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Once upon a time a man had a big house, and in the house there was a big oven ； but this man's family was small-only himself and his wife.
When winter came, the man tried to keep his oven going all day, so that the entire stock of his firewood was consumed in a month. Now, with nothing to feed the fire, it was cold in the house.
Then the man began to break up his fences, and use the boards for fueI. When he had burnt up all of his fences, the house, now without any protection against the wind, was colder than ever, and still they had no firewood.
Then the man began to tear down the ceiling of his house, and burn that in the oven. A neighbour noticed that he was tearing down his ceiling, and said to him ，“ Why, neighbour, have you lost your mind, pulling down your ceiling in winter?You and your wife will freeze to death ！”
But the man said ，“ No, brother, you see I am pulling down my ceiling so as to have something to heat my oven with. We have such a curious one ； the more I heat it up, the colder we are ！”
The neighbour laughed, and said ，“ Well, then, after you have burnt up your ceiling, then you will be tearing down your house. You won't have anywhere to live ； only the oven will be left, and even that will be cold ！”
“ Well, that is my misfortune ，” said the man ，“ All my neighbours have enough firewood for all winter ； but I have already burnt up my fences and the ceiling of my house, and have nothing left. ”
The neighbour replied ，“ All you need is to have your oven rebuilt. ”
But the man said ，“ I know well that you are jeaIous of my house and my oven because they are larger than yours, and so you advise me to rebuild it. ”
So he turned a deaf ear to his neighbour's advice, and burnt up his ceiling, then his whole house, and in the end had to go and live with strangers.
从前，有个人拥有一幢大房子，里面有个大火炉，可他家人口少——只有他和妻子。
冬天来了，他想尽办法不让火炉熄灭，一个月就把所有的柴火烧光了。现在，没什么可以烧的了，屋子里冷得要命。
然后，他开始拆篱笆，把木板拿来当柴烧。烧掉了篱笆，房子没有了挡风的屏障，比以前更冷了，可他们还是没有柴烧。
接下来，他开始拆屋里的天花板，放进炉子里烧。一个邻居看到他拆天花板后，对他说：“哎呀，邻居，你疯了吗？大冬天拆天花板，你和你妻子会被冻死的。”
可是，他却说：“不，老兄，我拆天花板是为了烧炉子。我们的炉子真是怪，越烧越冷。”
邻居笑着说：“哦，你烧完天花板就会拆房子了。那时你就没地方住了，只剩下那个火炉，可连它也是冰冷的。”
“哎，这是我的不幸啊，”他说，“所有的邻居都有足够的柴火过冬，而我已经烧掉了篱笆和天花板，什么也不剩了。”
邻居回答道：“你只要重砌个炉子就行了。”
可是，他说：“我很清楚，你是嫉妒我的房子和炉子，因为都比你家的大，所以你劝我重砌个炉子。”
结果，他把邻居的劝告当作耳旁风，烧掉天花板后，把房子也烧掉了。最后，他不得不和陌生人住在一起。