[翻译大赛NO. 2]风笛手的儿子小汤姆（修改稿）

风笛手的儿子小汤姆，偷口小猪往家走。小猪被吃他被打，哭爹喊娘人人骂！
风笛手巴尼可以说是什鲁斯伯里村最令人挠头的流浪汉了。他除了吹风笛，从来没有一件像样的工作，更糟糕的是，他的风笛吹得真差劲，吹上一整天，也就能赚几便士。全村人都盛传老巴尼不是什么任劳任怨的老实人，可是却没有人真正抓到狡猾的巴尼偷东西的证据。事实却是，只要有老巴尼经过，沿途的值钱东西肯定如人间蒸发一样不见踪影。巴尼有一个儿子，那孩子叫作汤姆。他俩就住在大街尽头的一个小窝棚里。汤姆还是个小婴儿的时候，他的妈妈就去世了。也许你觉得汤姆应该是个不怎么样的孩子，谁让他有个游手好闲的爹呢！错了，汤姆真的不是天生的坏孩子。他所犯的错误，都是因为听了他爸爸的教唆。他爸爸总是让他偷一只鸡来当晚餐，或者偷一罐子土豆当早餐。汤姆不喜欢偷东西，可是又没人能教他如何成为一个诚实善良的人，所以在他爸爸的误导之下，汤姆也走起了邪门歪道来。
一天早上天刚亮，小小汤姆刚起床。饥肠辘辘肚内空，忙喊爸爸要干粮。唉，家徒四壁一片空，没有吃的没有喝……“我们该怎么办呢？”汤姆问爸爸。“饿着吧！”巴尼回答道，“除非你想拿着我的风笛到街上要饭，没准儿他们会给你几便士的。”“我不！”汤姆摇着头，坚决地回答道，“肯定没人愿意给我钱。如果我去农夫包瑟的家，他倒是可能给我一便士，让我别再吹那难听的曲子了。你知道吗，上礼拜他就这么做了。”
“你可以再试一次。”他的爸爸高兴地说，“终归挨饿的滋味可不好受啊。”
汤姆只好拿起风笛，朝着小山那边农夫包瑟的房子走去。也许你们都听过这样的歌谣吧：
风笛手的儿子小汤姆，从小就学会吹风笛。吹来吹去就一首，《越过高山，飞向远方》。
没错儿，和他爸爸一样，汤姆就会这一首曲子，而且吹得跟他爸爸一样糟糕。人们听到汤姆吹风笛，真是烦得不行，经常会哀求他别再吹了。走了大半天，汤姆终于来到农夫包瑟的家门口。他拿起风笛，尽自己最大的努力吹奏起来。农夫正在柴棚里劈柴，所以他“幸运”地没有听到笛声；而农夫的老婆是个聋子，当然也听不见笛声了。没想到，一只正在房子前散步的猪却听到了这恐怖的声音，它吓坏了，朝着猪圈没头就跑。吹了一会儿，汤姆发现没人给他钱。要不我给他们再唱首歌吧！汤姆想到。于是，汤姆运足丹田气，扯着脖子嚎了起来：“高山之畔，不远地方，一只旱獭，咳嗽而亡！”与此同时，农夫放下手里的活儿，想要休息一会儿。他突然听到宰猪一般的声音，赶紧抓起一根木棒，冲出柴棚，挥着木棒紧追汤姆。汤姆飞快地跑回了家，这一折腾，他更加饥饿了。他有气无力地对爸爸说：“农夫光骂我呢，啥也没给我。不过我看见他家的院子里有一口猪。”“多大的猪？”巴尼连忙问道。“足够我们俩吃一顿晚饭了。”
巴尼慢慢摇着头，“几年没把猪肉尝，虽说偷盗非好事，烤肉的诱惑无法挡。”
他闭着眼睛，充满幻想地念叨着。
汤姆马上就明白他爸爸的意思了。他放下手里的风笛，再次往农夫家走去。走到农夫家的时候，汤姆听到农夫还在柴棚里劈柴。他蹑手蹑脚地溜进猪圈，伸出手，抓住了那口小猪的耳朵。小猪惊叫起来，但是农夫劈柴的声音湮没了小猪的叫声，农夫什么都没听见。眨眼之间，汤姆把小猪夹在胳膊下，飞快地往家里跑去。看到小猪，老巴尼高兴地对汤姆说：“真是我的好儿子！这口小猪又肥又靓，我们肯定会享受到国宴一般丰盛的晚餐的。”老巴尼很快就把小猪切成了肉块，然后放进大锅里煮了起来。只有猪尾巴没被扔进锅里，因为汤姆想用猪尾巴做个小口哨。除了猪尾巴，这一大锅肉也足够吃了，所以老巴尼就把猪尾巴给了汤姆。那天晚上，老巴尼和汤姆享受了一顿美味的大餐。他们饿得如狼似虎，两个人居然把一口小肥猪吃得一点不剩！吃完饭，巴尼准备上床睡觉。汤姆坐在门外的长椅子上，拿着小刀，想把猪尾巴做成口哨。这个时候，农夫包瑟已经劈完了所有的劈柴，打算去猪圈喂猪。他提起一桶猪食，走到了猪圈。到了猪圈，农夫发现猪圈里空空如也，那口小猪不见了！他左找右找，找了好长时间也没有发现小猪的踪影。“小猪，小猪，小猪！”农夫边找边喊，可是小猪却没有向往常一样跑到他的眼前。他马上意识到小猪肯定让人偷走了。农夫生气极了，因为那口小猪是他心爱的宠物，他一直盼望着能把小猪养成一口大猪。农夫赶紧披上外套，系上腰带，跑到山下去找偷小猪的人。他在大街上来回寻找着，翻遍了每一条小巷，可是根本没有小猪的踪影。毫无疑问，小猪肯定已经让人吃了，猪骨头肯定被收拾干净扔掉了。最后，农夫来到了大街尽头的那间小窝棚里，那就是巴尼和汤姆的家。他猛然发现汤姆正坐在门口的长椅子上，吹着一个用猪尾巴做的口哨！“你从哪儿弄到那个猪尾巴的？”农夫恶狠狠地问道。“我在大街上捡的。”淘气的汤姆开始觉得有点害怕了。“让我看看！”农夫一把抢过口哨，仔细查看着，突然，他大喊起来，“这是我那口小猪的尾巴！我认得它尾巴上的弯儿！你这个小无赖，快说，我的小猪在哪儿？”汤姆发现他的罪行已经败落了，吓得混身直发抖。“我的好先生，小猪已经被吃掉了。”他颤抖地回答道。农夫一语未发，但是脸色已经气得铁青了。他解下腰带，在头上挥舞着，只听“啪”的一声脆响，腰带抽在了汤姆的背上。