亡羊补牢 literally means 'mending the pen after sheep are lost' — a story about a shepherd who finally fixes a broken fence, teaching kids that it's never too late to correct a mistake, as long as you act before it happens again.
Character by character
亡
wáng
to lose
羊
yáng
sheep
补
bǔ
to mend
牢
láo
pen/fence
Audio coming soon
从前，有个牧羊人养了一群羊，每天把它们赶到羊圈里过夜。
有一天早上，他起来一看，羊圈破了个大窟窿，少了一只羊！
邻居听说了，赶紧跑来劝他：“快把羊圈的窟窿补上吧，不然还会有羊丢的！”
牧羊人摆摆手，满不在乎地说：“羊都丢了，还补什么牢？修也没用了。”
他没把邻居的话放在心上，羊圈依旧破着那个窟窿，日子一天天过去。
**没想到，没过几天，又一只羊不见了！**这次还是从那个没修的窟窿钻出去的。
牧羊人这下可急了，肠子都悔青了：“早知道会这样，当初就该听邻居的话，把窟窿补上！”
他二话不说，立刻找来木头和绳子，仔仔细细地把羊圈的窟窿补得严严实实。
从那以后，羊圈再也没破过洞，牧羊人的羊也一只都没再丢过。
这就是亡羊补牢的故事。丢了东西不可怕，可怕的是丢了以后还不知道去补救。
这个故事告诉我们：
犯了错不可怕，可怕的是不肯改正。只要肯行动，什么时候开始都不算晚。
Once, a shepherd kept a flock of sheep in a wooden pen every night. One morning, he woke up to find a big hole in the fence — and one of his sheep was missing.
A neighbor heard about it and hurried over to warn him. "You should fix that hole right away," he said, "or you'll lose more sheep!" But the shepherd waved him off. "The sheep is already gone," he said. "What's the point of fixing the fence now?" He ignored the advice, and the hole stayed right where it was.
Just a few days later, another sheep escaped through that very same hole and disappeared. Now the shepherd deeply regretted not listening. "If only I had fixed the fence the first time," he thought, "I wouldn't have lost this one too."
This time, he didn't wait. He gathered wood and rope and carefully repaired the hole until the fence was sturdy and secure. From that day on, the fence never broke again — and the shepherd never lost another sheep.
This story teaches us that it's never too late to correct a mistake:
In short: Making a mistake isn't the real problem — refusing to fix it is. It's better to act late than never to act at all.
