Clang, clang, clang, went the cooking pot's single brass foot upon the floor, but now its clamour was mixed with the brays of a donkey and human groans of hunger, echoing from the depths of the pot.
哐啷、哐啷、哐啷,坩堝的獨腳在地板上跳著,但是現在它的吵鬧聲中有混雜著驢叫聲和人饑餓的呻吟聲,這些聲音是從坩堝的深處傳出來的。
“Be still. Be silent!” shrieked the wizard, but not all his magical powers could quieten the warty pot, which hopped at his heels all day, braying and groaning and clanging, no matter where he went or what he did.
“別動。安靜!”巫師尖叫道,但是不管他用什么魔法,都不能使長滿疣的坩堝安靜下來。坩堝整天跟在他的身后挑來跳去,發出驢叫聲、呻吟聲和撞擊聲,不管他去什么地方,做什么事情。
That evening there came a third knock upon the door, and there on the threshold stood a young woman sobbing as though her heart would break.
那天傍晚,門外第三次傳來敲門聲,門檻外站著一個年輕的婦人,哭得傷心欲絕。
“My baby is grievously ill,” she said. “Won't you please help us? Your father bade me come if troubled –”
“我的寶寶病得很重,”她說,“你能不能行行好幫幫我們?你父親吩咐我有難處就過來——”
But the wizard slammed the door on her.
可是巫師當著她的面把門重重地關上了。
And now the tormenting pot filled to the brim with salt water, and slopped tears all over the floor as it hopped, and brayed, and groaned, and sprouted more warts.
這一下,那口折磨人的坩堝里充滿了鹽水,它一邊蹦跳著把淚水潑濺在地上,一邊發出驢叫和呻吟,冒出更多的疣。
Though no more villagers came to seek help at the wizard's cottage for the rest of the week, the pot kept him informed of their many ills.
盡管在這個星期接下來的時間里,不再有村民到巫師家里來尋求幫助,但是坩堝仍然不停地把他們的病患告訴他。
Within a few days, it was not only braying and groaning and slopping and hopping and sprouting warts, it was also choking and retching, crying like a baby, whining like a dog, and spewing out bad cheese and sour milk and a plague of hungry slugs.
在短短的幾天里,它不僅發出驢叫和呻吟,一邊跳一邊拋灑淚水,冒出疣,而且又是咳嗽又是干嘔,像嬰兒一樣啼哭,像狗一樣哀號,還吐出變質的奶酪和發酸的牛奶,以及數不清的饑餓的鼻涕蟲。
The wizard could not sleep or eat with the pot beside him, but the pot refused to leave, and he could not silence it or force it to be still.
坩堝整天跟在巫師身邊,折騰得他吃不下睡不著??墒芹釄寰褪遣豢想x開,巫師也無法使它安靜下來,或強迫它靜止不動。
At last the wizard could bear it no more.
最后,巫師再也忍受不住了。
“Bring me all your problems, all your troubles and your woes!” he screamed, fleeing into the night, with the pot hopping behind him along the road into the village.
“把你們所有的難處、所有的苦惱、所有的悲傷都拿給我吧!”他大喊一聲,跑進了夜色中,順著道路跑進村里,坩堝一跳一跳地也跟在他的身后,
“Come! Let me cure you, mend you and comfort you!
“來吧!讓我給你們治病,幫助你們,安慰你們吧!
I have my father's cooking pot, and I shall make you well!”
我有我父親的坩堝,我會讓你們都好起來的!”
And with the foul pot still bounding along behind him, he ran up the street, casting spells in every direction.
他在街上奔跑著,把咒語射向四面八方,那令人惡心的坩堝仍然一跳一跳地跟在他身后。
Inside one house the little girl's warts vanished as she slept;
在一座房子里,那個熟睡的小姑娘身上的疣消失了;
The lost donkey was Summoned from a distant briar patch and set down softly in its stable;
那頭丟失的驢子被魔法從遠處的荊棘地里召喚回來了,悄悄地進了牲口棚;
The sick baby was doused in dittany and woke, well and rosy.
那個病中的嬰兒,身上撒了白蘚水,健康地蘇醒了,臉蛋紅撲撲的。
At every house of sickness and sorrow, the wizard did his best, and gradually the cooking pot beside him stopped groaning and retching, and became quiet, shiny and clean.
在每一戶有病痛和煩惱的人家,巫師都用盡全力去幫助他們,慢慢地,他身邊的坩堝不再呻吟、干嘔,而是變得安靜、清爽、锃光瓦亮的了。
The pot burped out the single slipper he had thrown into it, and permitted him to fit it on to the brass foot.
坩堝打了一個嗝兒,吐出了巫師扔進去的那只拖鞋,并允許巫師把它穿在那只黃銅腳上。
Together, they set off back to the wizard's house, the pot's footstep muffled at last.
巫師和坩堝一起返回家里,坩堝的腳步聲終于變得靜悄悄了。
But from that day forward, the wizard helped the villagers like his father before him, lest the pot cast off its slipper, and begin to hop once more.
從那以后,巫師像他父親生前一樣幫助村民,生怕坩堝又脫掉鞋子,再次蹦蹦跳跳。