One day a farmer bought four donkeys in the marketplace in the village.

He got on one of them and began to ride home. As he was riding along, he noticed that there were only three donkeys walking in front of him. "I wonder what happened." He was forgetting, of course, to count the donkey he was riding.

When he got home, his wife met him in front of their house, "I see that you bought fine donkeys," she said, "Did you buy them for a good price?"

"Yes, I did," he said, "but something puzzles me. I purchased four donkeys at the marketplace this morning. And I am sure that I had all four with me when I felt the market. But know it seems that I have only three. See? One, two, three." He still didn't remember that he mounted one of the donkeys in the village and was sitting on its back at that very moment.

At first his wife stare at him, waiting for him to smile, for she thought he was joking. Then when she noticed that he was not, she turned away and laughed. "How strange," she said , "you see only three, but I see five."

一天，一个农夫在村子的集市上买了四头驴。

他骑上了其中的一头回家。他骑着的时候发现只有三头驴走在前面。“这是怎么回事？”他自言自语道，“我买了四头驴，但是现在我只看见三头。”他忘记数自己骑着的那头了。

当他回到家时，他妻子在房子前碰见，“我看你买的这些驴很不错，”她说：“买的价钱合理吗？”

“是的。”他说。“但是我还有些疑惑，我早上在集市上买了四头驴。而且我确定我从市场出来时候是四头驴。但是看起来我现在只有三头，你瞧，一，二，三。”他仍然没想起来骑着其中一头驴，而且在它的背上呆了好半天。

刚开始他妻子盯着他，等着他笑，因为他以为他在开玩笑。但是当她发现他并没有开玩笑时，她转过头去笑着说，“真是太奇怪了，”她说，“你只看到了三头，可是我看到了五头驴。”