格林童话选 英文版 Grimms' Fairy Tales
格林兄弟 Brüder Grimm
THE SALAD
As a merry young huntsman was once going briskly along through a wood,there came up a little old woman, and said to him, 'Good day, goodday; you seem merry enough, but I am hungry and thirsty; do pray giveme something to eat.' The huntsman took pity on her, and put his handin his pocket and gave her what he had. Then he wanted to go his way;but she took hold of him, and said, 'Listen, my friend, to what I amgoing to tell you; I will reward you for your kindness; go your way,and after a little time you will come to a tree where you will seenine birds sitting on a cloak. Shoot into the midst of them, and onewill fall down dead: the cloak will fall too; take it, it is awishing-cloak, and when you wear it you will find yourself at anyplace where you may wish to be. Cut open the dead bird, take out itsheart and keep it, and you will find a piece of gold under your pillowevery morning when you rise. It is the bird's heart that will bringyou this good luck.'
The huntsman thanked her, and thought to himself, 'If all this doeshappen, it will be a fine thing for me.' When he had gone a hundredsteps or so, he heard a screaming and chirping in the branches overhim, and looked up and saw a flock of birds pulling a cloak with theirbills and feet; screaming, fighting, and tugging at each other as ifeach wished to have it himself. 'Well,' said the huntsman, 'this iswonderful; this happens just as the old woman said'; then he shot intothe midst of them so that their feathers flew all about. Off went theflock chattering away; but one fell down dead, and the cloak with it.Then the huntsman did as the old woman told him, cut open the bird,took out the heart, and carried the cloak home with him.
The next morning when he awoke he lifted up his pillow, and there laythe piece of gold glittering underneath; the same happened next day,and indeed every day when he arose. He heaped up a great deal of gold,and at last thought to himself, 'Of what use is this gold to me whilstI am at home? I will go out into the world and look about me.'
Then he took leave of his friends, and hung his bag and bow about hisneck, and went his way. It so happened that his road one day ledthrough a thick wood, at the end of which was a large castle in agreen meadow, and at one of the windows stood an old woman with a verybeautiful young lady by her side looking about them. Now the old womanwas a witch, and said to the young lady, 'There is a young man comingout of the wood who carries a wonderful prize; we must get it awayfrom him, my dear child, for it is more fit for us than for him. Hehas a bird's heart that brings a piece of gold under his pillow everymorning.' Meantime the huntsman came nearer and looked at the lady,and said to himself, 'I have been travelling so long that I shouldlike to go into this castle and rest myself, for I have money enoughto pay for anything I want'; but the real reason was, that he wantedto see more of the beautiful lady. Then he went into the house, andwas welcomed kindly; and it was not long before he was so much in lovethat he thought of nothing else but looking at the lady's eyes, anddoing everything that she wished. Then the old woman said, 'Now is thetime for getting the bird's heart.' So the lady stole it away, and henever found any more gold under his pillow, for it lay now under theyoung lady's, and the old woman took it away every morning; but he wasso much in love that he never missed his prize.
'Well,' said the old witch, 'we have got the bird's heart, but not thewishing-cloak yet, and that we must also get.' 'Let us leave himthat,' said the young lady; 'he has already lost his wealth.' Then thewitch was very angry, and said, 'Such a cloak is a very rare andwonderful thing, and I must and will have it.' So she did as the oldwoman told her, and set herself at the window, and looked about thecountry and seemed very sorrowful; then the huntsman said, 'What makesyou so sad?' 'Alas! dear sir,' said she, 'yonder lies the granite rockwhere all the costly diamonds grow, and I want so much to go there,that whenever I think of it I cannot help being sorrowful, for who canreach it? only the birds and the flies--man cannot.' 'If that's allyour grief,' said the huntsman, 'I'll take there with all my heart';so he drew her under his cloak, and the moment he wished to be on thegranite mountain they were both there. The diamonds glittered so onall sides that they were delighted with the sight and picked up thefinest. But the old witch made a deep sleep come upon him, and he saidto the young lady, 'Let us sit down and rest ourselves a little, I amso tired that I cannot stand any longer.' So they sat down, and helaid his head in her lap and fell asleep; and whilst he was sleepingon she took the cloak from his shoulders, hung it on her own, pickedup the diamonds, and wished herself home again.
