翻译任务：隐藏的仆人（算童话还是小说，还是小说吧）

节前努力发帖喽。这个是早就翻译好的，真的是很久很久以前，但是一直没贴，感觉有很多未完善的地方，但是老拖着更不好，一狠心一咬牙，贴吧。THE HIDDEN SERVANTS1   This is a legend about a hermit who lived long ago. He lived high up on the mountain-xside in a tiny cave; his food was roots and acorns, a bit of bread given by a peasant, or a cheese brought by a woman who wanted his prayers; his work was praying, and thinking about God. For forty years he lived so, preaching to the people, praying for them, comforting them in trouble, and, most of all, worshiping in his heart. There was just one thing he cared about: it was to make his soul so pure and perfect that it could be one of the stones in God's great Temple of Heaven.

这故事讲的是一位隐士，他生活在很久很久以前。隐士住在高山上的窑洞里，他每天吃的就是各种地下块根、松果，以及这个农民给的一点儿面包，那个想要他祷告的女人给的一块儿奶酪。他的工作就是祷告和默想上帝。布道、祷告、安慰困境中的人们，还有最重要的——在心里虔诚信仰着上帝，四十年来他一直这么过活着。他只在乎一件事情，那就是让自己的心灵保持纯洁和完美，使它可以成为上帝天国圣殿里的一枚宝石。
   One day, after the forty years, he had a great longing to know how far along he had got with his work, -- how it looked to the Heavenly Father. And he prayed that he might be shown a man --
四十年后的一天，他萌发了强烈的渴望，渴望知道自己的工作究竟做得怎样，圣父对此作何评价。他祈祷有一个人
“请向他展示他自己的灵魂，以另外一个人的形象，在神的恩赐下，这人的灵魂要和隐士的完全一样，两人在天国彼岸的财富，不多不少也要一个样。”``Whose soul in the heavenly grace had grown
To the selfsame measure as his own;
Whose treasure on the celestial shore
Could neither be less than his nor more.''
当他从祈祷中抬起头来时，一位白袍天使站在了他的面前。这隐士满心欢喜地向这信使鞠躬行礼，因为他知道自己的愿望已经得到了回应。天使说：“到最近的镇上去吧，在公共广场那里，你会发现一个靠逗人们乐挣钱的小丑。他正是你要寻觅的人。他的灵魂和你的完全一样。他在彼岸的财富不多不少也正和你的一样多。”As he looked up from his prayer, a white-robed angel stood in the path before him. The hermit bowed before the messenger with great gladness, for he knew that his wish was answered. ``Go to the nearest town,'' the angel said, ``and there, in the public square, you will find a mountebank (a clown) making the people laugh for money. He is the man you seek, his soul has grown to the selfsame stature as your own; his treasure on the celestial shore is neither less than yours nor more.''
当天使从视线中消失，隐士再次低下头，但是这一次却怀着无限的痛苦和恐惧。难道他四十年来的祈祷竟是一个可怕的错误？！难道他的灵魂真的和一个在集市上插科打诨的小丑一样吗？！他不知道该怎么想才对，他几乎盼着不要找到那小丑才好，这样他就可以让自己相信不过是梦见了天使而已。但是当他经过漫长辛苦的跋涉走到村庄，来到广场上，哎呀！那儿真的有个小丑，正在向围观的人群表演他的傻把戏呢。 When the angel had faded from sight, the hermit bowed his head again, but this time with great sorrow and fear. Had his forty years of prayer been a terrible mistake, and was his soul indeed like a clown, fooling in the market-place? He knew not what to think. Almost he hoped he should not find the man, and could believe that he had dreamed the angel vision. But when he came, after a long, toilful walk, to the village, and the square, alas! there was the clown, doing his silly tricks for the crowd.
隐士站在那儿看着小丑，恐惧而悲哀，因为他感到正在看着的就是自己的灵魂。他看到的是一张瘦削疲惫的脸孔，尽管小丑一直保持着微笑或是呲牙咧嘴的怪笑，但是在隐士看来却显得那么悲哀。男人很快感觉到了隐士的目光，他的把戏再也进行不下去了。在他停止表演，观众们散去以后，隐士走过来把这男人拽到了一个可以休息的地方，因为在这世界上，他此刻最想了解的莫过于这个人的灵魂到底是什么样子。因为不管是什么样儿，都和自己的一样啊。The hermit stood and looked at him with terror and sadness, for he felt that he was looking at his own soul. The face he saw was thin and tired, and though it kept a smile or a grin for the people, it seemed very sad to the hermit. Soon the man felt the hermit's eyes; he could not go on with his tricks. And when he had stopped and the crowd had left, the hermit went and drew the man aside to a place where they could rest; for he wanted more than anything else on earth to know what the man's soul was like, because what it was, his was.
于是，不一会儿，他就非常和蔼地问小丑，他的人生以前是怎样的，现在又是怎样的。小丑十分悲伤地回答：正如大家所看到的，他的人生就是愚蠢的把戏，因为他只会这一种谋生的手段。
   So, after a little, he asked the clown, very gently, what his life was, what it had been. And the clown answered, very sadly, that it was just as it looked, -- a life of foolish tricks, for that was the only way of earning his bread that he knew.
可是你从来没有以其他方式生活过么？隐士痛苦地问道。
   ``But have you never been anything different?'' asked the hermit, painfully.
 
