The man and the Serpent

A countryman’s son by accident trod upon a Serpent’s tail, which turned and bit him so that he died. The father in a rage got his axe, and pursuing the Serpent, cut off part of its tail. So the Serpent in revenge began stinging several of the Farmer’s cattle and caused him severe loss. Well, the Farmer thought it best to make it up with the Serpent, and brought food and honey to the mouth of its lair, and said to it: “Let’s forget and forgive; perhaps you were right to punish my son, and take vengeance on my cattle, but surely I was right in trying to revenge him; now that we are both satisfied why should not we be friends again?” “No, no,” said the Serpent, “take away your gifts; you can never forget the death of your son, nor I the loss of my tail.” Injuries may be forgiven, but not forgotten.

農(nóng)夫與蛇

農(nóng)夫的兒子不小心踩了蛇的尾巴，蛇扭頭咬了他一口，他中毒身亡。農(nóng)夫盛怒之下抄起斧子來尋蛇，砍掉了蛇的一截尾巴。蛇為了報(bào)復(fù)接連咬了農(nóng)夫的數(shù)頭牲畜，給他造成了很大的損失。農(nóng)夫覺得冤冤相報(bào)何時(shí)了，還是跟蛇握手言和比較好。于是，他帶著食物和蜂蜜來到蛇的巢穴，對(duì)它說：“讓我們忘掉過去，互相原諒吧。也許你懲罰我兒子，咬死牲口，報(bào)復(fù)我都是對(duì)的，同理，我也應(yīng)該為他報(bào)仇?，F(xiàn)在，既然我們都如愿以償了，為什么不能重修舊好呢？”

“不，不，”蛇說道，“拿走你的禮物，你永遠(yuǎn)不可能忘記你兒子的死，就像我永遠(yuǎn)不可能忘掉斷尾之痛一樣。”

傷害可能被原諒，但永遠(yuǎn)不會(huì)被忘記。

Key points

axe 斧子 forget 忘記 forgive 原諒 lair 巢穴 pursue 追捕

rage 憤怒 revenge 報(bào)復(fù) satisfied 滿足的 serpent 蛇 sting 叮；蟄

trod 踩，踏（tread 的過去式） vengeance 報(bào)復(fù)