聰明的老奶奶

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(gè)由美麗的女王統(tǒng)治的國家里，住著一位老奶奶。她有四個(gè)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?yàn)樗Ｍ麄兛梢韵褚粋€(gè)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(xué)會(huì)和睦相處，就把他們都趕出去，她還對(duì)兒子和媳婦們說，為了省錢，他們只能共用一個(gè)廚房。她希望這樣可以讓媳婦們學(xué)會(huì)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(yùn)氣不好，沒找到。他在回家的路上看到一條死蛇，他傷心地?fù)炝似饋?，好歹拿點(diǎn)東西回去給母親。老奶奶問他要當(dāng)天收入時(shí)，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(gè)美麗的池塘洗澡。她把貴重的鉆石項(xiàng)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(xiàng)鏈吸引了，它飛撲下來用爪子緊緊抓住項(xiàng)鏈，然后飛走了。侍女們高聲尖叫，但也無補(bǔ)于事。女王很傷心，她下令找到丟失項(xiàng)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(huì)兒后，看到了老奶奶房頂上的死蛇。想到蛇可以吃，而項(xiàng)鏈不能吃，它就把項(xiàng)鏈放在那兒，把蛇叼走了?！?br>