13.The Bremen Town-Musicians不来梅的乐师-双语名著无障碍阅读丛书——《格林童话精选Grimms'FairyTales》

The Bremen Town-Musicians A certain man had a donkey,which had carried the corn-sacks to the mill indefatigably for many a long year;but his strength was going,and he was growing more and more unfit for work.Then his master began to consider how he might best save his keep;but the donkey,seeing that no good wind was blowing,ran away and set out on the road to Bremen."There,"he thought,"I can surely be town-musician."When he had walked some distance,he found a hound lying on the road,gasping like one who had run till he was tired."What are you gasping so for,you big fellow?"asked the donkey. "Ah,"replied the hound,"as I am old,and daily grow weaker,and no longer can hunt,my master wanted to kill me,so I took to flight;but now how am I to earn my bread?" "I tell you what,"said the donkey,"I am going to Bremen,and shall be town- musician there;go with me and engage yourself also as a musician.I will play the lute3,and you shall beat the kettledrum." The hound agreed,and on they went. Before long they came to a cat,sitting on the path,with a face like three rainy days!"Now then,old shaver,what has gone askew4 with you?"asked the donkey. "Who can be merry when his neck is in danger?"answered the cat."Because I am now getting old,and my teeth are worn to stumps,and I prefer to sit by the fire ·154· 不来梅的乐师 从前，有个人养了头驴，很多年来这头驴都一直不 知疲倦地把装着玉米的袋子驼到磨坊去。可是他越来越 没力气，越来越不适合工作了。他的主人开始考虑怎么 才能省下他嘴里的那口粮食，驴看到没有什么好兆头， 就赶紧逃了，上了去不来梅镇的路。他心想：“到了那里， 我肯定可以成为一个乐师。”他走了一段路之后，发现 ①hound [haund]n.猎犬 一只猎犬躺在路边，上气不接下气的样子，就好像他己 ②gasp[4csp:9esp]喘气 经跑得筋疲力尽了。“你为什么这么喘气呀，大个子？” 驴问道。 “唉，”猎犬回答说，“我老了，一天比一天弱，再 也不能打猎了，我的主人想杀掉我，所以我就逃跑了。 可是现在我怎么才能活下去呢？” “我来告诉你，”驴说，“我要去不来梅，到那里 当乐师。你和我一起去吧，也去当个乐师。我可以吹笛 子，你可以敲铜鼓。” ③lute [ljut].诗琴 猎犬同意了，他们就一起上路了。 走了一会儿，他们看到一只猫，坐在路上，那张 脸拉得比马脸还长！“嗨，老猫，你出什么事啦？”驴 ④askew[e'skjur.]ad.歪斜 地 问道。 “要是你的性命难保，你怎么还能高兴得起来？” 老猫回答说。“我现在老了，牙齿都坏了，我不愿意四 ·155· The Bremen Town-Musicians and spin,rather than hunt about after mice,my mistress wanted to drown me,so I ran away.But now good advice is scarce.Where am I to go?" "Go with us to Bremen.You understand night-music,you can be a town- musician.” The cat thought well of it,and went with them.After this the three fugitives came to a farm-yard,where the cock was sitting upon the gate,crowing2 with all his might."Your crow goes through and through one,"said the donkey."What is the matter?" "I have been foretelling fine weather,because it is the day on which Our Lady washes the Christ-child's little shirts,and wants to dry them,"said the cock;"but guests are coming for Sunday,so the housewife has no pity,and has told the cook that she intends to eat me in the soup tomorrow,and this evening I am to have my head cut off.Now I am crowing at full pitch while I can." "Ah,but red-comb,"said the donkey,"you had better come away with us.We are going to Bremen;you can find something better than death everywhere:you have a good voice,and if we