格林童话选 英文版 Grimms' Fairy Tales
格林兄弟 Brüder Grimm
THE LITTLE PEASANT
There was a certain village wherein no one lived but really richpeasants, and just one poor one, whom they called the little peasant.He had not even so much as a cow, and still less money to buy one, andyet he and his wife did so wish to have one. One day he said to her:'Listen, I have a good idea, there is our gossip the carpenter, heshall make us a wooden calf, and paint it brown, so that it looks likeany other, and in time it will certainly get big and be a cow.' thewoman also liked the idea, and their gossip the carpenter cut andplaned the calf, and painted it as it ought to be, and made it withits head hanging down as if it were eating.
Next morning when the cows were being driven out, the little peasantcalled the cow-herd in and said: 'Look, I have a little calf there,but it is still small and has to be carried.' The cow-herd said: 'Allright,' and took it in his arms and carried it to the pasture, and setit among the grass. The little calf always remained standing like onewhich was eating, and the cow-herd said: 'It will soon run by itself,just look how it eats already!' At night when he was going to drivethe herd home again, he said to the calf: 'If you can stand there andeat your fill, you can also go on your four legs; I don't care to dragyou home again in my arms.' But the little peasant stood at his door,and waited for his little calf, and when the cow-herd drove the cowsthrough the village, and the calf was missing, he inquired where itwas. The cow-herd answered: 'It is still standing out there eating. Itwould not stop and come with us.' But the little peasant said: 'Oh,but I must have my beast back again.' Then they went back to themeadow together, but someone had stolen the calf, and it was gone. Thecow-herd said: 'It must have run away.' The peasant, however, said:'Don't tell me that,' and led the cow-herd before the mayor, who forhis carelessness condemned him to give the peasant a cow for the calfwhich had run away.
And now the little peasant and his wife had the cow for which they hadso long wished, and they were heartily glad, but they had no food forit, and could give it nothing to eat, so it soon had to be killed.They salted the flesh, and the peasant went into the town and wantedto sell the skin there, so that he might buy a new calf with theproceeds. On the way he passed by a mill, and there sat a raven withbroken wings, and out of pity he took him and wrapped him in the skin.But as the weather grew so bad and there was a storm of rain and wind,he could go no farther, and turned back to the mill and begged forshelter. The miller's wife was alone in the house, and said to thepeasant: 'Lay yourself on the straw there,' and gave him a slice ofbread and cheese. The peasant ate it, and lay down with his skinbeside him, and the woman thought: 'He is tired and has gone tosleep.' In the meantime came the parson; the miller's wife receivedhim well, and said: 'My husband is out, so we will have a feast.' Thepeasant listened, and when he heard them talk about feasting he wasvexed that he had been forced to make shift with a slice of bread andcheese. Then the woman served up four different things, roast meat,salad, cakes, and wine.
Just as they were about to sit down and eat, there was a knockingoutside. The woman said: 'Oh, heavens! It is my husband!' she quicklyhid the roast meat inside the tiled stove, the wine under the pillow,the salad on the bed, the cakes under it, and the parson in the closeton the porch. Then she opened the door for her husband, and said:'Thank heaven, you are back again! There is such a storm, it looks asif the world were coming to an end.' The miller saw the peasant lyingon the straw, and asked, 'What is that fellow doing there?' 'Ah,' saidthe wife, 'the poor knave came in the storm and rain, and begged forshelter, so I gave him a bit of bread and cheese, and showed him wherethe straw was.' The man said: 'I have no objection, but be quick andget me something to eat.' The woman said: 'But I have nothing butbread and cheese.' 'I am contented with anything,' replied thehusband, 'so far as I am concerned, bread and cheese will do,' andlooked at the peasant and said: 'Come and eat some more with me.' Thepeasant did not require to be invited twice, but got up and ate. Afterthis the miller saw the skin in which the raven was, lying on theground, and asked: 'What have you there?' The peasant answered: 'Ihave a soothsayer inside it.' 'Can he foretell anything to me?' saidthe miller. 'Why not?' answered the peasant: 'but he only says fourthings, and the fifth he keeps to himself.' The miller was curious,and said: 'Let him foretell something for once.' Then the peasantpinched the raven's head, so that he croaked and made a noise likekrr, krr. The miller said: 'What did he say?' The peasant answered:'In the first place, he says that there is some wine hidden under thepillow.' 'Bless me!' cried the miller, and went there and found thewine. 'Now go on,' said he. The peasant made the raven croak again,and said: 'In the second place, he says that there is some roast meatin the tiled stove.' 'Upon my word!' cried the miller, and wentthither, and found the roast meat. The peasant made the raven prophesystill more, and said: 'Thirdly, he says that there is some salad onthe bed.' 'That would be a fine thing!' cried the miller, and wentthere and found the salad. At last the peasant pinched the raven oncemore till he croaked, and said: 'Fourthly, he says that there are somecakes under the bed.' 'That would be a fine thing!' cried the miller,and looked there, and found the cakes.
