Why the Sea is Salt

Once on a time, but it was a long, long time ago, there were two brothers, one rich and one poor. Now, one Christmas eve, the poor one hadn’t so much as a crumb in the house, either of meat or bread, so he went to his brother to ask him for something to keep Christmas with, in God’s name. It was not the first time his brother had been forced to help him, and you may fancy he wasn’t very glad to see his face, but he said:

从前有一次，那是很久很久以前的事了，有兄弟两个，一个富有，一个贫穷。有一年圣诞节前夕，这个穷弟弟家里连一丁点肉屑或面包屑都没有了，于是他便去找哥哥，看在上帝的份上，求他给点东西好过个圣诞节。这已经不是他第一次被逼得向哥哥求助了，你可以想见，哥哥见了他的面并不怎么高兴，可他还是说道：

“If you will do what I ask you to do, I’ll give you a whole flitch of bacon.”

“你要是肯照我说的做，我就给你一整块腌猪肉。”

So the poor brother said he would do anything, and was full of thanks.

穷弟弟便说他愿意做任何事，感激不尽。

“Well, here is the flitch”, said the rich brother, “and now go straight to Hell.”

“好，这是那块腌肉，”富哥哥说道，“现在你就一路直奔地狱去吧。”

“What I have given my word to do, I must stick to”, said the other; so he took the flitch and set off. He walked the whole day, and at dusk he came to a place where he saw a very bright light.

“我既然答应了要做的事，就得说到做到，”弟弟说道；于是他拿起那块腌肉便动身了。他走了整整一天，到了黄昏时分，来到一个地方，看见那里有一处十分明亮的灯光。

“Maybe this is the place”, said the man to himself. So he turned aside, and the first thing he saw was an old, old man, with a long white beard, who stood in an outhouse, hewing wood for the Christmas fire.

“说不定就是这儿了，”这人自言自语道。于是他拐了过去，第一眼看见的，是一个白发苍苍的老人，留着长长的白胡子，正站在一间外屋里，为圣诞的炉火劈着柴。

“Good even”, said the man with the flitch.

“晚上好，”提着腌肉的这人说道。

“The same to you; whither are you going so late?” said the man.

“你也晚上好；这么晚了你要去哪儿呀？”那老人说道。

“Oh! I’m going to Hell, if I only knew the right way”, answered the poor man.

“哦！我要去地狱，只是不知道该走哪条路才对，”这穷人答道。

“Well, you’re not far wrong, for this is Hell”, said the old man; “when you get inside they will be all for buying your flitch, for meat is scarce in Hell; but mind, you don’t sell it unless you get the hand-quern which stands behind the door for it. When you come out, I’ll teach you how to handle the quern, for it’s good to grind almost anything.”

“这么说来，你倒也没走错多少，因为这里就是地狱，”老人说道；“你进去以后，他们个个都会抢着要买你这块腌肉，因为地狱里肉可稀罕得很；不过你可要留神，除非他们肯用门后那台手推磨来换，你可千万别把肉卖给他们。等你出来了，我再教你怎么使唤这台磨，因为它几乎什么东西都能磨。”

So the man with the flitch thanked the other for his good advice, and gave a great knock at the Devil’s door.

于是这个提着腌肉的人谢过老人这番好心的指点，便重重地敲响了魔鬼的门。

When he got in, everything went just as the old man had said. All the devils, great and small, came swarming up to him like ants round an anthill, and each tried to outbid the other for the flitch.

他一进去，一切都正如老人所说的那样。大大小小的魔鬼都蜂拥而来，像蚂蚁围着蚁穴一样围住了他，个个都争着出高价要买这块腌肉。

“Well!” said the man, “by rights my old dame and I ought to have this flitch for our Christmas dinner; but since you have all set your hearts on it, I suppose I must give it up to you; but if I sell it at all, I’ll have for it that quern behind the door yonder.”

