A Rogue laid a wager that he would prove the Oracle at Delphi to be untrustworthy by procuring from it a false reply to an inquiry by himself. So he went to the temple on the appointed day with a small bird in his hand, which he concealed under the folds of his cloak, and asked whether what he held in his hand were alive or dead. If the Oracle said “dead,” he meant to produce the bird alive: if the reply was “alive,” he intended to wring its neck and show it to be dead. But the Oracle was one too many for him, for the answer he got was this: “Stranger, whether the thing that you hold in your hand be alive or dead is a matter that depends entirely on your own will.”
有一个无赖和人打赌，说自己可以证明德尔菲神庙当中的先知根本不值得信任，他去询问得到的回答会是错的。于是，他按计划去了神庙，手里握着一只小鸟，藏到了自己的斗篷下面。他问先知那只小鸟是死的还是活的。如果先知说是死的，他就会把鸟活着拿出来；如果先知回答说是活的，那他就把鸟脖子拧断，拿只死鸟出来。但是先知却比他聪明太多，是这样回答的：“陌生人，你握在手里的东西是死是活，完全取决于你的意愿。”