Once a king was walking around a pool with his ministers (大臣). Suddenly, he came
up with (想出) an idea. He asked, "How many baskets of 1 are there in the pool?" The
ministers couldn't give an answer. The king was angry, "You 2 answer my questions in
three days!"
Three days passed, but 3 of the ministers had the answer. Just then, a child said
that he knew it. The king told the ministers 4 the child to the pool. To his surprise,
the child 5 and said with a smile, "It is 6 . No need to go to the pool." This made
the king pleased. "All right. Let us know 7 ." The child said, "If you know the 8
of the basket, the answer is known. 9 it is as big as the pool, there is one basket of
water; half as big, two baskets…" " Stop! That's it. You have got the answer. They were
thinking of things 10 a wrong way."
Sometimes to get out of the difficulty, one must change one's way of thinking.