 
小丑的头垂到胸前，他说：“是的，我的神父。我曾经干过其他工作。我曾是个贼。我以前是一个最邪恶的山贼团伙里的一员，我又是其中最最坏的一个。”
   The clown's head sank in his hands. ``Yes, holy father,'' he said, ``I have been something else. I was a thief! I once belonged to the wickedest band of mountain robbers that ever tormented the land, and I was as wicked as the worst.''
天呐！隐士觉得自己的心破碎了。难道他在上帝心里就是这样的吗？！像一个贼，一个残忍的山贼？！他简直说不出话来了，泪水从他苍老的眼睛里流下来，可他仍然鼓起力气又多问了一个问题：“告诉我，你一生中有没有做过哪怕一件好事，我恳求你好好想想。”因为他觉得哪怕是一个善举也会把自己从彻底的失望中拯救出来。
   Alas! The hermit felt that his heart was breaking. Was this how he looked to the Heavenly Father, -- like a thief, a cruel mountain robber? He could hardly speak, and the tears streamed from his old eyes, but he gathered strength to ask one more question. ``I beg you,'' he said, ``if you have ever done a single good deed in your life, remember it now, and tell it to me;'' for he thought that even one good deed would save him from utter despair.
   ``Yes, one,'' the clown said, ``but it was so small, it is not worth telling; my life has been worthless.''
“是的，有一件事，”小丑说道，“但事情太小不值一提。我的人生一直毫无价值。”
“快告诉我是什么！”隐士恳求着。
   ``Tell me that one!'' pleaded the hermit.
于是这人说：“有一次，我们的团伙闯进一个女修道院的花园，抢走了一个修女，要把她卖作奴隶或者留着索要赎金。我们拖着她经过坎坷漫长的路程来到我们的山寨，还派了一个看守在夜里看着她。这可怜的家伙哀求我们放了她。她哀求的时候，用信赖、恳求的目光轮流看过一张张冷酷的脸。就像她根本不相信会有真正的坏人。神父啊，当她的目光接触到我的目光时，什么东西刺痛了我的心。怜悯和羞愧第一次从我的心底冒出来。但是我竭力让自己的表情和其他人一样冷酷、残忍。她绝望地转过身去。”
 ``Once,'' said the man, ``our band broke into a convent garden and stole away one of the nuns, to sell as a slave or to keep for a ransom. We dragged her with us over the rough, long way to our mountain camp, and set a guard over her for the night. The poor thing prayed to us so piteously to let her go! And as she begged, she looked from one hard face to another with trusting, imploring eyes, as if she could not believe men could be really bad. Father, when her eyes met mine something pierced my heart! Pity and shame leaped up, for the first time, within me. But I made my face as hard and cruel as the rest, and she turned away, hopeless.
 
