提 要

俄羅斯文學家托爾斯泰（Leo Tolstoy）被譽為「俄國寫實文學泰斗」。32歲時，他在圖拉附近的祖產上，建造了一所兒童學校，他還為孩子們寫了許多故事，藉以培養孩子們的品德、學習禮義廉恥。〈The Plum Stone〉是其中之一。

One day Beatrice's mother bought some plums from the market. She washed them and left them on a big plate in the center of the dining table. The mother wanted to give the plums to the children after dinner. It was not every day that plums were bought.

Beatrice had not tasted plums all his life and was very curious about it. First, he sniffed the fruit, wrinkled his nose at the pleasing smell, and decided that he liked the fruit. Dinner time was still a long way off and he did not have the patience to wait. He just could not resist his temptation. "No one will notice if I take one," he said to himself.

As soon as he was alone in the room, he seized a big plum and ate it quickly. Beatrice exclaimed, "Hmmm.. plums are very delicious indeed!"

When it was time for dinner, his mother counted the plums and found that one was missing. She informed her husband about it. The whole family sat around the table to eat and in the course of the meal, father enquired, "Well children, have any of you eaten a plum without your mother's knowledge?" Each child answered in turn, "No." Beatrice's heart began to beat very fast and he blushed. He lied that he did not eat the plum.

Suddenly, somebody from the deck called out, "Shark! Shark!"

Then the father said, "It is wrong to steal a plum, but that's not all. You see, plums have small stones and if you swallow a stone, you will die the next day. That's what really bothers me."

Beatrice became very upset and blurted out, "I did not eat the stone. I threw it out of the window."

The entire family burst into peals of laughter, Beatrice felt guilty and ashamed. He wept bitterly.

His parents hugged him. His mother consoled him and said, "Your father presented the matter in such a way that you would come up with the truth." She added, "God loves children who are honest."

Beatrice apologized to the whole family and promised that thereafter he would speak only the truth.

After all, honesty is the best policy!

解 說

有一天，碧翠絲的母親從市場上買了一些李子。她將它們洗淨了後，放在餐桌中央的大盤子上。母親想在晚餐後把李子分給孩子們。餐桌上會有李子，是挺新鮮的事。

碧翠絲從沒嘗過李子，覺得非常好奇。首先，她聞一聞這水果，嗅到令人愉悅的氣味後，皺了皺鼻子，然後決定：「喜歡這水果。」還有很長的時間才吃晚餐，無法抗拒誘惑的她，迫不及待了。自言自語地說：「我拿一個，沒人會發現的。」

當獨自在房裡時，她抓住了一個大李子、迅速地把它吃了。碧翠絲大聲說：「嗯。李子真好吃！」

到了晚餐時間，她的母親數了數李子，發現少了一個。她把這件事告訴了丈夫，全家圍坐在餐桌旁吃飯的過程中，父親問：「孩子們，你們有沒有人在母親不知情的情況時候吃了李子？」每個孩子依次回答：「沒有。」碧翠絲的心臟飛快地跳動，紅著臉撒謊，說她沒有吃李子。

突然，餐檯上有人喊：「騙子！騙子！」

然後父親說：「偷李子是錯的，但還不只如此。你們要知道，李子裡有塊小石頭，如果吞下這塊石頭，第二天就會死。那真是讓我心神不寧。」

心煩意亂的碧翠絲脫口而出：「我沒有吃那石頭，我把石頭扔到窗外了。」

全家哄堂大笑，碧翠絲感到內疚，羞愧、痛苦地啜泣。

爸爸媽媽一起抱住她，母親安慰說：「妳父親以這樣的方式問問題，妳就會想說出真相。」她補充：「上帝愛誠實的孩子。」

碧翠絲向全家人道歉，並保證此後她只講真話。

畢竟，誠實是上策！