格林童话选 英文版 Grimms' Fairy Tales
格林兄弟 Brüder Grimm
THE WOLF AND THE SEVEN LITTLE KIDS
There was once upon a time an old goat who had seven little kids, andloved them with all the love of a mother for her children. One day shewanted to go into the forest and fetch some food. So she called allseven to her and said: 'Dear children, I have to go into the forest,be on your guard against the wolf; if he comes in, he will devour youall--skin, hair, and everything. The wretch often disguises himself,but you will know him at once by his rough voice and his black feet.'The kids said: 'Dear mother, we will take good care of ourselves; youmay go away without any anxiety.' Then the old one bleated, and wenton her way with an easy mind.
It was not long before someone knocked at the house-door and called:'Open the door, dear children; your mother is here, and has broughtsomething back with her for each of you.' But the little kids knewthat it was the wolf, by the rough voice. 'We will not open the door,'cried they, 'you are not our mother. She has a soft, pleasant voice,but your voice is rough; you are the wolf!' Then the wolf went away toa shopkeeper and bought himself a great lump of chalk, ate this andmade his voice soft with it. Then he came back, knocked at the door ofthe house, and called: 'Open the door, dear children, your mother ishere and has brought something back with her for each of you.' But thewolf had laid his black paws against the window, and the children sawthem and cried: 'We will not open the door, our mother has not blackfeet like you: you are the wolf!' Then the wolf ran to a baker andsaid: 'I have hurt my feet, rub some dough over them for me.' And whenthe baker had rubbed his feet over, he ran to the miller and said:'Strew some white meal over my feet for me.' The miller thought tohimself: 'The wolf wants to deceive someone,' and refused; but thewolf said: 'If you will not do it, I will devour you.' Then the millerwas afraid, and made his paws white for him. Truly, this is the way ofmankind.
So now the wretch went for the third time to the house-door, knockedat it and said: 'Open the door for me, children, your dear littlemother has come home, and has brought every one of you something backfrom the forest with her.' The little kids cried: 'First show us yourpaws that we may know if you are our dear little mother.' Then he puthis paws in through the window and when the kids saw that they werewhite, they believed that all he said was true, and opened the door.But who should come in but the wolf! They were terrified and wanted tohide themselves. One sprang under the table, the second into the bed,the third into the stove, the fourth into the kitchen, the fifth intothe cupboard, the sixth under the washing-bowl, and the seventh intothe clock-case. But the wolf found them all, and used no greatceremony; one after the other he swallowed them down his throat. Theyoungest, who was in the clock-case, was the only one he did not find.When the wolf had satisfied his appetite he took himself off, laidhimself down under a tree in the green meadow outside, and began tosleep. Soon afterwards the old goat came home again from the forest.Ah! what a sight she saw there! The house-door stood wide open. Thetable, chairs, and benches were thrown down, the washing-bowl laybroken to pieces, and the quilts and pillows were pulled off the bed.She sought her children, but they were nowhere to be found. She calledthem one after another by name, but no one answered. At last, when shecame to the youngest, a soft voice cried: 'Dear mother, I am in theclock-case.' She took the kid out, and it told her that the wolf hadcome and had eaten all the others. Then you may imagine how she weptover her poor children.
At length in her grief she went out, and the youngest kid ran withher. When they came to the meadow, there lay the wolf by the tree andsnored so loud that the branches shook. She looked at him on everyside and saw that something was moving and struggling in his gorgedbelly. 'Ah, heavens,' she said, 'is it possible that my poor childrenwhom he has swallowed down for his supper, can be still alive?' Thenthe kid had to run home and fetch scissors, and a needle and thread,and the goat cut open the monster's stomach, and hardly had she madeone cut, than one little kid thrust its head out, and when she had cutfarther, all six sprang out one after another, and were all stillalive, and had suffered no injury whatever, for in his greediness themonster had swallowed them down whole. What rejoicing there was! Theyembraced their dear mother, and jumped like a tailor at his wedding.The mother, however, said: 'Now go and look for some big stones, andwe will fill the wicked beast's stomach with them while he is stillasleep.' Then the seven kids dragged the stones thither with allspeed, and put as many of them into this stomach as they could get in;and the mother sewed him up again in the greatest haste, so that hewas not aware of anything and never once stirred.
When the wolf at length had had his fill of sleep, he got on his legs,and as the stones in his stomach made him very thirsty, he wanted togo to a well to drink. But when he began to walk and to move about,the stones in his stomach knocked against each other and rattled. Thencried he:
'What rumbles and tumblesAgainst my poor bones?I thought 'twas six kids,But it feels like big stones.'
And when he got to the well and stooped over the water to drink, theheavy stones made him fall in, and he drowned miserably. When theseven kids saw that, they came running to the spot and cried aloud:'The wolf is dead! The wolf is dead!' and danced for joy round aboutthe well with their mother.