The Wolf and the Seven Little Goats
There was once an old goat who had seven little ones, andwas as fond of them as ever mother was of her children. One day she had to gointo the wood to fetch food for them, so she called them all round her.
“Dear children, ”saidshe,“I am going out into the wood; andwhile I am gone, be on your guard against the wolf, for when he were once toget inside he would eat you up, skin, bones, and all. The wretch oftendisguises himself, but he may always be known by his hoarse voice and blackpaws. ”
“Dear mother, ”answeredthe kids, “you need not be afraid, wewill take good care of ourselves.” Andthe mother bleated good-bye, and went on her way with an easy mind.
It was not long before someone came knocking at the housedoor, and crying out,
“Open the door, my dearchildren, your mother has come back, and has brought each of you something. ”
But the little kids knew it was the wolf by the hoarsevoice.
“We will not open the door,”cried they; “you are not our mother; shehas a delicate and sweet voice, and your voice is hoarse; you must be thewolf. ”
Then off went the wolf to a shop and bought a big lump ofchalk, and ate it up to make his voice soft. And then he came back, knocked atthe house door, and cried,
“Open the door, my dearchildren, your mother is here, and has brought each of you something. ”
But the wolf had put up his black paws against the window,and the kids, seeing this, cried out,
“We will not open the door;our mother has no black paws like you; you must be the wolf. ”
The wolf then ran to a baker.
“Baker, ”saidhe, “I am hurt in the foot; pray spreadsome dough over the place. ”
And when the baker had plastered his feet, he ran to themiller.
“Miller,”saidhe, “strew me some white meal over mypaws. ”But the miller refused, thinkingthe wolf must be meaning harm to someone.
“If you don't do it,”cried the wolf, “I'll eat you up!”
And the miller was afraid and did as he was told. And thatjust shows what men are.
And now came the rogue the third time to the door andknocked. “Open, children!”criedhe. “Your dear mother has come home, andbrought you each something from the wood. ”
“First show us your paws,”said the kids, “so that we may know ifyou are really our mother or not. ”
And he put up his paws against the window, and when theysaw that they were white, all seemed right, and they opened the door; and whenhe was inside they saw it was the wolf, and they were terrified and tried tohide themselves. One ran under the table, the second got into the bed, thethird into the oven, the fourth ran into the kitchen, the fifth hid in thecupboard, the sixth under the sink, the seventh in the clock-case. But thewolf found them all, and gave them short shrift; one after the other heswallowed down, all but the youngest, who was hid in the clock-case. And sothe wolf, having got what he wanted, strolled forth into the green meadows,and laying himself down under a tree, he fell asleep.
Not long after, the mother goat came back from the wood;and, oh! what a sight met her eyes! The door was standing wide open; table,chairs, and stools, all thrown about; dishes broken; quilt and pillows tornoff the bed. She sought her children; they were nowhere to be found. Shecalled to each of them by name, but nobody answered, until she came to thename of the youngest.
“Here I am, Mother,”a little voice cried,“ here, in theclock-case. ”
And so she helped him out, and heard how the wolf had come,and eaten all the rest. And you may think how she cried for the loss of herdear children. At last in her grief she wandered out of doors, and theyoungest kid with her; and when they came into the meadow, there they saw thewolf lying under a tree, and snoring so that the branches shook. The mothergoat looked at him carefully on all sides and she noticed how something insidehis body was moving and struggling.
“Dear me!”thought she. “Can it be that my poorchildren that he devoured for his evening meal are still alive?”And she sent the little kid back to the house for a pair of shears, andneedle, and thread. Then she cut the wolf's body open, and no sooner had shemade one snip than out came the head of one of the kids; and then anothersnip, and then one after the other the six little kids all jumped out aliveand well, for in his greediness the rogue had swallowed them down whole. Howdelightful this was! So they comforted their dear mother and hopped about liketailors at a wedding.
“Now fetch some good hardstones,” said the mother, “andwe will fill his body with them, as he lies asleep. ”
And so they fetched some in all haste, and put them insidehim, and the mother sewed him up so quickly again that he was none the wiser.
When the wolf at last awoke, and got up, the stones insidehim made him feel very thirsty, and as he was going to the brook to drink,they struck and rattled one against another. And so he cried out:
What is this I feel inside me
Knocking hard against my bones?
How should such a thing betide me!
They were kids, and now they're stones.
So he came to the brook, and stooped to drink, but theheavy stones weighed him down, so he fell over into the water and was drowned.And when the seven little kids saw it they came up running.
“The wolf is dead, the wolfis dead! ” they cried, and taking hands,they danced with their mother all about the place.
七只小山羊和狼
从前有个羊妈妈，她有七个孩子——七只小山羊.像每个母亲一样，她也很爱自己的孩子.有一天，她要到树林里去为他们寻找食物，所以，她就把孩子们叫到身边.
“亲爱的孩子们，”她说，“我就要去森林里了，我走了以后，你们一定要提防那头狼，因为万一他溜进了屋里，他一定会把你们连皮带骨吃个精光.那个坏蛋常常伪装，但是，你们总是可从它那吵哑的声音和黑黑的爪子认出他来.”
“亲爱的妈妈，”孩子们回答，“你不要害怕，我们会好好地照顾自己的.”羊妈妈与孩子们道别后，就放心地走了.