“好啦！”这人说道，“照理说，我和我老伴该拿这块腌肉当圣诞晚餐才是；可既然你们都这么一门心思想要它，我想我也只好割爱了；不过我要是真卖了它，我只要那边门后的那台磨。”

At first the Devil wouldn’t hear of such a bargain, and chaffered and haggled with the man; but he stuck to what he said, and at last the Devil had to part with his quern. When the man got out into the yard, he asked the old woodcutter how he was to handle the quern; and after he had learned how to use it, he thanked the old man and went off home as fast as he could, but still the clock had struck twelve on Christmas eve before he reached his own door.

魔鬼起初根本不肯答应这样的交易，跟这人讨价还价了老半天；可这人一口咬定不松口，最后魔鬼只得忍痛割爱，把磨给了他。这人走到院子里，便问那位砍柴的老人该怎么使唤这台磨；学会用法之后，他谢过老人，便尽快赶路回家了，可等他到家门口时，圣诞前夜的钟已经敲过了十二下。

“Wherever in the world have you been?” said his old dame, “here have I sat hour after hour waiting and watching, without so much as two sticks to lay together under the Christmas brose.”

“你到底跑到哪儿去了呀？”他老伴说道，“我在这儿一个钟头又一个钟头地坐着，等呀盼呀，圣诞粥底下连两根柴火都凑不齐。”

“Oh!” said the man, “I couldn’t get back before, for I had to go a long way first for one thing, and then for another; but now you shall see what you shall see.”

“哦！”这人说道，“我没法早点回来，因为我先得赶老远的路办这件事，又得赶老远的路办那件事；可现在，你就等着看好戏吧。”

So he put the quern on the table, and bade it first of all grind lights, then a table-cloth, then meat, then ale, and so on till they had got everything that was nice for Christmas fare. He had only to speak the word, and the quern ground out what he wanted. The old dame stood by blessing her stars, and kept on asking where he had got this wonderful quern, but he wouldn’t tell her.

于是他把磨放到桌上，先叫它磨出灯光，接着磨出一块桌布，再磨出肉，再磨出麦酒，就这样一样一样地磨，直到把圣诞节该有的美味都凑齐了。他只需说一声，这台磨就能磨出他想要的东西。老伴站在一旁，直呼幸运，不停地追问他这台神奇的磨到底是从哪儿弄来的，可他就是不肯说。

“It’s all one where I got it from; you see the quern is a good one, and the mill-stream never freezes, that’s enough.”

“我从哪儿弄来的都无所谓；你瞧，这磨是台好磨，那磨坊的水流永远不结冰，这就够了。”

So he ground meat and drink and dainties enough to last out till Twelfth Day, and on the third day he asked all his friends and kin to his house, and gave a great feast. Now, when his rich brother saw all that was on the table, and all that was behind in the larder, he grew quite spiteful and wild, for he couldn’t bear that his brother should have anything.

于是他磨出了足够吃到主显节的肉食、酒水和各种美味，到了第三天，他还请来所有的亲朋好友到家里做客，摆了一场盛大的宴席。这时，他那位富哥哥看见桌上摆着的这一切，还有储藏室里堆着的那些东西，顿时又嫉妒又恼火，怎么也咽不下这口气，见不得弟弟过得比自己好。

“’Twas only on Christmas eve”, he said to the rest, “he was in such straits, that he came and asked for a morsel of food in God’s name, and now he gives a feast as if he were count or king”; and he turned to his brother and said:

“就在圣诞节前夕，”他对其他人说道，“他还穷得走投无路，跑来求我看在上帝的份上给他点吃的，如今他倒摆起宴席来了，摆得跟伯爵还是国王似的。”说完他便转身对弟弟说道：

“But whence, in Hell’s name, have you got all this wealth?”

“可你究竟是从哪儿弄来这么大一笔家当的，看在地狱的份上？”

“From behind the door”, answered the owner of the quern, for he didn’t care to let the cat out of the bag. But later on the evening, when he had got a drop too much, he could keep his secret no longer, and brought out the quern and said:

“从门后弄来的，”这台磨的主人答道，因为他并不想把秘密泄露出去。可到了晚些时候，他多喝了几杯，再也守不住这个秘密了，便把那台磨拿了出来，说道：

“There, you see what has gotten me all this wealth”; and so he made the quern grind all kind of things. When his brother saw it, he set his heart on having the quern, and, after a deal of coaxing, he got it; but he had to pay three hundred dollars for it, and his brother bargained to keep it till hay-harvest, for he thought, if I keep it till then, I can make it grind meat and drink that will last for years. So you may fancy the quern didn’t grow rusty for want of work, and when hay-harvest came, the rich brother got it, but the other took care not to teach him how to handle it.

