整理／孟昭明

提 要

百善孝為先，人生中遭遇天災困境，往往不得不逆來順受，但若不能人子的本份，讓母親得到溫飽，就萬萬不能妥協了。

Once on a time there was an old widow who had one son and, as she was poorly and weak, her son had to go up into the safe to fetch meal for cooking; but when he got outside the safe, and was just going down the steps, there came the North Wind, puffing and blowing, caught up the meal, and so away with it through the air.

 

Then the lad went back into the safe for more; but when he came out again on the steps, if the North Wind didn't come again and carry off the meal with a puff; and more than that, he did so the third time. At this the lad got very angry; and as he thought it hard that the North Wind should behave so, he thought he'd just look him up, and ask him to give up his meal.

 

So off he went, but the way was long, and he walked and walked; but at last he came to the North Wind's house.

 

"Good day!" said the lad, and "thank you for coming to see us yesterday."

 

"GOOD DAY!" answered the North Wind, for his voice was loud and gruff, "AND THANKS FOR COMING TO SEE ME. WHAT DO YOU WANT?"

 

"Oh!" answered the lad, "I only wished to ask you to be so good as to let me have back that meal you took from me on the safe steps, for we haven't much to live on; and if you're to go on snapping up the morsel we have there'll be nothing for it but to starve."

 

"I haven't got your meal," said the North Wind; "but if you are in such need, I'll give you a cloth which will get you everything you want, if you only say, Cloth, spread yourself, and serve up all kinds of good dishes!"

 

With this the lad was well content. But, as the way was so long he couldn't get home in one day, he turned into an inn on the way; and when they were going to sit down to supper, he laid the cloth on a table which stood in the corner and said:

 

"Cloth spread yourself, and serve up all kinds of good dishes."

 

All these was witnessed by the landlord. So, when all were fast asleep, at dead of night, he took the lad's cloth, and put another in its stead, just like the one he had got from the North Wind, but which couldn't so much as serve up a bit of dry bread.

 

So, when the lad woke, he took his cloth and went off with it, and that day he got home to his mother.

 

"Now," said he, "I've been to the North Wind's house, and a good fellow he is, for he gave me this cloth, and when I only say to it, 'Cloth, spread yourself, and serve up all kinds of good dishes,' I get any sort of food I please."

 

"All very true, I dare say," said his mother; "but seeing is believing, and I shan't believe it till I see it."

 

So the lad made haste, drew out a table, laid the cloth on it, and said:

 

"Cloth, spread yourself, and serve all up kinds of good dishes."

 

But never a bit of dry bread did the cloth serve up.

 

"Well," said the lad, "there's no help for it but to go to the North Wind again;" and away he went.

 

So he came to where the North Wind lived late in the afternoon.

 

"Good evening!" said the lad.

 

"Good evening," said the North Wind.

 

"I want my rights for that meal of ours which you took," said the lad; "for as for that cloth I got, it isn't worth a penny."

 

"I've got no meal," said the North Wind; "but yonder you have a ram which coins nothing but golden ducats as soon as you say to it:

 

"'Ram, ram! make money!'"

 

So the lad thought this a fine thing but as it was too far to get home that day, he turned in for the night to the same inn where he had slept before.

 

He tried the truth of what the North Wind had said of the ram, and found it all right; but when the landlord saw that,  when the lad had fallen asleep, he took another which couldn't coin gold ducats, and changed it.

 

Next morning off went the lad; and when he got home to his mother he said:

 

"After all, the North Wind is a jolly fellow; for now he has given me a ram which can coin golden ducats if I only say, 'Ram, ram! make money!'"

 

"All very true, I dare say," said his mother; "but I shan't believe any such stuff until I see the ducats made."

 

"Ram, ram! make money!" said the lad; but if the ram made anything it wasn't money.

 

So the lad went back again to the North Wind and said the ram was worth nothing, and he must have his rights for the meal.

 

"Well," said the North Wind; "I've nothing else to give you but that old stick in the corner yonder; but it's a stick of that kind that if you say:

 

"Stick, stick! lay on! " it lays on till you say:

 

"Stick, stick! now stop!"

 

So, as the way was long, the lad turned in this night too to the landlord; but as he could pretty well guess how things stood as to the cloth and the ram, he lay down at once on the bench and began to snore, as if he were asleep.

 

Now the landlord, who easily saw that the stick must be worth something, hunted up one which was like it, and when he heard the lad snore, was going to change it, but just as the landlord was about to take it the lad bawled out:

 

"Stick, stick! lay on!"

 

So the stick began to beat the landlord, till he jumped over chairs, and tables, and benches, and yelled and roared:

 

"Oh my! oh my! bid the stick be still, else it will beat me to death, and you shall have back both your cloth and your ram."

 

When the lad thought the landlord had got enough, he said:

 

"Stick, stick! now stop!"