And now the two sat down to the table together, but the miller's wifewas frightened to death, and went to bed and took all the keys withher. The miller would have liked much to know the fifth, but thelittle peasant said: 'First, we will quickly eat the four things, forthe fifth is something bad.' So they ate, and after that theybargained how much the miller was to give for the fifth prophecy,until they agreed on three hundred talers. Then the peasant once morepinched the raven's head till he croaked loudly. The miller asked:'What did he say?' The peasant replied: 'He says that the Devil ishiding outside there in the closet on the porch.' The miller said:'The Devil must go out,' and opened the house-door; then the woman wasforced to give up the keys, and the peasant unlocked the closet. Theparson ran out as fast as he could, and the miller said: 'It was true;I saw the black rascal with my own eyes.' The peasant, however, madeoff next morning by daybreak with the three hundred talers.
At home the small peasant gradually launched out; he built a beautifulhouse, and the peasants said: 'The small peasant has certainly been tothe place where golden snow falls, and people carry the gold home inshovels.' Then the small peasant was brought before the mayor, andbidden to say from whence his wealth came. He answered: 'I sold mycow's skin in the town, for three hundred talers.' When the peasantsheard that, they too wished to enjoy this great profit, and ran home,killed all their cows, and stripped off their skins in order to sellthem in the town to the greatest advantage. The mayor, however, said:'But my servant must go first.' When she came to the merchant in thetown, he did not give her more than two talers for a skin, and whenthe others came, he did not give them so much, and said: 'What can Ido with all these skins?'
Then the peasants were vexed that the small peasant should have thusoutwitted them, wanted to take vengeance on him, and accused him ofthis treachery before the major. The innocent little peasant wasunanimously sentenced to death, and was to be rolled into the water,in a barrel pierced full of holes. He was led forth, and a priest wasbrought who was to say a mass for his soul. The others were allobliged to retire to a distance, and when the peasant looked at thepriest, he recognized the man who had been with the miller's wife. Hesaid to him: 'I set you free from the closet, set me free from thebarrel.' At this same moment up came, with a flock of sheep, the veryshepherd whom the peasant knew had long been wishing to be mayor, sohe cried with all his might: 'No, I will not do it; if the whole worldinsists on it, I will not do it!' The shepherd hearing that, came upto him, and asked: 'What are you about? What is it that you will notdo?' The peasant said: 'They want to make me mayor, if I will but putmyself in the barrel, but I will not do it.' The shepherd said: 'Ifnothing more than that is needful in order to be mayor, I would getinto the barrel at once.' The peasant said: 'If you will get in, youwill be mayor.' The shepherd was willing, and got in, and the peasantshut the top down on him; then he took the shepherd's flock forhimself, and drove it away. The parson went to the crowd, and declaredthat the mass had been said. Then they came and rolled the barreltowards the water. When the barrel began to roll, the shepherd cried:'I am quite willing to be mayor.' They believed no otherwise than thatit was the peasant who was saying this, and answered: 'That is what weintend, but first you shall look about you a little down below there,'and they rolled the barrel down into the water.
After that the peasants went home, and as they were entering thevillage, the small peasant also came quietly in, driving a flock ofsheep and looking quite contented. Then the peasants were astonished,and said: 'Peasant, from whence do you come? Have you come out of thewater?' 'Yes, truly,' replied the peasant, 'I sank deep, deep down,until at last I got to the bottom; I pushed the bottom out of thebarrel, and crept out, and there were pretty meadows on which a numberof lambs were feeding, and from thence I brought this flock away withme.' Said the peasants: 'Are there any more there?' 'Oh, yes,' saidhe, 'more than I could want.' Then the peasants made up their mindsthat they too would fetch some sheep for themselves, a flock apiece,but the mayor said: 'I come first.' So they went to the watertogether, and just then there were some of the small fleecy clouds inthe blue sky, which are called little lambs, and they were reflectedin the water, whereupon the peasants cried: 'We already see the sheepdown below!' The mayor pressed forward and said: 'I will go downfirst, and look about me, and if things promise well I'll call you.'So he jumped in; splash! went the water; it sounded as if he werecalling them, and the whole crowd plunged in after him as one man.Then the entire village was dead, and the small peasant, as sole heir,became a rich man.