“瞧，你看，就是这个让我发了这么大一笔财。”说着便让这台磨磨出各种各样的东西来。哥哥一见这磨，便一心想据为己有，磨了半天嘴皮子，终于弄到了手；可他为此付了三百块钱，弟弟还跟他讲好，磨要留到割草季节才能给他，因为他心想，我留着它留到那时候，就能磨出够我吃喝好几年的东西来。你可以想见，这台磨可从没闲着生锈过；到了割草季节，富哥哥便把磨拿到手了，可弟弟却存心没教他该怎么使唤它。

It was evening when the rich brother got the quern home, and next morning he told his wife to go out into the hay-field and toss, while the mowers cut the grass, and he would stay at home and get the dinner ready. So, when dinner-time drew near, he put the quern on the kitchen table and said:

富哥哥把磨搬回家时已是傍晚，第二天早晨他便叫妻子到干草地里去，趁割草人割草的时候翻晒干草，自己则留在家里准备午饭。于是等到了快开饭的时候，他便把这台磨放到厨房的桌子上，说道：

“Grind herrings and broth, and grind them good and fast.”

“磨鲱鱼和肉汤吧，磨得又好又快。”

So the quern began to grind herrings and broth; first of all, all the dishes full, then all the tubs full, and so on till the kitchen floor was quite covered. Then the man twisted and twirled at the quern to get it to stop, but for all his twisting and fingering the quern went on grinding, and in a little while the broth rose so high that the man was like to drown.

于是这台磨便开始磨起鲱鱼和肉汤来；先是磨满了所有的盘子，接着又磨满了所有的木桶，就这样一直磨到厨房的地板上都铺满了。这时这人扭着这磨、转着这磨，想让它停下来，可不管他怎么扭动、怎么摆弄，这磨还是一个劲儿地磨着，没过多久，肉汤竟涨得那么高，这人眼看就要被淹死了。

So he threw open the kitchen door and ran into the parlour, but it wasn’t long before the quern had ground the parlour full too, and it was only at the risk of his life that the man could get hold of the latch of the house door through the stream of broth. When he got the door open, he ran out and set off down the road, with the stream of herrings and broth at his heels, roaring like a waterfall over the whole farm.

于是他一把推开厨房的门，跑进了客厅，可没过多久，这磨也把客厅磨满了，这人只得冒着生命危险，才从这股肉汤的洪流中摸到了大门的门闩。他一打开门，便冲了出去，沿着大路狂奔而去，那股鲱鱼和肉汤的洪流则紧跟在他脚后，像瀑布一样咆哮着，漫过了整个农场。

Now, his old dame, who was in the field tossing hay, thought it a long time to dinner, and at last she said:

这时，他那正在地里翻晒干草的老伴，觉得这顿午饭等得未免太久了，终于说道：

“Well! though the master doesn’t call us home, we may as well go. Maybe he finds it hard work to boil the broth, and will be glad of my help.”

“好啦！虽说当家的没喊我们回去，咱们还是回去看看吧。说不定他煮这肉汤煮得费劲，正巴不得我去帮把手呢。”

The men were willing enough, so they sauntered homewards; but just as they had got a little way up the hill, what should they meet but herrings, and broth, and bread, all running and dashing, and splashing together in a stream, and the master himself running before them for his life, and as he passed them he bawled out:

那些帮工也都乐意，于是他们便慢悠悠地朝家走去；可他们刚走上山坡没多远，迎面便撞见了鲱鱼、肉汤和面包，全都汇成一股洪流，奔腾着、飞溅着一齐冲了过来，那位当家的更是在最前头没命地奔逃，他从他们身边跑过时，扯着嗓子喊道：

“Would to heaven each of you had a hundred throats! but take care you’re not drowned in the broth.”

