格林童話:Straw, Coal, and Bean麥草、煤塊和豆子

Straw, Coal, and Bean

Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm

An old woman lived in a village. She had gathered a serving of beans and wanted to cook them, so she prepared a fire in her fireplace. To make it burn faster she lit it with a handful of straw. While she was pouring the beans into the pot, one of them fell unnoticed to the floor, coming to rest next to a piece of straw. Soon afterward a glowing coal jumped out of the fireplace and landed next to them.

the straw said, "Dear friends, where do you come from?"

the coal answered, "I jumped from the fireplace, to my good fortune. If I had not forced my way out, I surely would have died. I would have burned to ash."

the bean said, "I too saved my skin. If the old woman had gotten me into the pot I would have been cooked to mush without mercy, just like my comrades."

"Would my fate have been any better?" said the straw. "The old woman sent all my brothers up in fire and smoke. She grabbed sixty at once and killed them. Fortunately I slipped through her fingers."

"What should we do now?" asked the coal.

"Because we have so fortunately escaped death," answered the bean, "I think that we should join together as comrades. To prevent some new misfortune from befalling us here, let us together make our way to another land."

This proposal pleased the other two, and they set forth all together.

they soon came to a small brook, and because there was neither a bridge nor a walkway there, they did not know how they would get across it.

then the straw had a good idea, and said, "I will lay myself across it, and you can walk across me like on a bridge."

So the straw stretched himself from one bank to the other. The coal, who was a hot-headed fellow, stepped brashly onto the newly constructed bridge, but when he got to the middle and heard the water rushing beneath him, he took fright, stopped, and did not dare to go any further. Then the straw caught fire, broke into two pieces, and fell into the brook. The coal slid after him, hissed as he fell into the water, and gave up the ghost.

the bean who had cautiously stayed behind on the bank had to laugh at the event. He could not stop, and he laughed so fiercely that he burst. Now he too would have died, but fortunately a wandering tailor was there, resting near the brook. Having a compassionate heart, he got out a needle and thread and sewed the bean back together.

the bean thanked him most kindly. However, because he had used black thread, since that time all beans have had a black seam.

一座村子裏住着一位貧窮的老太太，她摘了一盤豆子，準備煮熟了吃。她在爐子裏點上火，爲了讓爐子燒得快一點，她生爐子的時候用了一把麥草。當把豆子倒進鍋裏時，她沒有注意到一粒豆子掉了出來，落在地上的一根麥草旁。不一會兒，一塊燃燒的煤炭也從爐子中跳了出來，落在它倆的旁邊。於是，麥草開口說：「親愛的朋友們，你們從哪裏來呀？」煤塊答道：「我總算幸運地從火裏跳出來了。要是我沒有使勁跳出來，我必死無疑，一定會被燒成灰燼。」豆子說：「我也成功地逃了出來，可要是那老太太把我倒進了鍋子，我肯定會像我的夥伴們一樣，被她毫不留情地煮成濃湯。」「難道我不是不幸中之萬幸嗎？」麥草問，「那個老太太把我所有的兄弟塞進爐火裏，變成了輕煙。她一把就抓住了六十根，要了它們的命。幸好我從她的指縫裏溜掉了。」

「可我們現在怎麼辦呢？」煤塊問。

「我覺得，」豆子回答，「既然我們都幸運地死裏逃生，我們就應該像好夥伴一樣團結在一起。爲了避免在這地方再遭到厄運，我們應該離開這裏，到別的地方去。」

另外兩位都覺得這是一個好主意，於是它們便結伴而行。沒過多久，它們來到了一條小溪邊，小溪上既沒有橋，也沒有跳磴，它們不知道該怎麼過去。麥草靈機一動，說：「讓我橫躺在小溪上，你們可以像過橋一樣從我身上走過去。」麥草說着便把自己的身子從小溪的這一邊伸到了另一邊。煤塊性子比較急，立刻大着膽子走上了這座剛剛搭好的橋。可是它走到橋中間時，聽到溪水在腳下嘩嘩地流淌，不由得害怕起來，站在那裏不敢往前走。這下麥草燃了起來，斷成兩截掉進了小溪。煤塊跟着掉了下去，碰到水發出絲的一聲，就送了命。豆子一直謹慎地呆在岸上，看到這情景不由得放聲哈哈大笑。它笑呀笑，笑得裂開了自己的肚皮。它本來也許就這樣完蛋了，但幸運的是，一個外出找活幹的裁縫正好坐在小溪旁休息。這位裁縫心腸很好，取出針線把它的肚子縫在了一起。豆子好好地謝了裁縫，可由於裁縫用的是黑線，所以豆子的身上至今還留有一條黑縫。