羊妈妈走了没多久，就有人来敲门，并大声喊道：
“亲爱的孩子们，快开门吧，你们的妈妈回来了，我还为每个小乖乖都带了东西!”
但是小家伙们从那个吵哑的声音中，就知道它是狼.
“我们不会开门的，”他们高声答道.“你不是我们的妈妈；她的声音柔和甜美，而你的声音粗哑.你一定是狼. ”
于是狼离开了，前往一家商店买了一大块白垩.它把白垩吃了，使自己的声音柔和一些，然后他又卷土重来，一边敲门一边喊道：
“开门呀，亲爱的孩子们.你们的妈妈到家了. 我给你们每人都带了东西.”
但是，那头狼把自己的黑爪子搭在窗上，给孩子们看见了.于是，孩子们喊道：
“我们才不会开门呢!”我们的妈妈没有像你那种黑黑的爪子.你一定是狼. ”
于是狼跑到一个面包师那里，对面包师说，“面包师，我的脚受伤了，请你给我在脚上敷些生面团吧.”
面包师给他敷上生面团后，他又跑到一个磨坊主人那里说道：
“磨坊老板，请你在我的脚上洒些白面粉.”
但磨坊主人回绝了，他想狼一定在动坏脑筋害人.
“如果你不给我在脚上洒面粉，我就把你吃掉!”
于是磨坊主人害怕了，就按狼的要求，给它的脚上洒了些白面粉.人就是这样，先求自保.
随后，那个恶棍第三次来到羊妈妈的家，敲门.
“孩子们，开门来!”他喊道，“你们亲爱的妈妈回来了，我还从林子里给你们大家带来了好东西!”
“先给我们看看你的爪子，”孩子们说.“这样我们才会知道你是否真正是我们的母亲.”
于是狼把它的爪子搭在窗上.当孩子们看到爪子是白的，一切似乎都很正常，他们就把门打开了.当狼进屋后，他们才发现它是狼.孩子们怕极了，大家都想把自己藏起来.第一只山羊躲到了桌下，第二只山羊钻进了床上的被子里，第三只山羊躲到了烤炉内，第四只山羊逃进了厨房，第五只山羊钻进了碗橱里，第六只山羊躲到了水槽下面，第七只山羊钻进了大钟的钟壳之中.但是，除了那只钻进钟壳的小羊幸免之外，老狼把其余的六只都找了出来，而且毫不留情地把他们一一吞下了肚子.
吃饱后，狼心满意足地走到一片如茵的草地，躺在一棵大树下进入了梦乡.
没多久，羊妈妈从林子里回来.啊!她看到的是一副什么景象啊!大门敞开着，屋内的桌子，椅子，小凳子摔的到处都是，地上是被打碎的碗碟和从床上扯下的床单和枕头，却什么地方也找不到孩子.于是，她开始一个个地呼唤他们的名字，只有当叫到最小的那个孩子时，才听到回答：
“妈妈，”一个微弱的声音回答道，“我在这里，在大钟的钟壳里.”
羊妈妈帮助小山羊爬出了钟壳，并听他讲狼怎样来把其余的羊都吃光了的经过.你们可以想像，羊妈妈是怎么样地为失去了她亲爱的孩子们而痛哭流涕.最后，她伤心地带着那只最小的羊，漫无目的的走到户外.在那草地上，他们发现那头狼躺在树下，鼾声如雷，把树枝都震得发抖.羊妈妈对狼仔细地左看右看，发现它的肚子里有东西在动，在挣扎.
“天啊!”她想，“我的那些被狼吞食当晚餐的可怜的孩子们，是否有可能还活着!”于是她叫小羊回家去拿一把剪羊毛用的大剪刀和一些针线.然后，她就动手把狼的肚子剪开.她刚刚剪开一个口子，一只小羊的头就冒了出来，她又剪下去，于是狼肚子内的小羊一个接一个地从开口处跳了出来，因为恶狼贪婪得很，在吃小羊时是整个吞下去的，所以小羊们能安然无恙地活着.这是多么令人高兴的事啊!小羊们一边安慰着羊妈妈，一边兴高采烈跳跳蹦蹦，就像在参加一个婚礼一样.
“去搬些又大又硬的石头来，”羊妈妈说，“我们要乘狼熟睡时把它的肚子填满石头.”
于是，小羊们急急忙忙地搬了些石头来，塞进了狼的肚子，随后羊妈妈很迅速地把狼肚子又缝合了起来，而狼一点也没有发觉.
狼醒来之后，肚子里的石头使它感到很渴，当他动身到溪水旁边去喝水时，一路上石头还相互碰撞，响个不停.于是他自言自语地说：
我肚里到底是什么东西？
硬绑绑顶着我的骨头.
事情怎么会这样希奇!
吃下的是小羊羔，现在却成了石头.
走到小溪边，狼就弯下身子准备饮水，但是重的石头压得他直不起腰来.于是，他跌进水里淹死了. 小羊们看到狼淹死了，都跑了出来.“狼死了，狼死了. ”他们喊道，同时手挽着手，和羊妈妈一起在周围跳起舞来.
align]
—————————————————————————————
—————————————————————————————
—————————————————————————————