“但愿你们个个都长上一百个喉咙才好！不过你们可得当心，别叫这肉汤给淹死了。”

Away he went, as though the Evil One were at his heels, to his brother’s house, and begged him for God’s sake to take back the quern that instant; for, said he:

他就这样一路狂奔，仿佛恶魔就在他脚后跟一般，直奔弟弟家去，苦苦哀求弟弟看在上帝的份上，立刻把这台磨收回去；因为他说：

“If it grinds only one hour more, the whole parish will be swallowed up by herrings and broth.”

“它要是再多磨一个钟头，整个教区都要被鲱鱼和肉汤给淹没了。”

But his brother wouldn’t hear of taking it back till the other paid him down three hundred dollars more.

可弟弟说什么也不肯把磨收回去，除非哥哥再付给他三百块钱。

So the poor brother got both the money and the quern, and it wasn’t long before he set up a farm-house far finer than the one in which his brother lived, and with the quern he ground so much gold that he covered it with plates of gold; and as the farm lay by the sea-side, the golden house gleamed and glistened far away over the sea. All who sailed by put ashore to see the rich man in the golden house, and to see the wonderful quern, the fame of which spread far and wide, till there was nobody who hadn’t heard tell of it.

于是这穷弟弟不但拿回了钱，还得到了这台磨，没过多久，他便盖起了一座远比哥哥住的那栋还要气派的农舍；他还用这台磨磨出了大量的黄金，把整座房子都镶上了金箔；由于这座农场就坐落在海边，这栋金光闪闪的房子远远地在海面上熠熠生辉。凡是航海经过的人，都要靠岸来看看这位住在金屋里的富人，看看这台神奇的磨，它的名声传得又远又广，到后来竟没有谁没听说过这件事。

So one day there came a skipper who wanted to see the quern; and the first thing he asked was if it could grind salt.

于是有一天，来了一位船长，想要看看这台磨；他一开口便问，这磨能不能磨出盐来。

“Grind salt!” said the owner; “I should just think it could. It can grind anything.”

“磨盐！”磨的主人说道，“那还用说。它什么都能磨。”

When the skipper heard that, he said he must have the quern, cost what it would; for if he only had it, he thought he should be rid of his long voyages across stormy seas for a lading of salt. Well, at first the man wouldn’t hear of parting with the quern; but the skipper begged and prayed so hard, that at last he let him have it, but he had to pay many, many thousand dollars for it.

船长一听这话，便说不管花多少钱，他也非要弄到这台磨不可；因为他心想，只要有了这台磨，他就再也不用为了运一船盐，一趟趟地在惊涛骇浪的海面上远航了。起初这人怎么也不肯割爱这台磨；可船长苦苦央求，最终他还是让了步，只是船长为此付出了好几千块钱。

Now, when the skipper had got the quern on his back, he soon made off with it, for he was afraid lest the man should change his mind; so he had no time to ask how to handle the quern, but got on board his ship as fast as he could, and set sail. When he had sailed a good way off, he brought the quern on deck and said:

船长一把磨扛到背上，便赶紧带着它溜走了，因为他生怕这人反悔；因此他没来得及问该怎么使唤这台磨，便匆匆忙忙地上了船，扬帆起航了。等船开出老远之后，他便把磨搬到甲板上，说道：

“Grind salt, and grind both good and fast.”

“磨盐吧，磨得又好又快。”

Well, the quern began to grind salt so that it poured out like water; and when the skipper had got the ship full, he wished to stop the quern, but whichever way he turned it, and however much he tried, it was no good; the quern kept grinding on, and the heap of salt grew higher and higher, and at last down sank the ship.

好嘛，这台磨便开始磨起盐来，磨得像水一样哗哗直流；等船长把整艘船都装满了，他便想让磨停下来，可不管他怎么转它，怎么费力气，都没有用；这磨只管一个劲儿地磨着，那盐堆也越堆越高，最后这艘船便沉了下去。

There lies the quern at the bottom of the sea, and grinds away at this very day, and that’s why the sea is salt.

那台磨如今就躺在海底，直到今天还在不停地磨着，这就是为什么海水是咸的缘故。