The Husband Who Was to Mind the House

Once on a time there was a man, so surly and cross, he never thought his wife did anything right in the house. So, one evening, in hay-making time, he came home, scolding and swearing, and showing his teeth and making a dust.

从前有个男人，脾气暴躁又爱抱怨，总觉得妻子在家里干的活没一样是对的。于是有一天傍晚，正值割干草的时节，他回到家，一进门就又是骂又是发牢骚，龇牙咧嘴地大发脾气，弄得屋里灰尘直飞。

“Dear love, don’t be so angry; there’s a good man”, said his goody; “to-morrow let’s change our work. I’ll go out with the mowers and mow, and you shall mind the house at home.”

“亲爱的，别这么生气嘛，做个好人吧，”他的妻子说道，“不如明天咱们换换活儿干。我跟割草的人一起出去割草，你就留在家里操持家务。”

Yes! the husband thought that would do very well. He was quite willing, he said.

好啊！丈夫一听，觉得这主意挺不错。他说他非常乐意。

So, early next morning, his goody took a scythe over her neck, and went out into the hay-field with the mowers, and began to mow; but the man was to mind the house, and do the work at home.

于是第二天一大早，妻子把一把长柄镰刀扛在肩上，跟割草的人一起下了草地，开始割起草来；而丈夫呢，则留在家里操持家务，做家里的活儿。

First of all, he wanted to churn the butter; but when he had churned a while, he got thirsty, and went down to the cellar to tap a barrel of ale. So, just when he had knocked in the bung, and was putting the tap into the cask, he heard overhead the pig come into the kitchen.

他先想把黄油打出来；可打了一会儿，他觉得口渴了，便下地窖去开一桶麦芽酒。就在他刚敲开塞子，正把龙头插进桶里的时候，他听见楼上厨房里传来猪跑进去的声音。

Then off he ran up the cellar steps, with the tap in his hand, as fast as he could, to look after the pig, lest it should upset the churn; but when he got up, and saw the pig had already knocked the churn over, and stood there, routing and grunting amongst the cream which was running all over the floor, he got so wild with rage that he quite forgot the ale-barrel, and ran at the pig as hard as he could. He caught it, too, just as it ran out of doors, and gave it such a kick, that piggy lay for dead on the spot.

于是他手里攥着龙头，飞快地跑上地窖的台阶，去看那头猪，生怕它把搅乳桶弄翻了；可等他跑上去一看，那头猪早已经把搅乳桶撞翻了，正站在满地流淌的奶油里拱来拱去、哼哼直叫，他顿时气得七窍生烟，把手里的酒桶龙头忘得一干二净，拼了命地朝那头猪追去。他好不容易在猪跑出门的那一刻逮住了它，狠狠地踹了一脚，那猪当场就躺在地上像死了一样。

Then all at once he remembered he had the tap in his hand; but when he got down to the cellar, every drop of ale had run out of the cask.

这时他忽然想起手里还攥着龙头呢；可等他跑下地窖一看，一整桶麦芽酒早已经流得一滴不剩了。

Then he went into the dairy and found enough cream left to fill the churn again, and so he began to churn, for butter they must have at dinner. When he had churned a bit, he remembered that their milking cow was still shut up in the byre, and hadn’t had a bit to eat or a drop to drink all the morning, though the sun was high.

于是他跑进牛奶房，发现还剩下够用的奶油，可以重新装满搅乳桶，便开始打起黄油来，因为午饭总得有黄油才行。他打了一会儿，忽然想起他们家那头产奶的母牛还关在牛棚里，一整个上午都没吃没喝，可太阳都已经升得老高了。

Then all at once he thought ’twas too far to take her down to the meadow, so he’d just get her up on the house-top—for the house, you must know, was thatched with sods, and a fine crop of grass was growing there. Now their house lay close up against a steep down, and he thought if he laid a plank across to the thatch at the back he’d easily get the cow up.

他忽然又想，把牛牵到草地上去实在太远了，不如干脆把它弄到屋顶上去——因为你要知道，他们家的屋顶是用草皮铺的，上面长着一片长势不错的青草。他们家的房子恰好紧挨着一处陡坡，他寻思着只要在坡上架一块木板搭到屋顶后面，就能轻轻松松把牛弄上去。

But still he couldn’t leave the churn, for there was his little babe crawling about on the floor, and “if I leave it”, he thought, “the child is safe to upset it”. So he took the churn on his back, and went out with it; but then he thought he’d better first water the cow before he turned her out on the thatch; so he took up a bucket to draw water out of the well; but, as he stooped down at the well’s brink, all the cream ran out of the churn over his shoulders, and so down into the well.

可他还是不能扔下那搅乳桶不管，因为他家的小宝宝正在地板上爬来爬去，他心想：“要是我把桶放下不管，孩子肯定会把它弄翻的。”于是他把搅乳桶背在背上，一起出了门；可他又想，在把牛赶到屋顶之前，最好先给它喝点水；于是他拿起一只水桶，想到井边打水；可他刚一弯腰凑到井沿边，搅乳桶里的奶油便顺着他的肩膀全都流了出来，一股脑儿地流进了井里。

Now it was near dinner-time, and he hadn’t even got the butter yet; so he thought he’d best boil the porridge, and filled the pot with water, and hung it over the fire. When he had done that, he thought the cow might perhaps fall off the thatch and break her legs or her neck. So he got up on the house to tie her up. One end of the rope he made fast to the cow’s neck and the other he slipped down the chimney and tied round his own thigh; and he had to make haste, for the water now began to boil in the pot, and he had still to grind the oatmeal.

这时已经快到吃午饭的时候了，可他连黄油都还没弄出来；于是他想着最好还是先煮粥，便往锅里灌满水，挂到火上去煮。做完这些，他又想起那头牛也许会从屋顶上摔下来，摔断腿或者脖子。于是他爬上屋顶去把牛拴好。他把绳子的一头系在牛脖子上，另一头顺着烟囱滑下去，绑在自己的大腿上；他还得赶紧动作，因为锅里的水已经开始煮开了，而他还得去磨燕麦呢。

So he began to grind away; but while he was hard at it, down fell the cow off the house-top after all, and as she fell, she dragged the man up the chimney by the rope. There he stuck fast; and as for the cow, she hung half-way down the wall, swinging between heaven and earth, for she could neither get down nor up.

于是他开始使劲磨起燕麦来；可就在他埋头苦干的时候，那头牛终究还是从屋顶上摔了下来，摔下来的时候，还顺着绳子把他也拖进了烟囱里。他就这么牢牢地卡在烟囱里；而那头牛呢，则半悬在墙壁中间，晃晃悠悠地悬在半空中，上不去也下不来。

And now the goody had waited seven lengths and seven breadths for her husband to come and call them home to dinner; but never a call they had. At last she thought she’d waited long enough, and went home. But when she got there and saw the cow hanging in such an ugly place, she ran up and cut the rope in two with her scythe. But as she did this, down came her husband out of the chimney; and so when his old dame came inside the kitchen, there she found him standing on his head in the porridge pot.

这时，妻子已经左等右等，等了好久好久，盼着丈夫来叫他们回家吃午饭，可始终不见丈夫的一声呼唤。最后她想着已经等得够久了，便自己回了家。可她一到家，看见那头牛竟然吊在那么难看的地方，便冲上去，用手里的镰刀把绳子一刀砍成了两段。可就在她砍断绳子的瞬间，她那丈夫也从烟囱里“扑通”一声掉了下来；于是当这位老妻子走进厨房的时候，就看见丈夫倒栽葱似的，一头扎进了粥锅里。