簡和巫師的故事

Ｏnce upon a time， a wicked wizard lost his magical powers when he recovered from a severe illness. He stole children from the villagers and made some of them his slaves.

Ｏne day， Jane， a brave village girl went to see him. \"The villagers and I have not done you any harm. Stop making us suffer，\" said Jane. \"So far， no one has come to see me. You're a brave girl，\" said the wizard. \"Alright. I'll set the children free if you succeed in doing two tasks for me.\" Jane agreed. The wizard gave Jane some grains and a teaspoon. \"Plant these grains today and have a harvest for me by tomorrow. For your second task， you must use this teaspoon to scoop up all the seawater and dry up the sea by tomorrow. Ha! Ha! You won't succeed!\" laughed the wicked wizard. Jane thought hard for a mo- ment and then looked around. She found a tiny stone and a small spade. She gave them to the wizard. \"Use this stone to build a huge store house for my harvest. Then， use this spade to dig thousands of wells for keeping the sea water which I'll be bringing to you，\" said the girl.

The wizard was greatly surprised by Jane's courage and intelligence. She had also given him work which was impossible to accomplish. \"You're indeed a brave and clever girl. You've shown me how wicked and unreasonable I've been. I'll keep my promise to you. Return home with all your village friends.\"

Jane went home happily with the children. The villagers celebrated the happy event with a party in the village. Jane became the heroine of the village.

從前有一個邪惡的巫師在一場大病后就失去了魔力。于是他從附近的村民那里偷了些孩子給他當奴隸。

村里有個叫簡的小姑娘，她很勇敢。這天，她來見巫師。她對巫師說：“我和村子里的人沒做過任何傷害你的事，你不要再傷害我們了?！蔽讕熣f：“到目前為止，還沒人敢來見我，看來你很勇敢。那好吧，如果你為我做兩件事，我就可以放回那些孩子。”簡答應了。巫師給了簡一些谷物和一把茶匙。巫師說：“第一件事，你把這些谷物種下去，明天就得收割。第二件事，在明天之前用這個茶匙把海里的水舀干。哈哈!你辦不到!”丑惡的巫師笑道。簡認真想了想，并且往四周看了看，她發現一塊小石頭和一個小鐵鍬。她把石塊和鐵鍬遞給巫師，說：“那你得用這塊石頭為我建一個用來盛谷物的倉庫，用這把鐵鍬給我挖幾千個坑，讓我盛海水。”

巫師聽了，很吃驚，他沒有想到這個小姑娘有這樣的智慧和勇氣，讓巫師做一些他也根本不可能做到的事。他對簡說：“你真是個聰明勇敢的姑娘。你讓我看到了自己是多么邪惡和昏庸。我向你保證，你可以和你村里的朋友們回家了?！?/p>

簡和被困的孩子回到了家，村民們非常高興，為此舉行了慶祝會。簡因此也成了村里的女英雄。