The Sleeping Dog

The Sleeping Dog, an Aturi folktale retold by Ned Jensen. Illustrated by Dave Cockcroft.

《沉睡的狗狗》，一则阿图里民间故事，由内德·延森改编，戴夫·科克罗夫特绘制插图。

Long ago, in the time before there were people, a dog was found sleeping in the middle of a dark forest. It was sleeping on its side, with its legs spread in front of it. It was happy. It was the first dog ever to live on the earth. Most of the time, the dog just slept.

很久很久以前，人类还没有出现的时代， 有人发现一只狗狗正睡在一片黑暗森林的中央。 它侧着身子睡，四条腿都伸在身前。 它睡得美滋滋的。 它是地球上诞生的第一只狗狗。 大多数时候，这只狗狗都在睡觉。

The dog sleeping all day wasn't a problem, but it became a problem when a monkey saw it lying there. Now, the monkey was a nice enough animal, but it caused more than its share of trouble.

狗狗整天睡觉本来不是什么问题， 直到有只猴子看到了躺在那儿的它，麻烦就来了。 这只猴子本性不坏， 可它闯的祸可比其他动物多得多。

The monkey jumped from a tree to the ground. It looked at the dog from the front and then from the back. The monkey couldn't make head or tail of this creature. So the monkey climbed into a tree and hung upside down to see if the dog looked different from that angle. The dog looked just the same upside down.

猴子从树上跳到了地上。 它凑到狗狗前面看看，又绕到后面瞧瞧。 猴子完全搞不懂这是什么生物。 于是猴子又爬回树上，倒挂着身子，想看看从这个角度看狗狗会不会不一样。 倒过来看，狗狗还是老样子。

The monkey couldn't figure out what the dog was. Remember that this was the very first dog on Earth. No one had ever seen a dog before. The monkey wanted to tell the other animals what it had found. Monkey says, I'm sure you know, have big mouths.

猴子实在猜不出这只狗狗是什么。 别忘了这可是地球上的第一只狗狗哦。 之前从来没有谁见过狗狗长什么样。 猴子想把自己的新发现告诉其他所有动物。 你肯定知道的，猴子个个都是大嘴巴，藏不住话。

Many animals came to see what the monkey had found. So, the monkey began, This is the new creature I have found. Have any of you ever seen one before? An elephant bent its head way down and looked at the dog. Well, said the elephant, curling its trunk as it spoke, It's not an elephant. Thanks a lot, said monkey. You aren't being very helpful.

好多动物都赶来看猴子发现的新东西。 只听猴子开口说道： 这就是我找到的新生物。 你们以前谁见过这种动物吗？ 大象把脑袋埋得低低的，凑过去看狗狗。 「嗯，」大象一边卷着自己的长鼻子一边说， 它不是大象。 「可太谢谢你了，」猴子说，「你这话一点帮助都没有。」