mouse. Whoever carved the most lifelike mouse would be the winner.
The first carpenter carved a fine mouse with vivid (生动的) and lifelike feature. The second carpenter's mouse. however, looked quite rough. In fact, it hardly even looked like a mouse at all.
The king and his ministers (大臣) agreed that the first carpenter was the winner.
The second carpenter said, "This judgment is unfair. We should ask a cat which mouse looks the most realistic. Cats can recognize mice much better than humans, after all. "
The king thought this was a good idea. He ordered his ministers to catch several cats and bring them to judge (评判) the carpenters' mice. Surprisingly, all of the cats were more attracted to the second carpenter's mouse.
The king asked the second carpenter, "How did you make the cats believe that-your mouse looked more real?" The carpenter said, "Your Majesty, if you look closely, you can see that I carved a mouse holding a fishbone! The cats care not about how real it looks, but how delicious it might taste. "
