第39章 鹳鸟 The Storks（2/2）

ti passed on, and the young strew se that they uld stand uprighttheand look about the.

爸爸每天给他们带来漂亮的青蛙、小蛇和各种他能找到的鹳鸟美食。然后，看他为了逗他们开心而表演的把戏是多么有趣啊。他会把头完全绕到尾巴上，用喙咔哒作响，就好像那是一个拨浪鼓一样。然后他会给他们讲所有关于沼泽和湿地的故事。

the father brought the, every day, beautiful frogs, little snakes, and all kds of stork-daihat he uld fd. And then, how funny it was to see the tricks he would perfor to ae the. he would y his head quite round over his tail, and ctter with his beak, as if it had been a rattle; and then he would tell the stories all about the arshes and fens.

“来吧，” 有一天妈妈说，“现在你们必须学会飞了。” 于是四只小鹳鸟都不得不来到屋顶上。哦，一开始他们摇摇晃晃的，不得不挥动翅膀保持平衡，不然就会摔到

“e,” said the other one day, “Now you t learn to fly.” And all the four young ones were obliged to e out oop of the roof. oh, how they tottered at first, and were obliged to baheselves with their gs, or they would have fallen to the ground below.

“看着我，” 妈妈说，“你们必须这样昂起头，这样放好你们的脚。一，二，一，二 —— 就是这样。现在你们在这个世界上就能照顾好自己了。”

“Look at ,” said the other, “you t hold your headsthis way, and pce your feet so. owice, owice — that is it. Now you will be able to take care of yourselvesthe world.”

然后她飞到离他们一小段距离的地方，小鹳鸟们一跃而起去追她，但是他们扑通一声掉了下来，因为他们的身体还太重。

then she flew a little distance fro the, and the young ones ade a sprg to follow her; but down they fell pp, for their bodies were still too heavy.

“我不想飞。” 一只小鹳鸟说，爬回了巢里。“我不在乎去温暖的国家。”

“I don’t want to fly,” said one of the young storks, creepg bato the . “I don’t care about gog to war tries.”

“你想在冬天来的时候留在这里挨冻吗？” 妈妈说，“或者等那些男孩来把你吊死或者烤了你？—— 那好吧，我去叫他们来。”

“would you like to stay here and freeze wheer es?” said the other, “or till the boys es to hang you, or to roast you? — well then, I’ll call the.”

“哦，不，不。” 小鹳鸟说，和其他小鹳鸟一起跳到屋顶上。现在他们都很专心，到了第三天他们就能飞一小段距离了。

“oh no, no,” said the young stork, jupg out on the roof with the others; and now they were all attentive, and by the third day uld fly a little.

然后他们开始想象自己能翱翔，于是他们试着这样做，靠翅膀支撑着，但他们很快就发现自己在往下掉，不得不尽快拍打翅膀。

then they began to fancy they uld soar, so they tried to do s on their gs, but they soon found theselves fallg, and had to fp their gs as quickly as possible.

男孩们又来到街上，唱着他们的歌：——“鹳鸟，鹳鸟，飞走啦。”

the boys ca aga ireet sgg their song: — “Stork, stork, fly away.”

“我们飞下去把他们的眼睛啄出来好吗？” 小鹳鸟们问。

“Shall we fly doick their eyes out?” asked the young storks.

“不；别理他们。” 妈妈说。“听我说；那更重要。现在。一、二、三。现在向右边。一、二、三。现在向左边，绕着烟囱飞。好了，非常好。最后那一下拍打翅膀非常轻松优美，我允许你们明天和我一起飞到沼泽地去。那里会有很多非常出色的鹳鸟和它们的家人，我希望你们向他们展示我的孩子们是在场的所有鹳鸟中教养最好的。你们必须骄傲地大摇大摆走着 —— 这会很好看，也会让你们受到尊重。”

“No; leave the alone,” said the other. “Listen to ; that is uch ore iportant. Now then. owo-three. Now to the right. owo-three. Now to the left, round the ey. there now, that was very good. that st fp of the gs was so easy and grahildrehe best brought up of any who ay be present. You t strut about proudly — it will look well and ake you respected.”

“但是我们不能惩罚那些调皮的男孩吗？” 小鹳鸟们问。

“but ay we not punish those naughty boys?” asked the young storks.

“不；让他们爱怎么叫就怎么叫吧。你们现在可以从他们那里飞走，高高地飞到云层里，等他们冻僵的时候，你们就会在有金字塔的地方了，那时他们那里树上没有一片绿叶，也没有一个苹果可吃。”

“No; let the screa away as uch as they like. Youfly fro the now up high aid the clouds, and will bethe nd of the pyraids when they are freezg, and have not a green leaf orees or an apple to eat.”

“我们会报仇的。” 小鹳鸟们互相低声说着，又加入了练习。

“we will revenge ourselves,” whispered the young storks to each other, as they aga joihe exerg.

