大小克劳斯

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There lived two men in one village, and they had the same name--each was called Claus; but one had four horses, and the other only a single horse. To distinguish them from each other, folks called him who had four horses Great Claus, and the one who had only a single horse Little Claus. Now we shall hear what happened to each of them, for this is a true story.

The whole week through, Little Claus was obliged to plough for Great Claus, and to lend him his one horse; then Great Claus helped him out with all his four, but only once a week, and that was on Sunday. Hurrah! How Little Claus smacked his whip over all five horses, for they were as good as his own on that one day. The sun shone gaily, and all the bells in the steeples were ringing; the people were all dressed in their best, and were going to church, with their hymn-books under their arms, to hear the clergyman preach, and they saw Little Claus ploughing with five horses; but he was so merry that he smacked his whip again and again, and cried, "Gee up, all my five!"

"You must not talk so," said Great Claus, "for only one horse is yours."

But when any one passed Little Claus forgot that he was not to say this, and he cried, "Gee up, all my horses!"

"Now, I must beg of you to stop that," cried Great Claus,"for if you say it again, I shall hit your horse on the head, so that it will fall down dead, and then it will be all over with him."

"I will certainly not say it any more," said Little Claus.

But when people came by soon afterwards, and nodded"good day" to him, he became very glad, and thought it looked very well, after all, that he had five horses to plough his field; and so he smacked his whip again, and cried, "Gee up, all my horses!"

"I'll 'gee up' your horses!" said Great Claus. And he took a mallet and hit the only horse of Little Claus on the head, so that it fell down, and was dead immediately.

"Oh, now I haven' t any horse at all!" said Little Claus, and began to cry.

Then he flayed the horse, and let the hide dry in the wind, and put it in a sack and hung it over his shoulder, and went to the town to sell his horse's skin.

He had a very long way to go, and was obliged to pass through a great dark wood, and the weather became dreadfully bad. He went quite astray, and before he got into the right way again it was evening, and it was too far to get home again or even to the town before nightfall.

Close by the road stood a large farm-house. The shutters were closed outside the windows, but the light could still be seen shining out over them.

"I may be able to get leave to stop here through the night," thought Little Claus; and he went and knocked.

The farmer's wife opened the door; but when she heard what he wanted she told him to go away, declaring that her husband was not at home, and she would not receive strangers.

"Then I shall have to lie outside," said Little Claus. And the farmer's wife shut the door in his face.

Close by stood a great haystack, and between this and the farm-house was a little outhouse thatched with straw.

"Up there I can lie," said Little Claus, when he looked up at the roof, "that is a capital bed. I suppose the stork won't fly down and bite me in the legs." For a living stork was standing on the roof, where he had his nest.

Now Little Claus climbed up to the roof of the shed, where he lay, and turned round to settle himself comfortably. The wooden shutters did not cover the windows at the top, and he could look straight into the room. There was a great table, with the cloth laid, and wine and roast meat and a glorious fish upon it. The farmer' s wife and the parish-clerk were seated at table, and nobody besides. She was filling his glass, and he was digging his fork into the fish, for that was his favourite dish.

"If one could only get some too!" thought Little Claus, as he stretched out his head towards the window. Heavens! What a glorious cake he saw standing there! Yes, certainly, that was a feast.

Now he heard some one riding along the high road. It was the woman's husband, who was coming home. He was a good man enough, but he had the strange peculiarity that he could never bear to see a clerk. If a clerk appeared before his eyes he became quite wild. And that was the reason why the clerk had gone to the wife to wish her good day, because he knew that her husband was not at home; and the good woman therefore put the best fare she had before him. But when they heard the man coming they were frightened, and the woman begged the clerk to creep into a great empty chest which stood in the corner; and he did so, for he knew the husband could not bear the sight of a clerk. The woman quickly hid all the excellent meat and wine in her baking-oven; for if the man had seen that, he would have been certain to ask what it meant.

"Oh, dear!" sighed Little Claus, up in his shed, when he saw all the good fare put away.

