梁小明

Once upon a time， a long time ago， inthe Pacific Northwest， there lived amagical bird named Raven. Raven was ashape shifter3. He could turn himself intoa man and then back again into a birdsimply by pulling his beak4 over his head，like a mask.

Raven practiced and practiced untilhe could turn himself into any animal.Raven could fool other animals intothinking he was， well， just anybody.

Raven was very smart. He was also athief and a liar. Raven used his charm tomake his lies sound like truth. Animalswho trusted Raven often found themselvesin big trouble. But Raven did not care.Raven was as selfish5 as he was clever.

One day， Raven looked up at the sky.“Winter is coming，”he said， in a surprisedsort of way. “The snows will fall soon. I bet6Squirrel has stored up lots of food by now.”

But when he flew by Squirrels house，Squirrel shouted at him， “Go away， Raven.You are not stealing food from me. Not onesingle nut7.”

Raven spread his wings and soared8away.“Bear will have food，”he thought. Butwhen Raven arrived at Bears cave9， Bearwas sound asleep for the winter. All Bearsfood was stored in Bears belly10.

Raven soared off to the top of a tree tothink things over. An idea took shape in hismind. Raven soared off in search of Crow11.Crow was Ravens cousin.

“Crow！ ” Raven called out when hefound him. “Everyones talking about yourbeautiful voice！ They cant wait to hear yousing. You should have a potlatch！ ”

Crow knew Raven was selfish. Crowknew that Raven was a thief. He knew thatRaven often lied. Just the same， it was hardto resist12 Ravens compliment13. Crow didhave a beautiful voice， as Raven well knew.

“A potlatch is a huge party！ ”saidCrow.“It would take all my winter storage14of food to feed my guests. And what aboutall the cooking and cleaning？”

“Ill help you get ready！”Raven smiledwarmly at his cousin. “Oh， Crow. Im soproud to be related to you. Everyone wantsto hear you sing！ ”

That very night， Crow and Raven begancooking. The next day， while Crow cookedand cleaned and practiced his singing，Raven flew all over the forest， invitingeveryone to“his”potlatch.

“Im having a potlatch，”Raven told allthe animals in the forest.“At Crows house.Come to the back door. That way， you wonthave to wait with the crowd to get in.”

Crow worked and worked， cooking andcleaning， while Raven flew all over theforest， inviting everyone he saw.

Finally， the big day arrived. Everyonecame to Ravens potlatch except the animalsthat had flown south for the winter and theanimals that were snoozing15 away in theircaves. Everyone that is except Squirrel.Raven had not invited Squirrel.

“Theres Elk，” Raven called out.Raven soared off， supposedly to see whoelse was approaching16. Instead， Ravencircled around and landed behind Crowshouse. Raven used his magical powers toturn himself into Elk. He hurried to Crowsfront door.

“Welcome to my potlatch， Elk！ ”

Crow welcomed Raven who pretended tobe the Elk excitedly.

“Thank you for inviting me， Crow，”

replied Raven， who was pretending to be Elk.“I cant wait to hear your beautiful voice！ ”

Raven the Elk lowered his head and enteredCrows house.

Raven flew out the back door， andchanged himself into Rabbit. He hopped17around to the front of Crows house.

“Welcome， Rabbit！ ”cried Crow excitedly.

“Thank you for inviting me！ ” saidRaven， who was pretending to be Rabbit.“Icant wait to hear you sing！ ”

And so it went. Crow stood by his frontdoor， welcoming what he thought were all theanimals in the forest. But really， each andevery animal was only Raven in disguise18.

As for Raven， when he wasnt busytricking Crow， Raven stood at the back door，welcoming all the gueststo“his”potlatch. Ravenwas a bit winded19 fromall his running about，but he found the wholeprocess enjoyable！

When all the realguests had entered through Crows backdoor， Raven dragged20 Crow away fromCrows front door， and pushed him into themiddle of the room.

