英美著名儿童诗一百首 [56]
夫仨，
他们是，眨眨，和瞌睡。
他们整夜向闪光的海洋
撒网去捕捉鲱鱼——
可木鞋随即从天上下降，
把渔夫们带回家去；
这是一次美妙的远航，
看来似乎不可能；
有人想，他们是进入了梦乡，
到美丽的天海去旅行——
我可要给三个渔夫命名，
叫你们，眨眨，和瞌睡。
和眨眨是小眼睛一双，
瞌睡是小小的头，
登天航行的木鞋是一张
小囡床，能推着走。
闭下你的眼，听妈妈歌唱，
唱出奇妙的景象，
你就能见到美丽的风光——
当你在雾海里晃荡，
旧木鞋把三个渔夫摇晃——
他们是，眨眨，和瞌睡。
屠 岸译
①尤金·费尔德（1850—1895），美国记者、诗人、藏书家。他为成人也为儿童写诗。他的《荷兰摇篮曲》（即《，眨眨，和瞌睡》）很受欢迎。
■ 99 THE PIED PIPER OF HAMELINA CHILD'S STORY
Robert Browning
Ⅰ
Hamelin Town's in Brunswick,
By famous Hanover city；
The river Weser, deep and wide,
Washes its wall on the southern side;
A pleasanter spot you never spied;
But, when begins my ditty,
Almost five hundred years ago,
To see the townsfolk suffer so
From vermin, was a pity.
Ⅱ
Rats!
They fought the dogs, and killed the cats,
And bit the babies in the cradles,
And ate the cheeses out of the vats,
And licked the soup from the cooks'own ladles,
Split open the kegs of salted sprats,
Made nests inside men's Sunday hats,
And even spoiled the women's chats,
By drowning their speaking
With shrieking and squeaking
In fifty different sharps and flats.
Ⅲ
At last the people in a body
To the Town Hall came flocking:
‘Tis clear,’cried they, ‘our Mayor's a noddy;
And as far our Corporation—shocking
To think we buy gowns lined with ermine
For dolts that can't or won't determine
What's best to rid us of our vermin!
You hope, because you're old and obese,
To find in the furry civic robe ease
Rouse up, Sirs! Give your brains a racking
To find the remedy we're lacking,
Or, sure as fate, we'll send you packing! ’
At this the Mayor and Corporation
Quaked with a mighty consternation.
Ⅳ
An hour they sate in council,
At length the Mayor broke silence:
‘For a guilder I'd my ermine gown sell;
I wish I were a mile hence!
It's easy to bid one rack one's brain—
I'm sure my poor head aches again
I've scratched it so, and all in vain.
Oh for a trap, a trap, a trap! ’
Just as he said this, what should hap
At the chamber door but a gentle tap
‘Bless us,’ cried the Mayor, ‘what's that
’
(With the Corporation as he sat,
Looking little though wondrous fat;
Nor brighter was his eye, nor moister
Than a too-long-opened oyster,
Save when at noon his paunch grew mutinous
For a plate of turtle green and glutinous)
‘Only a scraping of shoes on the mat
Anything like the sound of a rat
Makes my heart go pit-a-pat!’
Ⅴ
‘Come in!’—the Mayor cried, looking bigger:
And in did come the strangest figure!
His queer long coat from heel to head
Was half of yellow and half of red;
And he himself was tall and thin,
With sharp blue eyes, each like a pin,
And light loose hair, yet swarthy skin,
No tuft on cheek nor beard on chin,
But lips where smiles went out and in—
There was no guessing his kith and kin!
And nobody could enough admire
The tall man and his quaint attire:
Quoth one; ‘It's as my great-grand-sire,
Starting up at the Trump
他们是，眨眨，和瞌睡。
他们整夜向闪光的海洋
撒网去捕捉鲱鱼——
可木鞋随即从天上下降，
把渔夫们带回家去；
这是一次美妙的远航，
看来似乎不可能；
有人想，他们是进入了梦乡，
到美丽的天海去旅行——
我可要给三个渔夫命名，
叫你们，眨眨，和瞌睡。
和眨眨是小眼睛一双，
瞌睡是小小的头，
登天航行的木鞋是一张
小囡床，能推着走。
闭下你的眼，听妈妈歌唱，
唱出奇妙的景象，
你就能见到美丽的风光——
当你在雾海里晃荡，
旧木鞋把三个渔夫摇晃——
他们是，眨眨，和瞌睡。
屠 岸译
①尤金·费尔德（1850—1895），美国记者、诗人、藏书家。他为成人也为儿童写诗。他的《荷兰摇篮曲》（即《，眨眨，和瞌睡》）很受欢迎。
■ 99 THE PIED PIPER OF HAMELINA CHILD'S STORY
Robert Browning
Ⅰ
Hamelin Town's in Brunswick,
By famous Hanover city；
The river Weser, deep and wide,
Washes its wall on the southern side;
A pleasanter spot you never spied;
But, when begins my ditty,
Almost five hundred years ago,
To see the townsfolk suffer so
From vermin, was a pity.
Ⅱ
Rats!
They fought the dogs, and killed the cats,
And bit the babies in the cradles,
And ate the cheeses out of the vats,
And licked the soup from the cooks'own ladles,
Split open the kegs of salted sprats,
Made nests inside men's Sunday hats,
And even spoiled the women's chats,
By drowning their speaking
With shrieking and squeaking
In fifty different sharps and flats.
Ⅲ
At last the people in a body
To the Town Hall came flocking:
‘Tis clear,’cried they, ‘our Mayor's a noddy;
And as far our Corporation—shocking
To think we buy gowns lined with ermine
For dolts that can't or won't determine
What's best to rid us of our vermin!
You hope, because you're old and obese,
To find in the furry civic robe ease
Rouse up, Sirs! Give your brains a racking
To find the remedy we're lacking,
Or, sure as fate, we'll send you packing! ’
At this the Mayor and Corporation
Quaked with a mighty consternation.
Ⅳ
An hour they sate in council,
At length the Mayor broke silence:
‘For a guilder I'd my ermine gown sell;
I wish I were a mile hence!
It's easy to bid one rack one's brain—
I'm sure my poor head aches again
I've scratched it so, and all in vain.
Oh for a trap, a trap, a trap! ’
Just as he said this, what should hap
At the chamber door but a gentle tap
‘Bless us,’ cried the Mayor, ‘what's that
’
(With the Corporation as he sat,
Looking little though wondrous fat;
Nor brighter was his eye, nor moister
Than a too-long-opened oyster,
Save when at noon his paunch grew mutinous
For a plate of turtle green and glutinous)
‘Only a scraping of shoes on the mat
Anything like the sound of a rat
Makes my heart go pit-a-pat!’
Ⅴ
‘Come in!’—the Mayor cried, looking bigger:
And in did come the strangest figure!
His queer long coat from heel to head
Was half of yellow and half of red;
And he himself was tall and thin,
With sharp blue eyes, each like a pin,
And light loose hair, yet swarthy skin,
No tuft on cheek nor beard on chin,
But lips where smiles went out and in—
There was no guessing his kith and kin!
And nobody could enough admire
The tall man and his quaint attire:
Quoth one; ‘It's as my great-grand-sire,
Starting up at the Trump