Italian–English parallel text
La lattaia
The Milkmaid and Her Pail
Aesop
A free bilingual English–Italian edition: the Italian translation with the English original beside it, paragraph by paragraph. Read it online, or download it as a dual-language ebook.
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Una lattaia era andata a mungere le mucche e stava tornando dal campo con il secchio di latte luccicante ben bilanciato sulla testa. Mentre camminava, la sua bella testa era occupata a fare progetti per i giorni a venire.
A Milkmaid had been out to milk the cows and was returning from the field with the shining milk pail balanced nicely on her head. As she walked along, her pretty head was busy with plans for the days to come.
“Questo buon latte ricco”, rifletteva, “mi darà molta panna da zangolare. Il burro che farò lo porterò al mercato e con il denaro che ne ricaverò comprerò un sacco di uova da far covare.
“This good, rich milk,” she mused, “will give me plenty of cream to churn. The butter I make I will take to market, and with the money I get for it I will buy a lot of eggs for hatching.
Che bello sarà quando saranno tutte schiuse e il cortile sarà pieno di bei pulcini. Poi, quando arriverà il primo maggio, li venderò e con i soldi comprerò un bel vestito nuovo da indossare alla fiera. Tutti i giovanotti mi guarderanno.
How nice it will be when they are all hatched and the yard is full of fine young chicks. Then when May day comes I will sell them, and with the money I’ll buy a lovely new dress to wear to the fair. All the young men will look at me.
Verranno a corteggiarmi, ma io li manderò via molto in fretta!”
They will come and try to make love to me,--but I shall very quickly send them about their business!”
Mentre pensava a come avrebbe risolto la faccenda, scosse la testa con disprezzo e il secchio di latte cadde a terra. Tutto il latte si rovesciò e con esso svanirono il burro, le uova, i pulcini, il vestito nuovo e tutto l’orgoglio della lattaia.
As she thought of how she would settle that matter, she tossed her head scornfully, and down fell the pail of milk to the ground. And all the milk flowed out, and with it vanished butter and eggs and chicks and new dress and all the milkmaid’s pride.
Non vendere la pelle dell’orso prima di averlo preso.
Do not count your chickens before they are hatched.
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