“哦，哦！”汤姆惊叫着，沿着大街飞奔起来。“啪！啪！”农夫紧追不舍，腰带一下下地抽在汤姆的肩膀上。追出去半条街，农夫终于停了下来，他觉得他已经给汤姆好一顿胖揍了。虽然农夫停了下来，可汤姆却一直没有停下脚步。他一边哭，一边惊叫，就好像农夫还在追他一样，就这样，他一直跑到了村子边。汤姆踉踉跄跄地回到家，到处都是漆黑一片，他爸爸还在沉睡着。汤姆只好悄悄地摸进屋，爬到床上睡觉。汤姆今天真是好好儿地学到了一课，他知道，从今往后，他再也不会听他爸爸的话去偷东西了。从那天起，汤姆的言行举止都变得格外老实勤恳，很快，他就找到了一份正式的工作。不久，他就可以挣钱养活他们爷俩儿了。他发现作为一个诚实的人，干活赚钱要比偷小猪当晚饭或是挨一顿臭揍要容易得多。
风笛手的儿子小汤姆，改过自新不再偷。辛勤工作不贪玩，丰衣足食幸福多！
——————————————————原文来也，原文来也O(∩_∩)O————————————————————————————
Tom, the Piper's Son
Tom, the Piper's Son
Tom, Tom, the piper's son,
Stole a pig and away he run;
The pig was eat and Tom was beat
And Tom ran crying down the street.There was not a worse vagabond in Shrewsbury than old Barney the piper. He never did any work except to play the pipes, and he played so badly that few pennies ever found their way into his pouch. It was whispered around that old Barney was not very honest, but he was so sly and cautious that no one had ever caught him in the act of stealing, although a good many things had been missed after they had fallen into the old man's way.
      Barney had one son, named Tom; and they lived all alone in a little hut away at the end of the village street, for Tom's mother had died when he was a baby. You may not suppose that Tom was a very good boy, since he had such a queer father; but neither was he very bad, and the worst fault he had was in obeying his father's wishes when Barney wanted him to steal a chicken for their supper or a pot of potatoes for their breakfast. Tom did not like to steal, but he had no one to teach him to be honest, and so, under his father's guidance, he fell into bad ways.
      One morning
Tom, Tom, the piper's son,
Was hungry when the day begun;
He wanted a bun and asked for one,
But soon found out that there were none."What shall we do?" he asked his father.
      "Go hungry," replied Barney, "unless you want to take my pipes and play in the village. Perhaps they will give you a penny."
      "No," answered Tom, shaking his head; "no one will give me a penny for playing; but Farmer Bowser might give me a penny to stop playing, if I went to his house. He did last week, you know."