make music together it must have some quality!" The cock agreed to this plan,and all four went on together.They could not, however,reach the city of Bremen in one day,and in the evening they came to a forest where they meant to pass the night.The donkey and the hound laid themselves down under a large tree,the cat and the cock settled themselves in the branches;but the cock flew right to the top,where he was most safe.Before he went to sleep he looked round on all four sides,and thought he saw in the distance a little spark burning;so he called out to his companions that there must be a house not far off,for he saw a light.The donkey said,"If so,we had better get up and go on,for the shelter here is bad."The hound thought that a few bones with some meat on would do him good too! So they made their way to the place where the light was,and soon saw it shine brighter and grow larger,until they came to a well-lighted robber's house.The donkey,as the biggest,went to the window and looked in. "What do you see,my grey-horse?"asked the cock."What do I see?"answered ·156· 不来梅的乐师 处去抓老鼠，只想坐在炉火讲讲故事。我的女主人想要 把我淹死，所以我就跑了。可是现在我没了主意，我该 去哪里呢？” “和我们一起去不来梅吧，你会唱小夜曲，你会成 ①fugitive[fjud3 itiv]m.逃 为一个好乐师的。” 亡者 老猫觉得这是个好主意，就和他们一起上路了。这 ②crow[krau】g啼叫 三个逃亡者来到一个农场的院子，一只公鸡坐在门上， 用尽力气在打鸣。“你这么一直不停地叫，是出了什么 事吗？”驴问道。 “我一直在预告好天气，因为这样的话，我的女主 人就可以洗小宝宝的小衬衫，而且能晒干。”公鸡说，“可 是星期天客人们要来，女主人对我没有一点仁慈，竟然 告诉厨娘把我杀了明天烧汤喝，今天晚上我就要被砍头 了。现在趁还活着，我赶紧多叫几声。” “唉，可怜的红鸡冠，”驴说，“你还是和我们一起 走吧。我们要去不拉梅，随便到哪里都比死在这里好： 你嗓子这么好，如果我们一起表演音乐，一定会很不错 的！” 公鸡同意了这个计划，他们一起上了路。但是， 他们不可能一天之内就到达不来梅，晚上，他们来到 一个森林，打算在那里过夜。驴和猎狗躺在树下，老 猫和公鸡睡在树枝上，公鸡径直飞到树顶，那里他是 最安全的。睡觉之前，公鸡环顾四周，发现在远处有 火光闪烁，于是他对着同伴叫起来，告诉他们不远处 有一幢房子，因为他看见了灯光。驴说：“如果是这样， 我们还是起来继续往前走吧，这里落脚的地方太糟糕 了。”猎狗心想，要是能找到几根带肉的骨头也不错 呀！ 于是，他们就朝有灯光的地方走去，很快，就发现 灯光越来越亮了，他们来到了一个强盗的家里，灯火通 明。驴是他们几个里面个头最大的，他来到窗口朝里望。 “你看到了什么，我的灰驴？”公鸡问道。“我看 ·157· The Bremen Town-Musicians the donkey;"a table covered with good things to eat and drink,and robbers sitting at it enjoying themselves.""That would be the sort of thing for us,"said the cock. "Yes,yes;ah,how I wish we were there!"said the donkey. Then the animals took counsel together how they should manage to drive away the robbers,and at last they thought of a plan.The donkey was to place himself with his fore-feet upon the window-ledge,the hound was to jump on the donkey's back,the cat was to climb upon the dog,and lastly the cock was to fly up and perch upon the head of the cat. When this was done,at a given signal,they began to perform their music together:the donkey brayed the hound barked,the cat mewed,and the cock crowed;then they burst through the window into the room,so that the glass clattered! At this horrible din2,the robbers sprang up,thinking no otherwise than that a ghost had come in,and fled in a great fright out into the forest.The four companions now sat down at the table,well content with what was left,and ate as if they were going to fast for a month. As soon as the four minstrels had done,they put out the light,and