Origin: Northern India

Arony 譯

聰明的老奶奶

The Clever Old Woman

Origin: Northern India

Arony 譯

Once upon a time there lived an old woman in a kingdom ruled by a beautiful queen. She had four sons but they used to fght a lot and their wives were also unkind to each other. They all lived in the same house but as they argued so much, everyone had separate kitchens. The old woman was very sad, as she wished that they would be able to live as one big happy family, helping each other. She threatened to throw them out of the house if they could not learn to live as a united family, and in order to save money she told her sons and their wives that they would only be able to use one kitchen. She hoped that this would mean that the wives would learn to live in harmony with each other. The sons were also fed up with the situation and agreed to their mother’s command.

從前，在一個由美麗的女王統(tǒng)治的國家里，住著一位老奶奶。她有四個兒子，但他們常常打架，他們的妻子也不能和睦相處。他們都住在同一所房子里，但由于經(jīng)常爭吵，他們的廚房是分開的。這位老奶奶很傷心，因為她希望他們可以像一個快樂的大家庭那樣一起生活，相互扶持。她于是威脅稱如果他們不學會和睦相處，就把他們都趕出去，她還對兒子和媳婦們說，為了省錢，他們只能共用一個廚房。她希望這樣可以讓媳婦們學會和諧相處。兒子們也厭煩了這種狀況，因此都同意了母親的要求。

As the old woman was very poor, the sons all gave their daily earnings to their mother. One day the youngest son went to find work in the city, but had no luck. He saw a dead snake when returning home that evening and sadly he picked it up in order to take something back to his mother. When the old woman asked for his earnings, he told her that he had been unable to fnd work that day and passed the dead snake to her. She1)consoled him and asked him to try again the next day. But knowing that the snake would not make a good meal for them all, she threw the dead snake onto the roof of her mud house.

老奶奶很窮，所以兒子們都把每天掙到的錢給她。一天，小兒子去城里找工作，但運氣不好，沒找到。他在回家的路上看到一條死蛇，他傷心地撿了起來，好歹拿點東西回去給母親。老奶奶問他要當天收入時，他說還沒找到工作并把死蛇給了母親。她安慰他并讓他明天再試試。她知道用這條蛇做菜不夠一家人吃，于是把它扔到自己那土房的屋頂上。

On that same day, the queen of the kingdom went to a beautiful pond to take a bath. She removed her expensive diamond necklace and left it near the bank in the care of her maids. Suddenly, an eagle appeared overhead. The eagle was attracted to the bright shining necklace and2)swooping down, she clasped it in her claws and flew away. The maids screamed but to no avail. The queen was so upset that she made an announcement that whoever could find the lost necklace would be granted a grand prize.

就在那天，女王去了一個美麗的池塘洗澡。她把貴重的鉆石項鏈放在岸邊，讓侍女們照看。突然，一只鷹出現(xiàn)在上空，被閃亮的項鏈吸引了，它飛撲下來用爪子緊緊抓住項鏈，然后飛走了。侍女們高聲尖叫，但也無補于事。女王很傷心，她下令找到丟失項鏈的人將重重有賞。

After fying for a while, the eagle saw the dead snake on the old woman’s roof. Realising that the snake could be eaten while the necklace could not, she left the necklace there and took away the dead snake.

那只鷹飛了一會兒后，看到了老奶奶房頂上的死蛇。想到蛇可以吃，而項鏈不能吃，它就把項鏈放在那兒，把蛇叼走了。

The next day, the old woman went up to her roof to put some clothing to dry in the sunshine when she spotted the necklace. She understood that this was the queen’s stolen necklace and that the queen desperately wanted it back.

第二天，陽光明媚，老奶奶爬上屋頂晾衣服，她看到了那條項鏈。她知道那是女王被偷的項鏈，女王非常想找回來。

It happened that the festival of light known as3)Diwali was in two days time. At that festival, everyone lights oil lamps and candles to4)appease the Goddess of Wealth. The old woman made a plan. She went to the queen’s palace and asked the guard if she could see the queen. When the queen saw her necklace, she was very happy and promised to give the old woman a large sum of money.

