The Lad Who Went to the North Wind

Once on a time there was an old widow who had one son; and as she was poorly and weak, her son had to go up into the safe to fetch meal for cooking; but when he got outside the safe, and was just going down the steps, there came the North Wind, puffing and blowing, caught up the meal, and so away with it through the air.

从前有一个老寡妇，她有一个儿子；由于她身子虚弱多病，儿子便得爬到粮仓里去取些面粉来做饭；可他刚一走出粮仓，正要下台阶的时候，北风呼呼地刮了过来，一把卷走了那些面粉，就这么带着面粉飞上了天。

Then the lad went back into the safe for more; but when he came out again on the steps, if the North Wind didn’t come again and carry off the meal with a puff; and, more than that, he did so the third time. At this the lad got very angry; and as he thought it hard that the North Wind should behave so, he thought he’d just look him up, and ask him to give up his meal.

小伙子只得又回到粮仓去取面粉；可他再一次走上台阶的时候，北风又刮了过来，呼地一下又把面粉卷走了；不仅如此，这样的事一连发生了三次。小伙子这下真是气坏了，心想北风这样对待他实在太过分了，便决定去找北风理论，讨还他的面粉。

So off he went, but the way was long, and he walked and walked; but at last he came to the North Wind’s house.

于是他便动身出发了，路途十分遥远，他走啊走啊，终于来到了北风的家。

“Good day!” said the lad, “and thank you for coming to see us yesterday.”

“你好啊！”小伙子说道，“昨天多谢你来我们家做客了。”

“GOOD DAY!” answered the North Wind, for his voice was loud and gruff, “AND THANKS FOR COMING TO SEE ME. WHAT DO YOU WANT?”

“你好！”北风答道，他的嗓音又响又粗，“也谢谢你来看我。你想要什么？”

“Oh!” answered the lad, “I only wished to ask you to be so good as to let me have back that meal you took from me on the safe steps, for we haven’t much to live on; and if you’re to go on snapping up the morsel we have, there’ll be nothing for it but to starve.”

“哦！”小伙子答道，“我只是想请你行行好，把你在粮仓台阶上从我这儿拿走的面粉还给我，因为我们家没多少东西可吃了；你要是老这样把我们仅有的一点东西夺走，我们就只有饿死这一条路了。”

“I haven’t got your meal”, said the North Wind; “but if you are in such need, I’ll give you a cloth which will get you everything you want, if you only say, “Cloth, spread yourself, and serve up all kind of good dishes!”

“我可没拿你的面粉，”北风说道，“不过你既然这么困窘，我就送你一块桌布吧，只要你说一声‘桌布啊，快铺开来，摆上各色美味佳肴！’它就能给你变出你想要的一切来。”

With this the lad was well content. But, as the way was so long he couldn’t get home in one day, so he turned into an inn on the way; and when they were going to sit down to supper he laid the cloth on a table which stood in the corner, and said,

小伙子听了十分满意。可是路途实在太远，一天之内回不到家，于是他便在路上找了家客栈投宿；等到大家要坐下吃晚饭的时候，他把桌布铺在墙角的一张桌子上，说道：

“Cloth, spread yourself, and serve up all kinds of good dishes.”

“桌布啊，快铺开来，摆上各色美味佳肴。”

He had scarce said so before the cloth did as it was bid; and all who stood by thought it a fine thing, but most of all the landlady. So, when all were fast asleep at dead of night, she took the lad’s cloth, and put another in its stead, just like the one he had got from the North Wind, but which couldn’t so much as serve up a bit of dry bread.

他这话刚说完，桌布便照他说的那样办了；在场的人都觉得这真是件了不起的东西，尤其是那位女店主。于是，等到半夜大家都沉沉睡去的时候，她便把小伙子的桌布悄悄换走了，换上了另一块跟北风给的那块一模一样的桌布，可那块桌布连一片干面包都变不出来。

So, when the lad woke, he took his cloth and went off with it, and that day he got home to his mother.

小伙子醒来之后，拿起那块桌布便动身回家，当天就到了母亲那里。

“Now”, said he, “I’ve been to the North Wind’s house, and a good fellow he is, for he gave me this cloth, and when I only say to it, ‘Cloth, spread yourself, and serve up all kind of good dishes’, I get any sort of food I please.”

“瞧，”他说道，“我去了北风的家，他人可真好，送了我这块桌布，我只要说一声‘桌布啊，快铺开来，摆上各色美味佳肴’，就能得到我想吃的任何食物了。”

“All very true, I daresay,” said his mother; “but seeing is believing, and I shan’t believe it till I see it.”

“我看这话恐怕是真的，”他母亲说道，“不过耳听为虚，眼见为实，我不亲眼看见，是不会相信的。”

So the lad made haste, drew out a table, laid the cloth on it, and said:

于是小伙子急忙搬出一张桌子，把桌布铺在上面，说道：

“Cloth, spread yourself, and serve up all kind of good dishes.”

“桌布啊，快铺开来，摆上各色美味佳肴。”

But never a bit of dry bread did the cloth serve up.

可那桌布连一片干面包都没变出来。

“Well”, said the lad, “there’s no help for it but to go to the North Wind again”; and away he went.

