[翻译大赛NO2]：国王和公山羊

从来没试着翻过东西，凑个热闹吧:)

国王和公山羊

从前，有一位国王，他懂得所有鸟、兽和虫子的话。这一特殊的本领是一位仙女赐予国王的，但却成了他的大麻烦，因为只要他把这项本领向别人透露一点点，就会变成一块石头。国王自己很清楚这一点。我不知道在本文的故事发生之前，国王是怎么保守这个秘密的。不过，他的确平安地长大成人了，还娶了一位妻子，而且就像一般的国王那样快乐。

我还得交代一下，这位国王是印度教徒。印度教徒吃饭时，会在沾满泥浆的地上找一小块舒适的地方，然后穿着很少的衣服坐在当中——这和我们的习俗大不相同。

一天，国王正在这么一个舒适、整洁、沾满泥浆的地方用餐。他的妻子就坐在对面陪他一起用餐，听候他的吩咐。吃饭的时候，国王不小心把几粒米掉在了地上，正好被一只正在觅食的小蚂蚁发现了。小蚂蚁搬着其中的一粒米，朝着蚁穴的方向挪去。小蚂蚁刚刚离开国王用餐的地方，就遇到了另一只蚂蚁。国王听到第二只蚂蚁说：

“嘿，伙计，把那颗米给我吧，你去搬另外一颗。瞧，我的靴子太脏了，要是我进到国王用餐的地方，会把那里弄脏的。我可不能那么做，太失礼了。”

但是，米粒的拥有者回答道：“你想要米粒的话就自己去搬。没人会注意到你那脏兮兮的靴子。照你这么说，咱们整个家族的粮食都得我来搬了！”

听到这里，国王笑了起来。

王后疑惑地上下打量了自己一番，不明白她身上有什么地方会令国王发笑，就问国王：“您在笑什么？”

“我笑过吗？”国王回答道。

“当然笑了。”王后反驳，“如果您觉得我很可笑的话，就直接说出来，不要做出那种愚蠢的举动。您到底在笑什么？”

“我没有笑话任何事。”国王回答。

“好吧，可是您真的笑了，我想知道为什么。”

“哦，恐怕我不能告诉你。”国王说。

“您必须告诉我。”王后不耐烦地说，“如果您无缘无故就发笑，那肯定是病了或疯了。您到底怎么了？”

国王还是拒绝说出原因，而王后仍旧表示，一定要知道原因。他们一连争吵了好几天。王后喋喋不休地追问，不给国王任何喘息的机会，直到把这个可怜的男人折磨得完全不知所措。国王无奈地想，如果一直这样下去，活着对他来说几乎没有任何意义，那么还不如把秘密告诉王后，后果就由他来承受吧。

但是他又一想：“如果我不想说谎，就得变成一块石头。但就算是变成石头，我也不想躺在灰尘漫天的大道上，不是被人和牲畜踢来踢去，就是被用来丢狗，或者被顽皮的孩子拣去玩，一刻也不得安宁。那可太痛苦了！我情愿躺在凉爽的河水里，随着河水轻轻地滚动，直到找到一个安全的休息地，永远待在那里。

于是，国王告诉妻子，如果她愿意陪他骑马去河中央，他就会说出发笑的原因。王后以为他在开玩笑，笑着答应了。他们备好马后就出发了。

半路上，国王和王后来到了一口井旁。井的四周长满了树荫浓密的大树，井水清澈。国王提议在这里下马，休息一会儿，喝些清凉的井水再继续前进。王后同意了。于是，他们下了马，坐在井旁的树荫里休息。

这时，正好有一头老山羊和它的老伴儿在附近吃草。国王和王后正坐在那儿休息时，母山羊也来到了井边，朝井里张望了一下，看到几片嫩绿的叶子正随着柔缓的水流在井壁旁摆动。

“哦！”它冲着丈夫大叫，“快点来看！这几片叶子让我口水直流，快点帮我捞出来。”

接着，公山羊慢悠悠地走过来看了看，然后用怀疑的目光看着老伴儿。

“你想让我帮你捞到那些叶子？没搞错吧？我怀疑你根本没考虑我够不够得着？哦，你连想都没想过；你只要稍微过一下脑子，就会明白，要是我去够那些叶子，肯定会掉进井里淹死。”

“哦！”母山羊哭了起来，“你怎么会掉进去呢？试试看嘛！”

“我才不去干那种蠢事呢！”公山羊回答道。

可母山羊还是一直哭着哀求。

于是，公山羊说：“这世上的傻子已经够多了，我可不是他们中的一个。瞧瞧吧，这里就有个傻国王，因为治不好妻子爱问问题的毛病，就打算抛下妻子。可我知道怎么打消你的傻念头，我也正打算这么做呢。”

它用角重重地顶了母山羊一下。两分钟之内，母山羊就乖乖地去别处吃草了，而且立刻改变了主意，觉得井里那些叶子根本毫无价值。

当然，国王听懂了它们说的每个字，于是他又一次大笑起来。

王后疑惑地看着国王。但是这次，国王站了起来，朝王后坐着的地方走去。

“你还是坚持要知道那天我在笑什么吗？”他问。

“当然。”王后生气地说。

“因为……”国王用马鞭拍着大腿说，“可我已经决定不告诉你，我还打定主意，再也不让你提那件事。”

“你这是什么意思？”王后紧张地问。

“嗯，”国王回答，“我发现，公山羊对它的妻子不满时，就会用角顶它。这招看来很管用。”