恰巧兩天后就是排燈節(jié)—慶祝燈光的節(jié)日。在這個節(jié)日里，所有人都會點亮煤油燈和蠟燭以安撫財富女神。老奶奶想好了計策。她來到女王的宮殿，問侍衛(wèi)她能否見女王。女王看到項鏈后非常高興并承諾給老奶奶一大筆財富。

But the old woman declined. Instead she said,“Thank you very much, my lady, for your offer but I am poor and won’t be able to guard this treasure. If you agree, I want that on the night of Diwali only my household should be allowed to light oil lamps, and no one else should be allowed to light their lamps.”

然而老奶奶拒絕了。她說：“我的女王，非常感謝您的賞賜，但我太窮了，沒有能力看管這些財富。要是您同意，我希望在排燈節(jié)的晚上，只有我家可以點亮煤油燈，其他人都不能點燈?！?/p>

The queen was surprised at this request, but was so grateful that she granted the old woman her wish and issued instructions that only the old woman’s house would be lit at Diwali that year.

女王對她的請求感到很吃驚，但同時也很感激她。于是，她同意滿足其愿望。女王下令：今年的排燈節(jié)只有老奶奶的家里可以點燈。

1) console [k?n?s??l] v. 安慰，撫慰

2) swoop [swu?p] v. 猝然下降，飛撲

3) Diwali [di??wɑ?l?] n. （印度的宗教節(jié)日）排燈節(jié)

4) appease [??pi?z] v. 使……滿足，使……平靜

The festival of Diwali came. The old woman asked all the members of her household to clean every nook and cranny of the house and decorate it with beautiful scented fowers. Everyone worked together on these tasks and, in the evening, the old woman lit lamps and candles in every part of her house.

排燈節(jié)到了。老奶奶讓全家人把家里的每一個角落都打掃干凈，并且擺上芬芳美麗的花兒。每個人都按吩咐一起干活，到了晚上，老奶奶在家里各處都點了燈和蠟燭。

At midnight, the Goddess of Wealth came for her annual visit. She was disappointed to see pitch darkness everywhere in the kingdom. Then she saw beautiful lights shining from the old woman’s house. As the goddess loved lights, she quickly made her way straight to the old woman’s house and knocked on the door. Hearing the knock, the old woman opened the door signalling her sons, daughtersin-law and grandchildren to welcome the goddess with fower5)garlands, perfume and sweets. This they did and the Goddess was very pleased. She asked them what they would like her to give them in return for their devotion to her.

午夜時分，財富女神來訪，她每年都會來一次?？吹竭@個國家到處漆黑一片，她非常失望。突然，她看到了老奶奶家明亮、漂亮的燈光。女神很喜歡燈光，于是徑直去到老奶奶家并敲門。聽到敲門聲后，老奶奶示意她的兒子、媳婦和孫子、孫女用花環(huán)、香水和糖果來迎接女神。他們按要求照做，女神很高興。她問他們想她如何回報他們的招待。

The old woman came forward and said, “We ask that you stay in our house forever so that we live in prosperity and happiness.”

老奶奶上前對她說：“我們請求您從此永遠留在我們家，讓我們生活富足、幸?？鞓贰！?/p>

The Goddess thought for a moment and said, “I am happy to stay here in your house forever but only if you all stay united, not fighting but loving each other. If anyone disobeys this condition, I will leave the house.”

女神想了一會兒，說：“我很樂意永遠留在你們家，但你們一定要團結(jié)、不打架、相親相愛，如果有任何人違背了這個規(guī)定，我就會離開這里?！?/p>

Everyone was so happy to know that the Goddess was pleased, that they all agreed to her request and, since then, all the members of the family lived in harmony, flled with love and respect for each other. The old woman was very happy as her desire for her children to live peacefully had finally been granted. And the Goddess of Wealth stayed in their house for all the coming generations.

得知女神樂意，大家都很開心，都同意了她的要求，從此這一家人生活和諧美滿、相親相愛、彼此尊重。老奶奶希望兒女們和睦相處的愿望終于實現(xiàn)了，她很高興。從此，財富女神一直留在他們家里，經(jīng)過了世世代代也不曾離去。

5) garland [?ɡɑ?l?nd] n. 花環(huán)，花冠