《渔夫和他的妻子》

从前有一个渔夫，他和妻子住在大海边的一个猪圈里。

There was once a fisherman who lived with his wife in a pigsty, close by the seaside.

渔夫常常整天出去钓鱼。有一天，他拿着鱼竿坐在岸边，看着闪闪发光的波浪，盯着自己的鱼线。突然，他的浮标被深深地拖进了水里；他把鱼竿拉起来时，钓出了一条大鱼。

The fisherman used to go out all day long a-fishing; and one day, as he sat on the shore with his rod, looking at the sparkling waves and watching his line, all on a sudden his float was dragged away deep into the water: and in drawing it up he pulled out a great fish.

但是这条鱼说：“求您饶我一命！我不是一条真正的鱼，我是个被施了魔法的王子。请您把我放回水里，让我走吧！”“噢，哈！”

But the fish said, ‘Pray let me live! I am not a real fish; I am an enchanted prince: put me in the water again, and let me go!’ ‘Oh, ho!’

渔夫说，“您用不着为这事说那么多话。我可不想和一条会说话的鱼扯上关系。先生，您想游多快就请快点游走吧！”

said the man, ‘you need not make so many words about the matter; I will have nothing to do with a fish that can talk: so swim away, sir, as soon as you please!’

然后他把鱼放回了水里，鱼笔直地游向水底，在波浪后面留下了一条长长的血迹。

Then he put him back into the water, and the fish darted straight down to the bottom, and left a long streak of blood behind him on the wave.

渔夫回到猪圈里的妻子身边时，告诉妻子自己钓到了一条大鱼，鱼如何跟他说自己是个被施了魔法的王子，以及自己听到它说话后又如何把它放走了。“难道您什么都没向它要吗？”

When the fisherman went home to his wife in the pigsty, he told her how he had caught a great fish, and how it had told him it was an enchanted prince, and how, on hearing it speak, he had let it go again. ‘Did not you ask it for anything?’

妻子说，“在这个又脏又臭的猪圈里，我们过得太苦了。您快回去告诉那条鱼，我们想要一所舒服的小屋。”

said the wife, ‘we live very wretchedly here, in this nasty dirty pigsty; do go back and tell the fish we want a snug little cottage.’

渔夫不太情愿做这件事。不过，他还是去了海边；当他回到那里时，海水看起来全是又黄又绿的。他站在水边说：

The fisherman did not much like the business: however, he went to the seashore; and when he came back there the water looked all yellow and green. And he stood at the water’s edge, and said:

“大海里的人啊！请听我说！我的妻子伊尔瑟比尔，一定要依着她自己的心意，派我来向您求个恩惠！”

‘O man of the sea! Hearken to me! My wife Ilsabill Will have her own will, And hath sent me to beg a boon of thee!’

这时那条鱼游向他，说：“好吧，她的心意是什么？你妻子想要什么？”“唉！”

Then the fish came swimming to him, and said, ‘Well, what is her will? What does your wife want?’ ‘Ah!’

渔夫说，“她说，我抓住您的时候，在放您走之前应该向您要点东西。她不想再住在猪圈里了，想要一所舒服的小屋。”

said the fisherman, ‘she says that when I had caught you, I ought to have asked you for something before I let you go; she does not like living any longer in the pigsty, and wants a snug little cottage.’

“那就回家去吧，”鱼说，“她已经在小屋里了！”于是渔夫回了家，看见妻子正站在一所漂亮整洁的小屋门前。“快进来，快进来！”她说，“这难道不比我们原来的脏猪圈好得多吗？”

‘Go home, then,’ said the fish; ‘she is in the cottage already!’ So the man went home, and saw his wife standing at the door of a nice trim little cottage. ‘Come in, come in!’ said she; ‘is not this much better than the filthy pigsty we had?’

屋里有一间客厅、一间卧室和一间厨房；小屋后面有一个小花园，种着各种各样的花草和果树；后面还有一个院子，里面满是鸭子和鸡。“啊！”

And there was a parlour, and a bedchamber, and a kitchen; and behind the cottage there was a little garden, planted with all sorts of flowers and fruits; and there was a courtyard behind, full of ducks and chickens. ‘Ah!’

渔夫说，“现在我们能生活得多幸福啊！”“我们至少会尽量过得幸福的，”他的妻子说。

said the fisherman, ‘how happily we shall live now!’ ‘We will try to do so, at least,’ said his wife.