I tre uomini di Gotham

C’è una città in Inghilterra chiamata Gotham, e si raccontano molte storie allegre sugli strani personaggi che un tempo vi abitavano.

There is a town in England called Gotham, and many merry stories are told of the queer people who used to live there.

Un giorno, due uomini di Gotham si incontrarono su un ponte. Hodge stava tornando dal mercato e Peter stava andando al mercato.

One day two men of Gotham met on a bridge. Hodge was coming from the market, and Peter was going to the market.

“Dove stai andando?” disse Hodge.

“Where are you going?” said Hodge.

“Vado al mercato a comprare delle pecore”, disse Peter.

“I am going to the market to buy sheep,” said Peter.

“Comprare pecore?” disse Hodge. “E da che parte le porterai a casa?”

“Buy sheep?” said Hodge. “And which way will you bring them home?”

“Le farò passare su questo ponte”, disse Peter.

“I shall bring them over this bridge,” said Peter.

“No, non lo farai”, disse Hodge.

“No, you shall not,” said Hodge.

“Sì, invece, lo farò”, disse Peter.

“Yes, but I will,” said Peter.

“Non lo farai”, disse Hodge.

“You shall not,” said Hodge.

“Lo farò”, disse Peter.

“I will,” said Peter.

Allora iniziarono a battere i bastoni a terra come se ci fossero state cento pecore tra loro.

Then they beat with their sticks on the ground as though there had been a hundred sheep between them.

“Attento!” gridò Peter. “Guarda che le mie pecore non saltino sul ponte.”

“Take care!” cried Peter. “Look out that my sheep don’t jump on the bridge.”

“Non mi importa dove saltano”, disse Hodge; “ma non passeranno di qui.”

“I care not where they jump,” said Hodge; “but they shall not go over it.”

“Ma passeranno”, disse Peter.

“But they shall,” said Peter.