“Crow is going to sing for us！ ”Ravenshouted over the noise of the party. Crowssinging received huge cheers. “One moresong， Crow，”called Raven， over and over.Crow was very happy. He sang and sang untilhis voice was hoarse21.

It was a wonderful party. Everyonelaughed and ate and cheered Crows songs.At the end of the party， each guest received apackage of food to take home.

“Thank you for inviting me to yourpotlatch，”each guest thanked Raven.

Crow felt puzzled22. He tried to tell hisguests that this was his potlatch. But Crowsvoice was gone.

That winter， as he knew he would，Raven received invitations to manypotlatches. Raven had a wonderful time，laughing and eating. At each potlatch， hereceived a package of food to take home.But no one invited Crow. After all， Crowhad never invited them to a party. Whyshould they invite him？

Poor Crow. To eat that winter， he hadto beg scraps23 of food from the People.Crow could not even tell anyone whatRaven had done. Crow had lost hisbeautiful voice forever. The only sound hecould make was a “caw24”. And that didnot help him at all.

曾幾何時，許多年前，在太平洋西北部，住著一只名叫渡鴉的神奇的鳥。渡鴉可以變身。他只需把他的喙像拉面具一樣拉過頭頂，就可以把自己變成一個人，然后再變回一只鳥。

渡鴉不斷練習(xí)，直到他能把自己變成任何動物。渡鴉可以欺騙其他動物，讓他們以為他是任何一個人。

渡鴉很聰明。他也是小偷和騙子。渡鴉用他的魅力使他的謊言聽起來像事實。信任渡鴉的動物經(jīng)常發(fā)現(xiàn)自己陷入了大麻煩。

但渡鴉并不在乎。渡鴉既聰明又自私。

一天， 渡鴉仰望天空?！岸靵砹恕！彼悬c(diǎn)驚訝地說，“ 很快就要下雪了。

我打賭松鼠現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)囤積了很多食物?！?/p>

但當(dāng)他飛過松鼠家時，松鼠朝他吼道：“走開，渡鴉。

你不準(zhǔn)偷我的食物。一個堅果也不能偷?！?/p>

渡鴉張開翅膀，騰空而去。

“熊會有食物的?！彼搿５?dāng)渡鴉來到熊的洞穴時，熊正在熟睡過冬。熊的所有食物都儲存在熊的肚子里。

渡鴉飛到一棵樹的頂端，考慮了一番。一個主意在他腦中形成了。渡鴉飛起來尋找烏鴉。烏鴉是渡鴉的表弟。

“烏鴉！”渡鴉發(fā)現(xiàn)他時喊道，“每個人都在談?wù)撃忝利惖纳ひ?！他們迫不及待地想聽你唱歌。你?yīng)該舉行一個夸富宴！”

烏鴉知道渡鴉很自私。烏鴉知道渡鴉是個小偷。他知道渡鴉經(jīng)常撒謊。同樣，他也很難抗拒渡鴉的贊美。正如渡鴉熟知的那樣，烏鴉確實有一副好嗓子。

“ 夸富宴是一場盛大的聚會！”烏鴉說，“招待客人會用掉我所有儲存過冬的食物。還有所有的做飯和打掃怎么辦？”

“我會幫你準(zhǔn)備好的！”渡鴉熱情地對他的表弟笑了笑，“哦，烏鴉。我很自豪能和你有親戚關(guān)系。每個人都想聽你唱歌！”

就在那天晚上，烏鴉和渡鴉開始做飯。第二天，當(dāng)烏鴉做飯、打掃衛(wèi)生、練習(xí)唱歌時，渡鴉飛遍了森林，邀請所有動物參加“他的”夸富宴。

“我將辦一場夸富宴?！倍渗f告訴森林里的所有動物，“在烏鴉家。到后門來。這樣，你們就不必和人群一起等著進(jìn)去了。”

