One night a hotel caught fire, and the people who were staying in it ran out in their night clothes.
Two men stood outside and looked at the fire.
"Before I came out," said one, "I ran into some of the rooms and found a lot of money. People don't think of money when they're afraid. When anyone leaves paper money in a fire, the fire burns it. So I took all the bills that I could find. No one will be poorer because I took them."
"You don't know my work." said the other.
"What is your work?"
"I'm a policeman."
"Oh!" cried the first man. He thought quickly and said, "And do you know my work?" "No." said the policeman.
"I'm a writer. I'm always telling stories about things that never happened."
翻译：
一天晚上，一家旅馆失火，住在这家旅馆里的人们穿着睡衣就跑了出来。
两个人站在外面，看着大火。
“在我出来之前，”其中一个说，“我跑进一些房间，找到了一大笔钱。人在恐惧中是不会想到钱的。如果有人把纸币留在火里，火就会把它烧成灰烬。所以我把我所能找到的钞票都拿走了。没有人会因为我拿走它们而变得更穷。”
“你不知道我是干什么的。”另一个人说。
“你是干什么的？”
“我是警察。”
“噢！”第一个人喊了一声。他灵机一动，说：“那你知道我是干什么的？” “不知道。”警察说。
“我是个作家。我总是爱编一些从未发生过的故事。”