"Is there any one up there?" asked the farmer; and he looked up at Little Claus. "Why are you lying there? Better come with me into the room."(to be continued)

一个村子里住着两个人,他们同名,都叫克劳斯。不过其中一人有四匹马,另一个只有一匹马。为了把他俩区别开来,大家把那个有四匹马的叫作大克劳斯,把那个有一匹马的叫作小克劳斯。现在我们来听听他们每人都发生了什么事,这可是真事呀。

整整一星期,小克劳斯都得给大克劳斯干活,还把自己的那匹马借给他用。然后大克劳斯用四匹马帮小克劳斯干活,但一星期只干一天,而且是在星期天。哇!小克劳斯甩鞭子赶五匹马多来劲呀!当天他就把那些马当成自己的了。太阳暖洋洋地照着,教堂尖塔上所有的钟都响了起来。人们穿上最好的衣服,去教堂听牧师布道,腋下夹着赞美诗集。他们看见小克劳斯用五匹马耕地。小克劳斯高兴得不得了,他不停地在甩鞭子,吆喝道:“加油,我的五匹马儿!”

“你可不能这么说,”大克劳斯说:“因为只有一匹马是属于你的。”

但一有人路过的时候,小克劳斯就忘了自己不能说那种话,还是喊“加油,我的五匹马儿!”

“现在,我必须命令你别这么喊,”大克劳斯说:“如果你再敢这么喊,我就要砸你的马头,它就会倒下死掉,那你可就完了。”

“我绝对不再说了。”小克劳斯说。

但是不久,当有人路过,对他点头说“今儿好”的时候,他又大喜,感觉相当不错,因为自己毕竟有五匹马耕地呀!他又挥起了自己的鞭子,大声吆喝:“加油,我的五匹马儿!”

“我这就给你的马‘加油’!”大克劳斯说。他操起一个大木槌,正打在小克劳斯的那匹马的头上。马儿应声倒地,马上就死了。

小克劳斯说:“唉,我现在一匹马也没了。”于是他放声大哭起来。

然后他剥掉马皮,把马皮在风中晾干后,塞进一个袋子,朝背上一甩,就进城去卖马皮了。

他得走很远的路,而且必须经过一个黑森林。天气变得很糟糕,他迷路了。他还没有找到路,天就黑了下来。要想在天黑透以前再回到家,或是到附近的城镇,都已经太晚了。

好在路边有一个农家大院,挂在窗户外面的百叶窗已经垂了下来,但从百叶窗上方仍然可以看见里面的光亮。

小克劳斯想:“我大概可以在这儿过夜吧。”于是他走过去敲门。

农民的妻子开了门。但当她听出他的意图后,就让他走开,说自己的丈夫不在家,所以不能接待陌生人。

“那我只能在外面露宿了。”小克劳斯说。农民的妻子当着他的面砰地把门关上了。

附近正好有个大草垛,草垛和农家之间有一个盖着稻草的小平房。

小克劳斯看到那个草屋顶,说:“我可以躺在那个顶上,那倒是个极好的床。我估计那只鹳不会飞过来啄我的腿吧。”原来有一只鹳站在屋顶上,它在那儿做了个窝。

于是小克劳斯爬到那个小屋顶上,躺了下来。他转了转身,想躺得更舒服点。那个木质百叶窗没有盖住窗户的最上边儿,他一眼就可以看进房间里。里面有一张大桌子,铺着桌布,摆上了酒、烤肉和一条大鱼。农民的妻子和这个教区的牧师一起坐在桌边,没有其他人在场。农民的妻子给牧师倒满一杯酒,牧师正用叉子叉鱼吃,因为那是他喜爱的美食。

小克劳斯想:“我要能吃点就好了。”他冲着窗户伸直了脖子。天哪,那块蛋糕可真棒啊!确实,那是一桌丰盛的大餐。

这时他听见有人骑马顺着公路过来了。原来这是那个妇女的丈夫,他正往家里赶呢。他是一个大好人,但他有个怪癖,就是看不得牧师。如果一个牧师出现在他面前,他就会勃然大怒。因此牧师晚上来见他妻子,向她问好,他知道她的丈夫不在家。这个好女人呢,把家里所有好吃的都端上来了。当他们听见农民回来了,大惊失色,那个女人请求牧师爬进一个大空箱子去,箱子就在墙角。牧师就照办了,他知道那个丈夫受不了牧师。女人赶紧把所有的酒肉都藏进自己的烤炉里,因为要是丈夫看见了,他肯定得问做这么多好吃的是什么意思。

“噢!太可惜了。”小克劳斯叹道。他在屋顶上看到的美味都被拿走了。

“那上面有人吗?”农民问。他抬起头,看到了小克劳斯。“你躺在那上面干什么?最好还是跟我一起进屋吧。”

(未完待续)