each sought for himself a sleeping-place according to his nature and to what suited him.The donkey laid himself down upon some straw in the yard,the hound behind the door, the cat upon the hearth near the warm ashes,and the cock perched himself upon a beam of the roof;and being tired from their long walk,they soon went to sleep. When it was past midnight,and the robbers saw from afar that the light was no longer burning in their house,and all appeared quiet,the captain said,"We ought not to have let ourselves be frightened out of our wits;"and ordered one of them to go and examine the house. The messenger finding all still,went into the kitchen to light a candle,and, taking the glistening fiery eyes of the cat for live coals,he held a lucifer-match to them to light it.But the cat did not understand the joke,and flew in his face, spitting and scratching.He was dreadfully frightened,and ran to the back-door,but the dog,who lay there sprang up and bit his leg;and as he ran across the yard by the straw-heap,the donkey gave him a smart kick with its hind foot.The cock,too, ·158· 不来梅的乐师 到了什么？”驴回答说，“桌子上摆满了好吃好喝的， 强盗们正围坐着大吃大喝呢。”“那应该让我们来享受。” 公鸡说。“是啊，是啊，唉，我多希望我们在那里呀！” 驴说。 几只动物一起商量怎么才能把强盗赶走，最后他们 想出了一个好办法。先让驴把他的前脚放在窗台上，猎 犬爬到驴背上，然后让猫爬到狗身上，最后让公鸡飞上 去坐在猫头上。 等一切就绪后，听到信号，他们开始一起表演音乐： 驴嘶叫，狗狂吠，老猫喵喵叫，公鸡喔喔叫，然后他们 ①bry[brei]v.(驴)a叫 从窗户冲进了房子，玻璃都被撞碎了！听到这可怕的声 音，强盗们都吓得跳了起来，以为进来的是个鬼，他们 ②din【din]n.喧嚣 惊慌失措地逃到了森林里。现在，这四个伙伴坐下来， 安心享用桌上剩下来的东西，饱吃一顿，好像就要有一 个月斋戒一样。 这四个吟游歌手吃饱喝足后就把灯灭了，各自找了 ③minstrel[minstral]n.吟 个适合自己的地方睡觉。驴睡在院子里的草堆里，猎狗 游诗人 躺在门后，老猫缩在壁炉温暖的炉灰旁，公鸡蹲在屋梁 上。大家走了一天都累了，很快就都睡着了。 到了下半夜，强盗们从远处看到他们的屋子没了灯 光，就悄悄地又回来了。他们的头说：“我们不应该被 别人吓昏了头脑。”他命令他的一个手下人进去好好把 屋子检查一番。 那个进去检查的人发现一切太平，就到厨房里点了 根蜡烛。他把黑暗中闪闪发光的猫眼当作了烧着的炭， 就把火柴凑过去想点着。可是老猫不知道他是什么意思， 一下子朝他脸上扑过来，又是抓又是咬。那人吓得半 ④glistening['gli:snin]a.闪 光的 死，赶紧往后门跑，躺在那里的猎狗“嗖”的一声跳起 来，咬住了他的腿。他横冲直撞地穿过院子跑到草堆那 里，驴用后腿狠狠地踢了他一顿。公鸡被这些声响吵醒 ·159· The Bremen Town-Musicians who had been awakened by the noise,and had become lively,cried down from the beam,"Cock-a-doodle-doo!" Then the robber ran back as fast as he could to his captain,and said,"Ah,there is a horrible witch sitting in the house,who spat on me and scratched my face with her long claws;and by the door stands a man with a knife,who stabbed me in the leg;and in the yard there lies a black monster,who beat me with a wooden club;and above,upon the roof,sits the judge,who called out,'Bring the rogue here to me!'so I got away as well as I could." After this the robbers did not trust themselves in the house again;but it suited the four musicians of Bremen so well that they did not care to leave it any more. And the mouth of him who last told this story is still warm. .160· 不来梅的乐师 了，他一下子活跃起来，从屋梁上对着下面直叫唤：“喔 一喔一喔一喔一！” 那个强盗飞速地跑到强盗头子那里说：“屋子里有 ①spat[spel](spit的过 一个可怕的女巫，她朝我吐口水，还用她的长指甲抓我 去式)吐口水 的脸：门边上站着一个拿刀的人，他砍伤了我的腿：院 子里躺着一个黑色的魔鬼，他用木棒打我：还有屋顶上 ②rogue [raug]n.流氓，无 坐着一个法官，他大声叫道：‘把那个坏蛋带过来！’我 赖 只能赶紧跑掉了。” 从此以后，强盗们再也不敢待在那屋子里了，这下 子倒方便了要去不来梅的四个乐师，他们再也不想离开 了。这个故事一直流传到今天，刚才还有个人在讲这个 故事呢。 ·161·