[00:00.27]Lesson 16
[00:02.55]Mary had a little lamb
[00:10.19]Was Dimitri right to apologize to his neighbour? Why not?
[00:15.03]Mary and her husband Dimitri lived in the tiny village of Perachora in southern Greece.
[00:25.07]One of Mary's prize possessions was a little white lamb which her husband had given her.
[00:31.82]She kept it tied to a tree in a field during the day and went to fetch it every evening.
[00:39.40]One evening, however the lamb was missing.
[00:43.27]The rope had been cut, so it was obvious that the lamb had been stolen.
[00:49.52]When Dimitri came in from the fields, his wife told him what had happened.
[00:54.17]Dimitri at once set out to find the thief.
[00:58.91]He knew it would not prove difficult in such a small village.
[01:04.21]After telling several of his friends about the theft,
[01:07.78]Dimitri found out that his neighbour, Aleko, had suddenly acquired a new lamb.
[01:15.19]Dimitri immediately went to Aleko's house and angrily accused him of stealing the lamb.
[01:22.68]He told him he had better return it or he would call the police.
[01:27.61]Aleko denied taking it and led Dimitri into his backyard.
[01:33.03]It was true that he had just bought a lamb he explained, but his lamb was black.
[01:40.35]Ashamed of having acted so rashly, Dimitri apologized to Aleko for having accused him.
[01:48.26]While they were talking it began to rain and Dimitri stayed in Aleko's house until the rain stopped.
[01:56.11]When he went outside half an hour later, he was astonished to find that the little black lamb was almost white.
[02:05.48]Its wool, which had been dyed black, had been washed clean by the rain!
玛丽与丈夫迪米特里住在希腊南部一个叫波拉考拉的小村庄里。玛丽最珍贵的财产之一就是丈夫送给她的一只白色小羔羊。白天，玛丽把羔羊拴在地里的一颗树上，每天晚上把它牵回家。可是，一天晚上，那只小羔羊失踪了。绳子被人割断，很明显小羔羊是被人偷走了。
迪米特里从地里回来，妻子把情况跟他一说，他马上出去找偷羔羊的人。他知道在这样一个小村庄里抓住小偷并不困难。把失窃的事告诉几个朋友后，迪米特里发出他的邻居阿列科家突然多了一只小羔羊。迪米特里立刻去了阿列科家，气呼呼地指责他偷了羔羊，告诉他最好把羊交还，否则就去叫警察。阿列科不承认，并把迪米特里领进院子。不错，他的确刚买了一只羔羊，阿列科解释说，但他的羔羊是黑色的。迪米特里为自己的鲁莽而感到不好意思，向阿列科道了歉，说是错怪了他。就在他俩说话的时候，天下起了雨，迪米特里便呆在阿列科家里避雨，一直等到雨停为止。半小时后，当他从屋里出来时，他惊奇地发现小黑羔羊全身几乎都变成白色。原来羊毛上染的黑色被雨水冲掉了！