Making the tacks

The hardworking blacksmith Jones used to work all day in his shop and so hard working was he that at times he would make the sparks fly from his hammer.

The son of Mr. Smith, a rich neighbor, used to come to see the blacksmith everyday and for hours and hours he would enjoy himself watching how the tradesman worked.

"Young man, why don't you try your hand to learn to make shoe tacks, even if it is only to pass the time?" said the blacksmith. "Who knows, one day, it may be of use to you."

The lazy boy began to see what he could do. But after a little practice he found that he was becoming very skilled and soon he was making some of the finest tacks.

Old Mr. Smith died and the son on account of the war lost all his goods. He had to leave home and was forced to take up residence in another country. It so happened that in this village there were numerous shoemakers who were spending a lot of money to buy tacks for their shoes and even at times when they paid high prices they were not always able to get what they wanted, because in that part of the country there was a high demand for soldiers' shoes.

Our young Mr. Smith, who was finding it difficult to earn his daily bread, remembered that once upon a time he had learned the art of making tacks and had the sudden idea of making a bargain with the shoemakers. He told them that he would make the tacks if they would help to get him settled in his workshop. The shoemakers were only too glad of the offer. And after a while, Mr. Smith found that he was soon making the finest tacks in the village.

"How funny it seems," he used to say, "even making tacks can bring a fortune. My trade is more useful to me than were all my former riches."

瓊斯是個非常勤勞的鐵匠，常常一整天都在店裏工作。他工作非常努力，他的鐵錘下常常是火花飛舞。

鄰居史密斯先生很有錢，他的兒子常常來看瓊斯打鐵。他喜歡看這位工匠工作，常常一看就是幾個小時。

“年輕人，爲什麼不親自嘗試一下如何製作鞋釘呢，哪怕只是爲了消磨時間？”鐵匠說，“沒準，有一天它會對你有幫助。”

懶懶的孩子開始想看看自己到底能做什麼。然而，僅僅經過很短的練習，他便發現自己非常熟練起來，很快他就做出了最好的鞋釘。

老史密斯先生去世了，而他的兒子則因爲戰爭的緣故失去了所有的財產。他不得不離開家園，在另外一個國家住了下來。巧的是，這個國家的這個地區，急需大量軍鞋，所以這個村子裏有很多鞋匠，他們總是花費很多錢購買鞋釘。有時，即使付了很高的價錢，也買不到他們想要的鞋釘。

在這食不果腹的困難時刻，年輕的史密斯記起自己曾學過製鞋釘這門手藝，便突發奇想，想和這些鞋匠們做一個交易。他對他們說，如果他們可以幫助他成立一個店鋪，他就可以做鞋釘。鞋匠們對他的這一提議欣喜若狂。很快，史密斯發現他做的鞋釘是村裏面最好的。

“這真是有趣，”他常常會說，“即便是做鞋釘也會帶來財富。與我以前所有的財富相比，我現在做的事情對於我來說更有用。”