      "You'd better try it," said his father; "it's mighty uncomfortable to be hungry."
      So Tom took his father's pipes and walked over the hill to Farmer Bowser's house; for you must know that
Tom, Tom, the piper's son,
Learned to play when he was young;
But the only tune that he could play
Was "Over the hills and far away."And he played this one tune as badly as his father himself played, so that the people were annoyed when they heard him, and often begged him to stop.
      When he came to Farmer Bowser's house, Tom started up the pipes and began to play with all his might. The farmer was in his woodshed, sawing wood, so he did not hear the pipes; and the farmer's wife was deaf, and could not hear them. But a little pig that had strayed around in front of the house heard the noise, and ran away in great fear to the pigsty.
      Then, as Tom saw the playing did no good, he thought he would sing also, and therefore he began bawling, at the top of his voice
"Over the hills, not a great ways off, The woodchuck died with the whooping-cough!"
The farmer had stopped sawing to rest, just then; and when he heard the singing he rushed out of the shed, and chased Tom away with a big stick of wood. The boy went back to his father, and said, sorrowfully, for he was more hungry than before,
      "The farmer gave me nothing but a scolding; but there was a very nice pig running around the yard."
      "How big was it?" asked Barney.
      "Oh, just about big enough to make a nice dinner for you and me."
The piper slowly shook his head;
"'T is long since I on pig have fed,
And though I feel it's wrong to steal,
Roast pig is very nice," he said.Tom knew very well what he meant by that, so he laid down the pipes, and went back to the farmer's house.
      When he came near he heard the farmer again sawing wood in the woodshed, and so he went softly up to the pig-sty and reached over and grabbed the little pig by the ears. The pig squealed, of course, but the farmer was making so much noise himself that he did not hear it, and in a minute Tom had the pig tucked under his arm and was running back home with it.
      The piper was very glad to see the pig, and said to Tom,
      "You are a good son, and the pig is very nice and fat. We shall have a dinner fit for a king."
      It was not long before the piper had the pig killed and cut into pieces and boiling in the pot. Only the tail was left out, for Tom wanted to make a whistle of it, and as there was plenty to eat besides the tail his father let him have it.
      The piper and his son had a fine dinner that day, and so great was their hunger that the little pig was all eaten up at one meal!
      Then Barney lay down to sleep, and Tom sat on a bench outside the door and began to make a whistle out of the pig's tail with his pocket-knife.
      Now Farmer Bowser, when he had finished sawing the wood, found it was time to feed the pig, so he took a pail of meal and went to the pigsty. But when he came to the sty there was no pig to be seen, and he searched all round the place for a good hour without finding it.
      "Piggy, piggy, piggy!" he called, but no piggy came, and then he knew his pig had been stolen. He was very angry, indeed, for the pig was a great pet, and he had wanted to keep it till it grew very big.
      So he put on his coat and buckled a strap around his waist, and went down to the village to see if he could find out who had stolen his pig.
      Up and down the street he went, and in and out the lanes, but no traces of the pig could he find anywhere. And that was no great wonder, for the pig was eaten by that time and its bones picked clean.
      Finally the farmer came to the end of the street where the piper lived in his little hut, and there he saw Tom sitting on a bench and blowing on a whistle made from a pig's tail.
      "Where did you get that tail?" asked the farmer.
      "I found it," said naughty Tom, beginning to be frightened.
      "Let me see it," demanded the farmer; and when he had looked at it carefully he cried out,
      "This tail belonged to my little pig, for I know very well the curl at the end of it! Tell me, you rascal, where is the pig?"
      Then Tom fell in a tremble, for he knew his wickedness was discovered.
      "The pig is eat, your honor," he answered.
      The farmer said never a word, but his face grew black with anger, and, unbuckling the strap that was about his waist, he waved it around his head, and whack! came the strap over Tom's back.
      "Ow, ow!" cried the boy, and started to run down the street.
      Whack! whack! fell the strap over his shoulder, for the farmer followed at his heels half-way down the street, nor did he spare the strap till he had give Tom a good beating. And Tom was so scared that he never stopped running till he came to the end of the village, and he bawled lustily the whole way and cried out at every step as if the farmer was still a his back.
      It was dark before he came back to his home, and his father was still asleep; so Tom crept into the hut and went to bed. But he had received a good lesson and never after that could the old piper induce him to steal.
      When Tom showed by his actions his intention of being honest he soon got a job of work to do, and before long he was able to earn a living more easily, and a great deal more honestly, than when he stole the pig to get a dinner and suffered a severe beating as a punishment.
Tom, Tom, the piper's son
Now with stealing pigs was done,
He'd work all day instead of play,
And dined on tart and currant bun.