The Wolf and the Lamb

That innocence is not a shield, A story teaches, not the longest. The strongest reasons always yield To reasons of the strongest.

清白无辜并非护身盾牌，这个故事所要告诉我们的道理不仅如此。强者的道理总是压倒一切，无论那道理多么牵强。

A lamb her thirst was slaking, Once, at a mountain rill. A hungry wolf was taking His hunt for sheep to kill, When, spying on the streamlet's brink This sheep of tender age, He howl'd in tones of rage, 'How dare you roil my drink? Your impudence I shall chastise!'

曾经有一次，一只小羊羔在山间小溪边饮水解渴。一只饥饿的狼正四处寻猎绵羊，想要猎杀充饥。他看见溪边这只稚嫩的小羊，怒气冲冲地咆哮道：“你怎么敢弄脏我的水！你的无礼放肆，我必定要惩罚你！”

'Let not your majesty,' the lamb replies, 'Decide in haste or passion! For sure 'tis difficult to think In what respect or fashion My drinking here could roil your drink, Since on the stream your majesty now faces I'm lower down, full twenty paces.'

“求陛下，”小羊回答道，“请不要仓促动怒！要说清楚，实在很难想清楚，我在这儿喝水，怎么可能弄脏了陛下面前的水呢，因为在陛下所面对的这条溪流上，我可是在您下游整整二十步远的地方啊。”

'You roil it,' said the wolf; 'and, more, I know You cursed and slander'd me a year ago.' 'O no! how could I such a thing have done! A lamb that has not seen a year, A suckling of its mother dear?' 'Your brother then.' 'But brother I have none.'

“是你弄脏的，”狼说，“而且，我还知道，你去年还咒骂诽谤过我。”“哦，不！我怎么可能做过这样的事呢？我还不满周岁，还是吃奶的孩子呢！”“那就是你哥哥干的。”“可我没有哥哥啊。”

'Well, well, what's all the same, 'Twas some one of your name. Sheep, men, and dogs of every nation, Are wont to stab my reputation, As I have truly heard.' Without another word, He made his vengeance good— Bore off the lambkin to the wood, And there, without a jury, Judged, slew, and ate her in his fury.

“好吧，好吧，反正都一样，肯定是你们家族里的谁干的。绵羊啊，人啊，还有各族的狗啊，都老是爱诋毁我的名声，这我可是听得真真切切。”话音未落，他便毫不留情地实施了报复——把这只小羊羔叼进了树林，未经任何审判，就把她判了罪、杀了、吃掉了，以泄他心头的怒火。