How the First Dishes Were Made
餐具的由來
Torad, the Cave-Boy
特拉德——洞穴男孩
A long, long time ago, there lived a little boy named Torad.
很久很久以前,這里住著一個叫特拉德的小男孩。
In those days there were no houses like ours, and Torad lived in a cave with his family.
那時這里沒有和我們一樣的房子,特拉德與他的家人住在洞穴里。
They sat and slept on the floor of the cave, for they had no chairs or beds.
他們在洞穴的地上坐著或睡覺,因為他們沒有椅子或床,
And no one knew what dishes were.
也沒有人知道餐具是什么。
Torad liked to run and play with the other children.
特拉德喜歡與其他孩子一起跑著玩。
But best of all, he liked to play with the soft, yellow mud which he found along the bank of the river.
但他最喜歡的是玩他在河岸發現的軟黃泥。
Sometimes he would sit for hours making mud balls, rolling them on a flat stone until they were round and smooth.
他有時會坐幾個小時制作泥球,將它們放在平坦的石頭上滾,直到它們變圓變光滑為止。
One day Torad was playing with a big mud ball.
一天,特拉德正在玩一個大泥球。
He took a sharp stick and dug a round hole in the ball. This made it look like a small round bowl.
他拿一個尖尖的木棍在球上挖了一個圓洞,使它看起來像一個小圓碗。
Torad thought it looked like one of the large nut shells which his mother used to carry water from the river.
特拉德認為它像一個大堅果殼,是他媽媽從河里取水用得。
He was just going to show the bowl to his mother when he heard his playmates calling him.
他正想把碗給他媽媽看時,聽到玩伴叫他了。
So he ran away to play and forgot all about the mud bowl.
于是他跑去玩了,完全忘了泥碗的事。
The next day, when Torad went to get the bowl, he found it dry and hard.
第二天,當他去取碗時,發現它變干變硬了。
"Mother might use this for carrying water instead of a nut shell," he said.
“媽媽可能會用它代替堅果殼取水,”他說。
So he took the bowl to his mother.
于是他把碗拿給了他媽媽。
When Torad's mother saw the bowl, she did not know what it was.
他媽媽看到碗時,不知道這是什么。
She held it in her hands and looked at it.
她拿在手里看了看。
"Where did you find this?" she asked.
“你從哪兒找到的?”她問。
Torad smiled. "I made it myself," he said. "I made it out of mud. I thought you might carry water in it."
特拉德笑了,說:“我自己做得。我用泥做得,我想你可以用它取水。”
Torad's mother was pleased. "We will see," she said.
他的媽媽很高興。“我們試試,”她說,
"Bring me some fresh, cool water from the river. I want a drink."
“給我從河里取點兒新鮮的涼水來。我想喝。”
Torad ran to the river and came back to the cave with the bowl full of water.
特拉德跑去河邊,端著滿滿一碗水回到了洞里。
But when his mother took the bowl, she saw that the water was muddy.
但他媽媽拿碗時,看到水是渾的。
"Why do you bring me muddy water?" she asked. "I cannot drink it."
“你為什么給我帶渾水?”她問,“我喝不了。”
Torad was surprised. "It was clean when I got it from the river." he said.
特拉德很驚奇,他說:“我從河里取水時,它還是干凈的。”
"We cannot carry water in this thing,"said his mother.
“我們不能用這個東西取水,”他媽媽說,
"It is made of mud, and will always make the water muddy. We had better throw it away."
“它是用泥做得,總是把水弄渾。我們最好扔了它。”
She threw the bowl into the fire.
她把碗扔到了火里。
Poor Torad! He was sorry to see his bowl in the fire.
可憐的特拉德!他看到碗在火里感覺很難過。
But the fire was so hot that he could not get the bowl out. So he ran away to play.
但火很熱,他拿不出碗。于是他跑去玩了。
The Beautiful Red Bowl
漂亮的紅碗
When Torad came back to the cave, the fire had burned down.
特拉德回到洞穴時,火已經熄滅了。
He raked his bowl out with a long stick.
他用長棍把碗耙出來。
As soon as the bowl was cool enough, Torad took it up in his hands and looked at it.
碗一冷卻,他就把它拿在手里看。
He was surprised to see that it was not the same color. It had changed from yellow to a bright red.
他看到碗變色了感覺很驚奇。它從黃色變成了亮紅色。
Then Torad saw that a piece of the bowl had been broken off.
特拉德隨后看到碗碎了一塊。
"I will hold the bowl in the water until it is soft," he said. "Then I will stick the broken piece on again."
“我要把它放到水里,直到它變軟為止,”他說,“然后我再把碎片粘上。”
Torad took the red bowl to the river and held it under the water for a while.
特拉德帶著紅碗到河里,拿著它在水里放了一會兒。
Then he let some water stand in it for a long time. But the bowl did not get soft.
然后在它里面放了水待了很長時間。但碗沒有變軟。
This seemed very strange toTorad.
這對特拉德來說很奇怪。
When he saw that the water did not get muddy, he was happy.
當他看到水沒有變渾時很高興。
Now he knew how to make a bowl that his mother would like better than any nut shell.
現在他知道如何制作碗了,他媽媽會喜歡它超過任何堅果殼。
So he got some more mud.
于是他多拿了些泥。
He made a larger bowl this time, taking great care to make it round and smooth.
他這次做個大點兒的碗,非常小心地使它圓潤光滑。
Then he left it on a stone until it was dry.
然后把它留在石頭上變干。
That night, when everyone was asleep, Torad put his new bowl into the fire.
當天晚上,所有人都睡去時,他把新碗放進火里。
Next morning he raked it out of the fire.
第二天早上,他把它從火里耙出來。
The new bowl was not broken, and had the same red color as the first one.
新碗沒有破,和第一個碗一樣紅。
He carried it to the river and filled it with water. Then he took it to the cave.
他拿著它到河邊裝滿水。然后帶著它回到洞里。
"Look, mother!" he cried. "This bowl does not make the water muddy."
“快看,媽媽!”他叫道,“這個碗不會讓水變渾了。”
Many people came to see the bowl.
許多人都來看碗。
Soon Torad was busy teaching others how to make bowls like his and how to bake them in the fire.
不久,特拉德就忙著教其他人制作他這樣的碗,以及如何在火里烘烤它。
So people began to make bowls, big ones and little ones, deep ones and flat ones.
于是人們開始制作碗,大的小的,深的淺的都有。
These were used for eating and drinking, and they were the first dishes.
這些碗被用于吃飯喝水,它們是第一波餐具。