一個生活並不寬裕的寡婦隻養了一隻羊。到了剪羊毛的時節，寡婦希望可以用羊毛來換取一些生活費用。於是，她就自己動手剪羊毛。可惜她的技術並不高明，弄得羊遍體鱗傷。羊委屈地對主人說： “女主人啊，你為什麼要這樣傷害我啊！我的血能增加多少重量呢？如果你想要我的肉，就請找一個屠夫來吧，讓我死得痛快一些；如果你想要我的羊毛，那就請一個專業的剪毛工人吧，不要再讓我受些無謂的傷害了。 ”
最少的付出並非總能得到最大的收獲。
A poor widow had oary Sheep. At shearing time， wishing to take his .eed to avoid expense，she sheared him herself，but used the shears so unskillfully that with the .eece she sheared the .esh. The Sheep，writhing with pain，said，“Why do you hurt me so，Mistress? What weight my blood add to the wool? If you wahere is the butcher，who will kill me in an instant；but if you want my .eed wool， there is the shearer，who will shear and not hurt me.”
The least outlay is not always the greatest gain.