“你是说要打我？”王后哭着说。

“我本该这么做，就算这样很对不起你，”国王回答，“不过我改变了主意，打算劝你安静地跟我回去，别再问那些我无法回答你的问题。当然，如果你坚持要问，那就……”

于是，国王和王后回到了王宫。据说，他们比以前更快乐，更聪明。

原文：
http://mythfolklore.net/andrewlang/343.htm
THE BILLY GOAT AND THE KING

Once there lived a certain king who understood the language of all birds and beasts and insects. This knowledge had of course been given him by a fairy godmother; but it was rather a troublesome present, for he knew that if he were ever to reveal anything he had thus learned he would turn into a stone. How he managed to avoid doing so long before this story opens I cannot say, but he had safely grown up to manhood, and married a wife, and was as happy as monarchs generally are.

This king, I must tell you, was a Hindu; and when a Hindu eats his food he has a nice little place on the ground freshly plastered with mud, and he sits in the middle of it with very few clothes on -- which is quite a different way from ours.

Well, one day the king was eating his dinner in just such a nice, clean, mud-plastered spot, and his wife was sitting opposite to wait upon him and keep him company. As he ate he dropped some grains of rice upon the ground, and a little ant, who was running about seeking a living, seized upon one of the grains and bore it off towards his hole. Just outside the king's circle this ant met another ant, and the king heard the second one say:

'Oh, dear friend, do give me that grain of rice, and get another one for yourself. You see my boots are so dirty that, if I were to go upon the king's eating place, I should defile it, and I can't do that, it would be so very rude.'

But the owner of the grain of rice only replied:

'If you want rice go and get it. No one will notice your dirty boots; and you don't suppose that I am going to carry rice for all our kindred ?'

Then the king laughed.

The queen looked at herself up and down, but she could not see or feel anything in her appearance to make the king laugh, so she said:

'What are you laughing at ?'

'Did I laugh ?' replied the king.

'Of course you did,' retorted the queen; 'and if you think that I am ridiculous I wish you would say so, instead of behaving in that stupid way ! What are you laughing at ?'

'I'm not laughing at anything,' answered the king.

'Very well, but you did laugh, and l want to know why.'

'Well, I'm afraid I can't tell you,' said the king.

'You must tell me,' replied the queen impatiently. 'If you laugh when there's nothing to laugh at you must be ill or mad. What is the matter ?'

Still the king refused to say, and still the queen declared that she must and would know. For days the quarrel went on, and the queen gave her husband no rest, until at last the poor man was almost out of his wits, and thought that, as life had become for him hardly worth living while this went on, he might as well tell her the secret and take the consequences.

'But,' thought he, 'if I am to become a stone, I am not going to lie, if I can help it, on some dusty highway, to be kicked here and there by man and beast, flung at dogs, be used as the plaything of naughty children, and become generally restless and miserable. I will be a stone at the bottom of the cool river, and roll gently about there until I find some secure resting-place where I can stay for ever.'

So he told his wife that if she would ride with him to the middle of the river he would tell her what he had laughed at. She thought he was joking, and laughingly agreed; their horses were ordered and they set out.

On the way they came to a fine well beneath the shade of some lofty, wide-spreading trees, and the king proposed that they should get off and rest a little, drink some of the cool water, and then pass on. To this the queen consented; so they dismounted and sat down in the shade by the well-side to rest.

It happened that an old goat and his wife were browsing in the neighbourhood, and, as the king and queen sat there, the nanny goat came to the well's brink and peering over saw some lovely green leaves that sprang in tender shoots out of the side of the well.

'Oh !' cried she to her husband, 'come quickly and look. Here are some leaves which make my mouth water; come and get them for me !'

Then the billy goat sauntered up and looked over, and after that he eyed his wife a little crossly.

'You expect me to get you those leaves, do you ? I suppose you don't consider how in the world I am to reach them ? You don't seem to think at all; if you did you would know that if I tried to reach those leaves I should fall into the well and be drowned !'

'Oh,' cried the nanny goat, 'why should you fall in ? Do try and get them !'

'I am not going to be so silly,' replied the billy goat.

But the nanny goat still wept and entreated.

'Look here,' said her husband, 'there are plenty of fools in the world, but I am not one of them. This silly king here, because he can't cure his wife of asking questions, is going to throw his life away. But I know how to cure you of your follies, and I'm going to.'

And with that he butted the nanny goat so severely that in two minutes she was submissively feeding somewhere else, and had made up her mind that the leaves in the well were not worth having.

Then the king, who had understood every word, laughed once more.

The queen looked at him suspiciously, but the king got up and walked across to where she sat.

'Are you still determined to find out what I was laughing at the other day ?' he asked.

'Quite,' answered the queen angrily.

'Because,' said the king, tapping his leg with his riding whip, 'I've made up my mind not to tell you, and moreover, I have made up my mind to stop you mentioning the subject any more.'

'What do you mean?' asked the queen nervously.

'Well,' replied the king, 'I notice that if that goat is displeased with his wife, he just butts her, and that seems to settle the question --'

'Do you mean to say you would beat me ?' cried the queen.

'I should be extremely sorry to have to do so,' replied the king; 'but I have to persuade you to go home quietly, and to ask no more silly questions when I say I cannot answer them. Of course, if you will persist, why -----'

And the queen went home, and so did the king; and it is said that they are both happier and wiser than ever before.