提 要

有人說：「『善意的謊言』可使人與人相處更圓融。」但是，「善意謊言」是由於背後的真相令人難以接受，知情者不想別人受到傷害，才決定隱瞞。所以，無論是善意或是惡意的謊言，都會令世界更糟，人與人相處會產生更多磨擦。文中「不願意說謊的人」，運用說話的技巧，同樣的事，同樣的話，調整一下次序、語氣，不必說謊，也達到了效果。

A long time ago in the amazing land of Africa there lived a man. The one thing which was famous about that man was that he had never lied in his whole life. People knew him as "The man who never told a lie."

This came into the knowledge of king, and he ordered his men to get that man and bring him to the court.

After the man reached, The king asked him ,"I have heard that you have never told a lie ?"

"Yes my king, I have never lied." The man answered.

"Do you think you will never lie in the future too?"

"Yes my lord ,I will try my best to do that", said the man respectfully.

"That is a very good quality of your's but you can't be so sure about not telling a lie every time in life, anyway you can go now."The king let him go.

A few days later the king called the man again and said："I am going to hunt , the queen is in the other palace and I want you to go to my second palace and tell the queen that after hunting I will meet her and we will enjoy dinner together, so she should get ready for that."

"As you wish your majesty", said the man and left the king's palace.

Now king said to the people around him "I will not go for hunting and I will not go to meet the queen today and The man who never told lie will be proved wrong", he laughed aloud.

On the other hand, the man reached the queen's palace and went to her and said："Oh your highness, there is a possibility that the king will visit you after the hunt and he might have lunch with you."

"Tell me exactly will he come or not", asked the queen.

"Well, he is the king, the master of his own, may be he will come , may be he will not."The honest and wise man answered.

Next day the king went to his queen, and said that the man lied to her and has been proved false. But the queen told him that the man was very intelligent, he didn't lie to her, he was still "The man who never told a lie."

解 說

很久很久以前，在神奇的非洲大地，住著一個以「從不撒謊」聞名的男人。人人皆知的是：他這一生，從來沒有說過一句謊話。

那裡的國王得知了此事，於是命令手下將那個男人帶到宮庭。

等那男子到達宮庭後，國王問他：「聽說，你從來沒有說過謊？」

「是，我的國王，我從來沒有撒謊。」那個男人回答。

「你覺得，你將來也不會說謊，永遠不會嗎？」

「是的，陛下，我會盡我所能，做到這一點！」那人恭恭敬敬地說。

「那是你很好的品德，但你應該不能那麼肯定，一次謊不會撒吧，反正你現在可以走了。」國王讓他離去。

幾天後，國王再次把男子叫到王宮，對他說：「我要去打獵，皇后在別的宮殿。現在，我要你去我的第二宮，告訴皇后，狩獵後，我將會見她，與她一起享受晚餐，請她先做好準備。」

「謹尊陛下的指示」，那人說完，離開了國王的宮殿。

國王轉頭對他身邊的人說：「我不會去打獵，今天甚至不會出門，所以也見不到皇后，『從不撒謊的男人』今天說謊了！」說著，他忍不住笑出了聲。

在第二宮，從不撒謊的男人到了皇后的宮殿，對她說：「皇后陛下，今天，『有可能』在狩獵之後，國王將會駕臨與陛下共進晚餐。」

「清楚地告訴我，他到底來還是不來？」皇后問。

「喔，他是國王，是自己的主人，所以可能他會來，也可能不會來。」誠實的男人技巧地回答。

第二天，國王到皇后的宮殿，得意的表示，那名男子騙了她，因為事實證明，那名男子所說是錯誤的；但皇后告訴國王，那人很聰明的，他陳述事實，沒有騙她，所以他仍然是「從不撒謊的人」。