捕鳥人鷓鴣和公雞的寓言故事

捕鳥人鷓鴣和公雞的寓言故事

　　【捕鳥人、鷓鴣和公雞的寓言故事】

　　有一天，當捕鳥人正坐在餐桌邊吃著僅有香草和麵包的晚餐時，一個朋友不期而至。食品櫃已經空了，於是捕鳥人跑出去捉那隻馴養的鷓鴣，它可是一直被當做誘餌留下來的。就在捕鳥人要擰斷她的脖子時，鷓鴣大嘁道：“你確定要殺了我嗎？為什麼，要是沒有我，你下次捕鳥時該怎麼辦呢？你如何能吸引那些鳥兒走到你的`網裡來呢？”聽了這番話，捕鳥人就放了鷓鴣，走到雞舍那邊，準備去捉那隻胖乎平的小公雞。公雞看到自己將要成為下一個被殺的目標，也求主人饒命，並且說：“如果你殺了我，怎麼能知道夜晚的時間呢？誰能在清晨喚醒你，到時候該去幹活了呢？”然而，捕鳥人卻回答說：“我知道，你的確能告訴我時間，儘管如此，我也不能讓朋友餓著肚子去睡覺呀。”隨後，他便捉住公雞，擰斷了它的脖子。

　　【捕鳥人、鷓鴣和公雞的英文版】

　　THE FOWLER, THE PARTRIDGE, AND THE COCK

　　One day，as a Fowler was sitting down to a scanty supper of herbs and bread，a friend dropped in unexpectedly.The larder was empty；SO he went out and caught a tame Partridge，which he kept as a decoy，and was about to wring her neck when she cried，“Surely you won’t kill me?Why.what will you do without me next time you go fowling?How will you get the birds to come to your nets?”He let her go at this，and went to his hen-house，where he had a plump young Cock.When the Cock saw what he was after，he too pleaded for his life，and said，“If you kill me，how will you know the time of night?and who will wake you up in the morning when it is time to get to work?”The Fowler，however，replied，“You are useful for telling the time，I know；but，for all that，I carl’t send my friend supperless to bed.”And therewith he caught him and wrung his neck.