Giant's Tale

Giant's Tale written by Karen Mokler illustrated by Robert Squire

《巨人的故事》 作者：凯伦·莫克勒 插画：罗伯特·斯夸尔

Hello, I'm George the Giant. Morning, noon, and night, I used to eat nothing but sheep. I was sick of sheep, even in my dreams.

大家好，我是巨人乔治。 过去我从早到晚只吃羊肉。 我早就吃腻了羊肉，连梦里见着羊都烦。

One day, out in my yard, I met a funny little man. He was littler than most. I was holding some beans in my hand at the time. I was thinking of starting a vegetable garden. "'Those are some fine -looking beans,' he said. "'Thanks,' I said. "'If you give me those beans,' said the man, "'I'll give you a special goose.' "'What's so special about her?' I asked. "'Wait and see,' said the man. "'But know this, George. She'll cure you of sheep.' He knew my name. I'd had it with sheep. I traded the beans for that goose and returned to the castle. I set her on the kitchen table.

有天我在院子里，遇到了个有意思的小矮人。 他比一般的小矮人还要小。 那会儿我手里正攥着几颗豆子。 我正打算开个小菜园种菜呢。 “这些豆子看起来可真不错呀。”他说。 “谢谢夸奖。”我说。 “你要是把这些豆子给我，”小矮人说，“我就送你一只特别的鹅。” “她有什么特别的呀？” 我问。 “等着瞧就知道啦。”小矮人说。 “不过你得知道，乔治。” “她能帮你再也不用吃羊肉。” 他居然知道我的名字。 我早就受够吃羊肉的日子了。 我用豆子换了那只鹅，就回城堡去了。 我把她放在了厨房的桌子上。

Now goose, I said, do your stuff. The goose just looked at me. Pretty please, I said, nothing. Razzle dazzle me, I said.

好了小鹅，我说，快露一手吧。 鹅只是定定地看着我。 我求你啦好不好，我说，她还是没反应。 快给我变个魔法呀，我说。

I thought about roasting her up for dinner, but during my afternoon nap, she laid three golden eggs.

我本来都想着把她烤了当晚饭， 结果我下午睡午觉的时候，她下了三颗金蛋。

I traded those eggs for a wagonload of donuts. No more sheep for me. For months I ate nothing but donuts. Then one day, coming into the kitchen for lunch, I smelled a weird smell. Stinky. Wrong. Human. Some giants like the taste of humans. Me, I've never tried one. I can never get past that smell. Still, I sang the song all giants learn in school to scare humans away. Fee fi fo fum. I smell the blood of an Englishman. Be he alive or be he dead, I'll grind his bones to make my bread.

我用那些蛋换了满满一马车的甜甜圈。 我再也不用吃羊肉啦。 接下来好几个月，我只吃甜甜圈。 后来有天我进厨房吃午饭，闻到了一股奇怪的味道。 臭烘烘的。 不对劲。 是人类的味道。 有些巨人喜欢吃人类。 我呀，我可从来没试过。 那味道我闻着就受不了，根本下不去嘴。 不过我还是唱起了所有巨人上学时都学过的歌，想把人类吓跑。 费、菲、福、凡！ 我闻到了英国人的血腥味！ 不管他是活还是死，我要磨碎他的骨头做面包吃！