烏鴉忙啊忙，做飯和打掃衛(wèi)生，而渡鴉則在森林里飛來飛去，邀請他看到的每一只動物。

終于，重要的日子到了。除了那些冬天飛向南邊過冬的動物和那些在洞穴里打盹的動物以外，大家都來到了渡鴉的夸富宴。所有動物（都來了），除了松鼠。渡鴉沒有邀請松鼠。

“駝鹿來了，”渡鴉喊道。渡鴉飛走了，據(jù)說是為了看看還有誰要來。然而，渡鴉繞了一圈，落在了烏鴉的房子后面。渡鴉用他的魔力把自己變成了駝鹿。他急忙跑到烏鴉的前門。

“歡迎來到我的夸富宴，駝鹿！”烏鴉激動地歡迎偽裝成駝鹿的渡鴉。

“謝謝你邀請我，烏鴉。”偽裝成駝鹿的渡鴉回答道，“我等不及要聽到你美麗的聲音了！”

偽裝成駝鹿的渡鴉低下頭走進(jìn)了烏鴉的家。

渡鴉從后門飛了出去，把自己變成兔子。他跳到了烏鴉家門口。

“歡迎你，兔子！”烏鴉激動地喊道。

“謝謝你邀請我！”偽裝成兔子的渡鴉說，“我等不及聽你唱歌了！”

就這樣，烏鴉站在前門，以為他迎接的是森林里的所有動物。但事實上，每一只動物都只是偽裝的渡鴉。

至于渡鴉，當(dāng)他沒有忙著欺騙烏鴉時，他就站在后門，歡迎所有客人來“他的”夸富宴。渡鴉跑來跑去有點(diǎn)氣喘吁吁，但他覺得整個過程很愉快！

當(dāng)所有真正的客人都從烏鴉的后門進(jìn)來以后，渡鴉將烏鴉從前門拽走，并將他推到房間中央。

“烏鴉要為我們唱歌了！”渡鴉在宴會的喧鬧聲中喊道。烏鴉的歌聲贏得了巨大的歡呼?！霸賮硪皇赘璋?，烏鴉?！倍渗f一遍又一遍地叫道。烏鴉非常高興，他一首接一首地唱，直到嗓子啞了。

這是一場精彩的宴會。每個人都笑著，吃著，為烏鴉的歌歡呼著。宴會結(jié)束時，每位客人都收到了一包食物帶回家。

“謝謝你邀請我參加你的夸富宴?！泵课豢腿硕紝Χ渗f表示感謝。

烏鴉感到很困惑。他試圖告訴客人這是他的夸富宴。但烏鴉說不出話來。

那年冬天，正如所料，渡鴉收到了許多宴請。渡鴉玩得很開心，一邊笑一邊吃。在每次宴會時，他都會收到一包食物帶回家。但沒有人邀請烏鴉。畢竟，烏鴉從未邀請過他們參加宴會。他們?yōu)槭裁匆埶兀?/p>

可憐的烏鴉。那年冬天，為了吃上飯，他不得不向人類討要?dú)埜ｏ?。烏鴉甚至不能告訴任何人渡鴉做了什么。烏鴉永遠(yuǎn)失去了他美妙的聲音。他唯一能發(fā)出的聲音是“呱呱”聲。而那對他一點(diǎn)幫助也沒有。

Notes

1. raven 渡鴉

2. potlatch 夸富宴；以炫耀財富為目的的公開儀式

3. shape shifter 神話；民間傳說中的變形人、變形怪

4. beak 鳥嘴；喙

5. selfish 自私的

6. bet 打賭；賭博

7. nut 堅果

8. soar 高飛；翱翔

9. cave 洞穴；山洞

10. belly 腹部；肚子

11. crow 烏鴉

12. resist 阻擋；抵抗

13. compliment 贊揚(yáng)

14. storage 儲存；貯藏

15. snooze 小睡；打盹兒

16. approach 靠近

17. hop 齊足；或雙足；跳行

18. disguise 偽裝物；偽裝

19. winded 喘氣的；通風(fēng)的；有風(fēng)的

20. drag 拖；拽

21. hoarse? 嘶啞的

22. puzzled 困惑的

23. scrap 吃剩的東西；殘羹剩飯

24. caw 鴉叫聲；呱呱叫