40、Jessie lived in the country, but one year she decided to visit the capital city to do some shopping and to see the sights. She stayed at a hotel near the central market. She had seldom been to the city before, and was very excited about what she would find. On the first morning of her visit, as she walked from the hotel to the market, she passed a beggar.
He was holding up a notice which said, “Blind from birth. Please give generously.”
Jessie felt sorry for the blind beggar and she bent down and put a dollar coin into his bowl.
“Thank you,” he said.
On the third day, however, Jessie did not have a dollar coin. She had only fifty cents, so she dropped this into the beggar's bowl.
“What have I done wrong?” the beggar said, “Why are you so stingy (吝啬) today?” Jessie was very surprised by what the beggar said.
“How do you know I haven't given you a dollar?” she said “If you are blind,you can't know what coin I put into your bowl.”
“Ah,” explained the beggar,“ the truth is I'm not blind. I'm just looking after this place for the regular beggar while he's on holiday.”
“On holiday!” Jessie exclaimed. “And what exactly does your blind friend do on holiday?”
“He goes into the country,” the man said, “and takes photographs. He's a very good photographer.”