   ``When all was dark and still, I stole like a cat to where she lay bound. I put my hand on her wrist and whispered, `Trust me, and I will take you safely home.' I cut her bonds with my knife, and she looked at me to show that she trusted. Father, by terrible ways that I knew,
“当四周变得漆黑寂静，我像猫儿一样偷偷地来到她被绑着的地方，将手放在她手腕上，轻声说：‘相信我，我会把你安全送回家。’我用小刀切断绑她的绳子。她看着我以表达她对我的信任。神父，经过一些我所知道的难走的路，躲过了其他山贼，我把她安全送回了修道院的门口。她敲敲门，等他们来开了门，她就匆匆走了进去。当她离开我的时候，转身对我说：‘上帝会记得这一切的。’”

hidden from the others, I took her safe to the convent gate. She knocked; they opened; and she slipped inside. And, as she left me, she turned and said, `God will remember.'
“就是这些了。我再也无法回去过那种糟糕的老日子，可也没学过诚实谋生的方法，所以我就作了个小丑，到死也一定还是个小丑。”
   ``That was all. I could not go back to the old bad life, and I had never learned an honest way to earn my bread. So I became a clown, and must be a clown until I die.''
“不，不，我的孩子！”隐士叫道，现在他的眼泪已经是欢乐的眼泪了，“上帝记得，在他眼中，你的灵魂和我这个祷告、布道的人的灵魂是完全相同的。你在天堂里的财富也和我的一样多。”
   ``No! no! my son,'' cried the hermit, and now his tears were tears of joy. ``God has remembered; your soul is in his sight even as mine, who have prayed and preached for forty years. Your treasure waits for you on the heavenly shore just as mine does.''
小丑说：“和你的一样多？神父，你在嘲弄我啊！”
   ``As yours? Father, you mock me!'' said the clown.
但是，当隐者对他讲了自己的祷告和天使的回答，可怜的小丑变得高兴起来，因为他知道他的罪孽已经被原谅了。隐士动身回山上时，小丑跟随着他。他也成为了一位隐士，赞美上帝，潜心祷告。
   But when the hermit told him the story of his prayer and the angel's answer, the poor clown was transfigured with joy, for he knew that his sins were forgiven. And when the hermit went home to his mountain, the clown went with him. He, too, became a hermit, and spent his time in praise and prayer.
他们一起生活，一起工作，一起帮助穷人。两年后，当过小丑的人死了，隐士觉得失去了一个比自己还要圣洁的兄弟。
Together they lived, and worked, and helped the poor. And when, after two years, the man who had been a clown died, the hermit felt that he had lost a brother holier than himself.
又过了十年，隐士还住在他的山间小屋，心里总是想着上帝，斋戒、祈祷，从没做过哪怕很小的错事。一天，那个想知道自己的工作做得如何的愿望又浮现心头，于是他又一次祷告，想要见到一个可以与他对照的实实在在的人——
“如果有神的恩赐，有个人的灵魂和他自己的完全一样儿，两人在天国彼岸的财富不多不少也一个样儿。”   For ten years more the hermit lived in his mountain hut, thinking always of God, fasting and praying, and doing no least thing that was wrong. Then, one day, the wish once more came, to know how his work was growing, and once more he prayed that he might see a being --
``Whose soul in the heavenly grace had grown
To the selfsame measure as his own;
Whose treasure on the celestial shore
Could neither be less than his nor more.''
   Once more his prayer was answered. The angel came to him, and told him to go to a certain village on the other side of the mountain, and to a small farm in it, where two women lived. In them he should find two souls like his own, in God's sight.
他的祷告又一次有了回应。天使来到他身边，告诉他去山那边的某个村子，找一个小农庄，里面住着两个女人。在她们身上，他就可以找到两个在上帝眼中和他相同的灵魂。
   When the hermit came to the door of the little farm, the two women who lived there were overjoyed to see him, for every one loved and honored his name. They put a chair for him on the cool porch, and brought food and drink. But the hermit was too eager to wait. He longed greatly to know what the souls of the two women were like, and from their looks he could see only that they were gentle and honest. One was old, and the other of middle age.