在所有在街上唱着嘲笑鹳鸟的歌的男孩中，没有一个像第一个开始唱的那个男孩那么坚决要继续唱下去。

of all the boys ireet who sang the og song about the storks, not one was so deterio go on with it as he who first began it.

然而他只是个不超过六岁的小家伙。在小鹳鸟们看来，他至少有一百岁了，因为他比它们的爸爸和妈妈大多了。当然，不能指望鹳鸟知道孩子和大人的年龄。所以它们决定向这个男孩报仇，因为是他最先开始唱那首歌，而且还一直唱下去。小鹳鸟们非常生气，随着年龄的增长，脾气变得越来越糟。最后它们的妈妈不得不答应它们一定会报仇，但要等到它们离开的那天。

Yet he was a little fellow not ore than six years old. to the young storks he appeared at least a hundred, for he was so uch bigger than their father and other. to be sure, storks ot be expected to know how old children and grown-up people are. So they deterio have their revenge on this boy, becae he began the song first and would keep on with it. the young storks were very angry, and grew worse as they grew older; so at st their other was obliged to proise that they should be revenged, but not until the day of their departure.

“我们必须先看看，你们在大检阅中的表现如何。” 她说。“如果你们在那里表现不好，将军会用他的喙刺穿你们，你们就会像那些男孩说的那样被杀死，虽然方式不完全一样。所以我们必须等着瞧。”

“we t see first, how you acquit yourselves at the grand review,” said she. “If you get on badly there, the general will thrt his beak through you, and you will be killed, as the boys said, though lythe sa anner. So we t wait and see.”

“你们会看到的。” 小鹳鸟们说。然后它们非常努力，每天刻苦练习，以至于最后看到它们飞得那么轻盈、那么优美真是一种享受。秋天一到，所有的鹳鸟在冬天飞往温暖的国家之前就开始聚集在一起。然后检阅开始了。它们飞过森林和村庄，展示它们的本领，因为它们面前有一段很长的旅程。小鹳鸟们表现得非常出色，它们得到了一个荣誉标志，还有青蛙和蛇作为礼物。

“You shall see,” said the young birds, and theook such pas and practised so well every day, that at st it was quite a pleasure to see the fly so lightly and prettily. As soon as the autun arrived, all the storks began to asseble together before takg their departure for war tries durg the wihen the review hey flew over forests and vilges to show what they uld do, for they had a long journey before the. the young storks perford their part so well that they received a ark of honor, with frogs and snakes as a present.

这些礼物是这件事情中最好的部分，因为他们可以吃掉青蛙和蛇，他们很快就这么做了。

these presents were the best part of the affair, for they uld eat the frogs and snakes, which they very quickly did.

“现在让我们报仇吧。” 他们喊道。

“Now lethave our revehey cried.

“是的，当然。” 鹳鸟妈妈喊道。“我已经想到了最好的报仇方法。我知道那个池塘，所有的小孩子都躺在那里，等着鹳鸟来把他们带给他们的父母。最漂亮的小婴儿躺在那里，做着比他们以后任何时候都要甜美的梦。所有的父母都很高兴有一个小孩子，孩子们也很高兴有一个小弟弟或小妹妹。现在我们飞到池塘边，给那些没有唱那首嘲笑鹳鸟的调皮歌的孩子们每人带一个小婴儿来。”

“Yes, certaly,” cried the other stork. “I have thought upon the best way to be revenged. I know the pondwhich all the little children lie, waitg till the storks e to take the to their parents. the prettiest little babies lie there dreag ore sweetly than they will ever drea ii to e. All parents are gd to have a little child, and children are so pleased with a little brother or sister. Noill fly to the pond ach a little baby for each of the children who did not sg that naughty song to ake ga of the storks.”

“但是那个调皮的男孩，是他最先开始唱那首歌的，我们要怎么对付他呢？” 小鹳鸟们喊道。

“but the naughty boy, who began the song first, what shall we do to hi?” cried the young storks.

“池塘里有一个小死婴，他是做梦把自己梦死的。” 妈妈说。“我们把他带给那个调皮的男孩，他会哭的，因为我们给他带来了一个死弟弟。但是你们不要忘记那个好男孩，他说嘲笑动物是可耻的：我们也给他带一个小弟弟和小妹妹，因为他很善良。他叫彼得，从现在起你们都叫彼得。”

“there liesthe pond a little dead baby who has dread itself to death,” said the other. “we will take it to the naughty boy, and he will cry becae we have brought hi a little dead brother. but you have not fotten the good boy who said it was a sha to ugh at anials: we will take hi a little brother and sister too, becae he was good. he is called peter, and you shall all be called peterfuture.”

于是他们都按照妈妈的安排做了，从那天起，直到现在，所有的鹳鸟都叫彼得。

So they all did what their other had arranged, and fro that day, even till now, all the storks have been called peter.