 

Then he took the cloth and put it into his pocket, and went home with his stick in his hand, leading the ram by a cord round its horns; and so he got his rights for the meal he had lost.

 

從前有一位老寡婦，因為身體虛弱，她的兒子必須爬安全梯到儲藏室取餐烹飪，當他下台階時，北風突然出現，又刮又吹，一頓食物就消失在空中了。

 

怕媽媽挨餓，小伙子又爬安全梯取餐，一而再、再而三，北風突襲台階，再次刮走食物。小伙子很生氣，他認為北風的表現太過份了，他決定去拜訪他，並要求他把食物還給自己。

 

小伙子說走就走，路途遙遠，他走了又走，好久才到達北風的家。

 

「你好！」小伙子說，「謝謝你昨天來看我們。」

 

「你好！」北風回答，他的聲音響亮而粗啞，「也謝謝你來看我。你有什麼事嗎？」

 

「哦！」小伙子回答，「我只是想問，你可不可以把從安全梯上奪走的食物還給我，如果這麼一口飯你也要搶，我們母子就要餓死了。」

 

「我沒有你的飯，」北風說，「但如果你有這樣的需求，我可以給你一塊布，會提供你想要的一切，你只要說，『布，展開來，擺滿各類好飯好菜！』」

 

有了這個，小伙子滿足地走了，因為北風的家太遠，他無法在一天之內回家，於是投宿途中的旅店。當他坐下吃晚飯時，對著那塊布說：

 

「布，展開自己，變出各類好菜……。」

 

這一切，都被店主看到了。當所有的人都睡熟、夜深人靜的時候，他把北風給小伙子的布掉包，現在的這塊布，連一塊乾麵包也變不出來。

 

小伙子睡醒後，帶著布回家看母親。

 

他對母親說，「我去過北風的房子了，原來他是一個好人，他給了我這塊布，當我說：「布，展開自己，變出各類好菜……。」好吃的食物就堆滿桌。

 

「話雖如此，」他的媽媽說，「但是眼見為憑，親眼看到我才相信啊！」

 

於是小伙子急忙拉出桌子，鋪好了布說：「布，展開自己，變出各類好菜……。」

 

但一塊乾麵包也沒變出來。

 

「好吧，」小伙子說，「沒別的辦法，再去找北風。」於是他又出發。

直到接近傍晚，他才走到北風的住處。

 

「晚上好！」小伙子說。

 

「晚上好！」北風說。

 

「我想你還是等於奪了我們的那頓飯，」小伙子說， 「因為你給我的那塊布，不值一分錢。」

 

「我沒有奪走什麼，」北風說，那我把會吐出金幣的公羊給你，你只要說：

 

「『公羊，公羊，給我錢！』就行了。」

 

小伙子認為好事終於降臨了，但回家太遠，他還是決定在之前過夜的旅館先睡一覺。

 

他試了那隻公羊，發現牠真的會吐出金幣，但是，又被旅店主人看到了，當小伙子睡著，他又把公羊掉包。

 

第二天早上，小伙子回到家對媽媽說：「北風畢竟是一個討喜的傢伙，現在他給了我一個會出金幣的公羊，我只要說：「『公羊，公羊，給我錢！』就行了。」

 

「話雖如此，」他的媽媽說，「但是親眼看到，我才相信公羊會吐金幣呀！」

 

「公羊，公羊，給我錢！」小伙子說，但被掉包的公羊什麼反應也沒有。

 

於是，小伙子又回去找北風理論，因為公羊啥也吐不出，他們母子還是得餓肚子。

 

「好吧，」北風說，「我已經沒有別的可以給你了，在牆角那邊，豎著一根棍子，如果你說：

 

「棍子！棍子！往下打！」，它會一直打個不停，直到你說：

 

「棍子！棍子！停下來！」 它才會停。

 

回家的路很長，小伙子又投宿在那貪心店主的「黑店」，他也猜得到，棍子的遭遇應該與布、槌子差不多，他躺在板凳上，並開始打起鼾來，好像已經睡熟了。

 

店主看到棍子，覺得一定是值錢的東西，「駕輕就熟」地準備再一次掉包，當他聽見小伙子打呼，正想動手時，小伙子突然大聲吆喝：

 

「棍子！棍子！往下打！」

 

棍子非常盡職的開始毆打店主，他跳過椅子、桌子、長凳，棍子仍追打不停，店主大叫：

 

「噢，我的天！我的天！讓棍子停下來吧，否則它會把我打死了，你的布和公羊都還給你。」

 

當小伙子覺得店主已經受夠時，他說：

「棍子！棍子！停下來！」

 

然後，他把布放進口袋裡，用繩子繞過公羊的觸角栓住牠。終於，他找回了隨風而逝的「那幾口飯」，母子可以溫飽了。