隐者到了那个小农庄门口，住在这儿的两个女人见到他欣喜若狂，因为他声誉很高，每个人都喜欢他，尊敬他。这两个女人一个年老，一个中年。
他很快就询问起他们的生活情况。他们告诉他说几乎没什么可说的，他们经常在田间或者屋子里和丈夫一起辛苦劳作。他们有很多孩子，经历过许多艰难的日子—疾病、痛苦，但是从未绝望。
隐士问：“可你们做过哪些好事呢？你们为上帝做过些什么呢？”
Presently he asked them about their lives. They told him the little there was to tell: they had worked hard always, in the fields with their husbands, or in the house; they had many children; they had seen hard times, -- sickness, sorrow; but they had never despaired.
   ``But what of your good deeds,'' the hermit asked, -- ``what have you done for God?''
“几乎什么也没有，”他们伤心地回答道，因为他们太穷了，给不了别人太多东西。确实，他们每两年杀掉一只羊吃，并且把其中的一半儿给更穷的邻居。
   ``Very little,'' they said, sadly, for they were too poor to give much. To be sure, twice every year, when they killed a sheep for food, they gave half to their poorer neighbors.
   ``That is very good, very faithful,'' the hermit said. ``And is there any other good deed you have done?''
“老实说，这很好啊，”隐士说,“你们还做过什么好事呢？”
   ``Nothing,'' said the older woman, ``unless, unless -- it might be called a good deed -- '' She looked at the younger woman, who smiled back at her.
老一点儿的女人说：“没有了，除了，除了……如果可以算得上是一件好事的话……”她看着年轻些的女人，她回报她以微笑。
“是什么事？”隐士问。
   ``What?'' said the hermit.
   Still the woman hesitated; but at last she said, timidly, ``It is not much to tell, father, only this, that it is twenty years since my sister-in-law and I came to live together in the house; we have brought up our families here; and in all the twenty years there has never been a cross word between us, or a look that was less than kind.''
女人还是很犹豫，但最终她还是羞怯地说：“其实也没什么，只是，从20年前我和我的弟媳住在一起直到现在，我们在这里一起养育家庭。整整20年里，我们从没吵过架，也从没有给过对方脸色看。”
   The hermit bent his head before the two women, and gave thanks in his heart. ``If my soul is as these,'' he said, ``I am blessed indeed.''
隐士在两个女人面前低下头，衷心地感谢她们：“如果我的灵魂就像这样的话，我实在是有福了。”
   And suddenly a great light came into the hermit's mind, and he saw how many ways there are of serving God. Some serve him in churches and in hermit's cells, by praise and prayer; some poor souls who have been very wicked turn from their wickedness with sorrow, and serve him with repentance; some live faithfully and gently in humble homes, working, bringing up children, keeping kind and cheerful; some bear pain patiently, for his sake.
突然之间，一道亮光闪现在隐士的脑海中/隐士的脑中灵机一闪，他发现原来有许多方法可以侍奉上帝。有的人在教堂和隐士的小屋里通过赞美和祷告侍奉上帝，而有些曾经邪恶可鄙的灵魂痛苦地转变过来，通过悔恨来侍奉上帝。有些人在简陋的家中虔诚和善地工作、养育子女，善良快乐的生活；有些为了上帝忍受苦痛，这些都是侍奉上帝的仆人啊。
有无尽，无尽的方法啊，只有上帝才知道。
Endless, endless ways there are, that only the Heavenly Father sees.

就这样，隐士又爬上山坡，他心里想着：

“当他看到远方农舍窗上的灯光，

闪着星星般的光芒，

感叹上帝的仆人，

有多少在世上隐藏！”

And so, as the hermit climbed the mountain again, he thought, --
``As he saw the star-like glow
Of light, in the cottage windows far,
How many God's hidden servants are!''
[1] Adapted, with quotations, from the poem in The Hidden Servants, by Francesca Alexander(Little, Brown & Co.).
   1.根据利特尔布朗公司出版的弗郎西斯卡.亚历山大诗歌《隐藏的仆人们》引用及改编。