“得了，”小伙子说道，“看来没别的法子，只好再去找北风一趟了”；说完他便又动身出发了。

So he came to where the North Wind lived late in the afternoon.

到了下午很晚的时候，他才来到北风住的地方。

“Good evening!” said the lad.

“晚上好！”小伙子说道。

“Good evening!” said the North Wind.

“晚上好！”北风说道。

“I want my rights for that meal of ours which you took”, said the lad; “for, as for that cloth I got, it isn’t worth a penny.”

“我要讨回我那份面粉的公道，”小伙子说道，“因为你给我的那块桌布，连一个便士都不值。”

“I’ve got no meal”, said the North Wind; “but yonder you have a ram which coins nothing but golden ducats as soon as you say to it:

“我可没拿你的面粉，”北风说道，“不过那边有一只公羊，你只要对它说：

‘Rain, ram! make money!’

‘公羊啊，公羊，变钱来！’它就能变出金币来。”

So the lad thought this a fine thing; but as it was too far to get home that day, he turned in for the night to the same inn where he had slept before.

小伙子觉得这倒是件好东西；可是那天路途太远回不了家，他便又找到上回住过的那家客栈过夜。

Before he called for anything, he tried the truth of what the North Wind had said of the ram, and found it all right; but, when the landlord saw that, he thought it was a famous ram, and, when the lad had fallen asleep, he took another which couldn’t coin gold ducats, and changed the two.

他还没顾上要别的东西，就先试了试北风说的关于那只公羊的话是不是真的，结果确实没错；可店主一见这情形，心想这可真是只了不起的公羊，等小伙子睡熟之后，便找来另一只不会变金币的公羊，把两只羊调换了。

Next morning off went the lad; and when he got home to his mother, he said:

第二天早上，小伙子便启程了；等他回到母亲那里，说道：

“After all, the North Wind is a jolly fellow; for now he has given me a ram which can coin golden ducats if I only say ‘Ram, ram! make money.’”

“说到底，北风还真是个大好人；这回他又送了我一只公羊，我只要说一声‘公羊啊，公羊，变钱来！’它就能变出金币来。”

“All very true, I daresay”, said his mother; “but I shan’t believe any such stuff until I see the ducats made.”

“我看这话恐怕是真的，”他母亲说道，“不过这种鬼话，不亲眼看见公羊变出金币来，我是不会信的。”

“Ram, ram! make money!” said the lad; but if the Ram made anything, it wasn’t money.

“公羊啊，公羊，变钱来！”小伙子说道；可那公羊就算变出了什么，也不是钱。

So the lad went back again to the North Wind, and blew him up, and said the ram was worth nothing, and he must have his rights for the meal.

于是小伙子又回去找北风理论，狠狠地数落了他一顿，说那只公羊一文不值，非得讨回自己那份面粉的公道不可。

“Well!” said the North Wind; “I’ve nothing else to give you but that old stick in the corner yonder; but it’s a stick of that kind that if you say:

“好吧！”北风说道，“我没有别的东西可以给你了，只有那边墙角的那根旧棍子；不过那可是根特别的棍子，只要你说：

“‘Stick, stick! lay on!’ it lays on till you say: ‘Stick, stick! now stop!’”

‘棍子啊棍子，动手打！’它就会一直打下去，直到你说：‘棍子啊棍子，快停手！’为止。”

So, as the way was long, the lad turned in this night too to the landlord; but as he could pretty well guess how things stood as to the cloth and the ram, he lay down at once on the bench and began to snore, as if he were asleep.

由于路途遥远，这天晚上小伙子又投宿到了那位店主那儿；不过他心里大致已经猜到了桌布和公羊是怎么回事，便一躺到长凳上就假装打起呼来，装作已经睡着的样子。

Now the landlord, who easily saw that the stick must be worth something, hunted up one which was like it, and when he heard the lad snore, was going to change the two; but, just as the landlord was about to take it, the lad bawled out: “Stick, stick! lay on!”

这时店主一看便知道这根棍子准是件值钱的东西，便找了根一模一样的棍子来，等他听见小伙子打起呼来，就打算把两根棍子调换了；可就在店主刚要伸手去拿的当口，小伙子突然大喊一声：“棍子啊棍子，动手打！”

So the stick began to beat the landlord, till he jumped over chairs, and tables, and benches, and yelled and roared:

那根棍子便开始揍起店主来，打得他连滚带爬地跳过椅子、桌子和长凳，一边嚎叫怒吼道：

“Oh my! oh my! bid the stick be still, else it will beat me to death, and you shall have back both your cloth and our ram.”

“哎呀！哎呀！快叫这根棍子住手吧，不然它非把我打死不可，你的桌布和我们的公羊我都还给你！”

When the lad thought the landlord had got enough, he said:

小伙子觉得店主吃的苦头也差不多了，便说道：

“Stick, stick! now stop!”

“棍子啊棍子，快停手！”

Then he took the cloth and put it into his pocket, and went home with his stick in his hand, leading the ram by a cord round its horns; and so he got his rights for the meal he had lost.

于是他把桌布收进口袋，手里拿着那根棍子，牵着那只公羊的角上系着的绳子，动身回家去了，就这样讨回了他那份面粉应得的公道。