When he awoke and found that his lady had tricked him, and left himalone on the wild rock, he said, 'Alas! what roguery there is in theworld!' and there he sat in great grief and fear, not knowing what todo. Now this rock belonged to fierce giants who lived upon it; and ashe saw three of them striding about, he thought to himself, 'I canonly save myself by feigning to be asleep'; so he laid himself down asif he were in a sound sleep. When the giants came up to him, the firstpushed him with his foot, and said, 'What worm is this that lies herecurled up?' 'Tread upon him and kill him,' said the second. 'It's notworth the trouble,' said the third; 'let him live, he'll go climbinghigher up the mountain, and some cloud will come rolling and carry himaway.' And they passed on. But the huntsman had heard all they said;and as soon as they were gone, he climbed to the top of the mountain,and when he had sat there a short time a cloud came rolling aroundhim, and caught him in a whirlwind and bore him along for some time,till it settled in a garden, and he fell quite gently to the groundamongst the greens and cabbages.
Then he looked around him, and said, 'I wish I had something to eat,if not I shall be worse off than before; for here I see neither applesnor pears, nor any kind of fruits, nothing but vegetables.' At last hethought to himself, 'I can eat salad, it will refresh and strengthenme.' So he picked out a fine head and ate of it; but scarcely had heswallowed two bites when he felt himself quite changed, and saw withhorror that he was turned into an ass. However, he still felt veryhungry, and the salad tasted very nice; so he ate on till he came toanother kind of salad, and scarcely had he tasted it when he feltanother change come over him, and soon saw that he was lucky enough tohave found his old shape again.
Then he laid himself down and slept off a little of his weariness; andwhen he awoke the next morning he broke off a head both of the goodand the bad salad, and thought to himself, 'This will help me to myfortune again, and enable me to pay off some folks for theirtreachery.' So he went away to try and find the castle of his friends;and after wandering about a few days he luckily found it. Then hestained his face all over brown, so that even his mother would nothave known him, and went into the castle and asked for a lodging; 'Iam so tired,' said he, 'that I can go no farther.' 'Countryman,' saidthe witch, 'who are you? and what is your business?' 'I am,' said he,'a messenger sent by the king to find the finest salad that growsunder the sun. I have been lucky enough to find it, and have broughtit with me; but the heat of the sun scorches so that it begins towither, and I don't know that I can carry it farther.'
When the witch and the young lady heard of his beautiful salad, theylonged to taste it, and said, 'Dear countryman, let us just taste it.''To be sure,' answered he; 'I have two heads of it with me, and willgive you one'; so he opened his bag and gave them the bad. Then thewitch herself took it into the kitchen to be dressed; and when it wasready she could not wait till it was carried up, but took a few leavesimmediately and put them in her mouth, and scarcely were theyswallowed when she lost her own form and ran braying down into thecourt in the form of an ass. Now the servant-maid came into thekitchen, and seeing the salad ready, was going to carry it up; but onthe way she too felt a wish to taste it as the old woman had done, andate some leaves; so she also was turned into an ass and ran after theother, letting the dish with the salad fall on the ground. Themessenger sat all this time with the beautiful young lady, and asnobody came with the salad and she longed to taste it, she said, 'Idon't know where the salad can be.' Then he thought something musthave happened, and said, 'I will go into the kitchen and see.' And ashe went he saw two asses in the court running about, and the saladlying on the ground. 'All right!' said he; 'those two have had theirshare.' Then he took up the rest of the leaves, laid them on the dishand brought them to the young lady, saying, 'I bring you the dishmyself that you may not wait any longer.' So she ate of it, and likethe others ran off into the court braying away.
Then the huntsman washed his face and went into the court that theymight know him. 'Now you shall be paid for your roguery,' said he; andtied them all three to a rope and took them along with him till hecame to a mill and knocked at the window. 'What's the matter?' saidthe miller. 'I have three tiresome beasts here,' said the other; 'ifyou will take them, give them food and room, and treat them as I tellyou, I will pay you whatever you ask.' 'With all my heart,' said themiller; 'but how shall I treat them?' Then the huntsman said, 'Givethe old one stripes three times a day and hay once; give the next (whowas the servant-maid) stripes once a day and hay three times; and givethe youngest (who was the beautiful lady) hay three times a day and nostripes': for he could not find it in his heart to have her beaten.After this he went back to the castle, where he found everything hewanted.
Some days after, the miller came to him and told him that the old asswas dead; 'The other two,' said he, 'are alive and eat, but are sosorrowful that they cannot last long.' Then the huntsman pitied them,and told the miller to drive them back to him, and when they came, hegave them some of the good salad to eat. And the beautiful young ladyfell upon her knees before him, and said, 'O dearest huntsman! forgiveme all the ill I have done you; my mother forced me to it, it wasagainst my will, for I always loved you very much. Your wishing-cloakhangs up in the closet, and as for the bird's heart, I will give ityou too.' But he said, 'Keep it, it will be just the same thing, for Imean to make you my wife.' So they were married, and lived togethervery happily till they died.