图pain小学英语 英语故事(童话故事)The Twelve Oxen 十二头牛

2021年1月26日发(作者：侯景耀)
The
Twelve
Oxen
十二头牛

The Twelve Oxen

There were twelve brothers who fell out with their father, and all twelve of them
left home They built themselves a house in the woods and made their living as
carpenters
Meanwhile
their
parents
had
a
baby
girl,
who
was
a
great
comfort
to
them
The child grew up without ever meeting her twelve brothers She had only heard them
mentioned, and she longed to see them
One day she went
to bathe at
a fountain,
and
the first thing
she
did
was remove her
coral
necklace
and
hang
it
on
a
twig
A
raven
came
by,
grabbed
the
necklace,
and
flew
off
with
it
The
girl
ran
into
the
woods
after
the
raven
and
found
her
brothers'
house
No
one
was
at
home,
so
she
cooked
the
noodles,
spooned
them
onto
the
brothers'
plates,
and
hid
under
a
bed
The
brothers
returned
and,
finding
the
noodles
ready
and
waiting,
sat
down
and
ate
But
then
they
grew
uneasy,
suspecting
the
witches
had
played
a
joke
on them, for the woods were full of witches
One of the twelve kept watch the next day and saw the girl jump out from under the
bed
When
the
brothers
learned
she
was
not
a
witch
but
their
own
little
sister,
they
made
a
great
to-do
over
her
and
insisted
that
she
remain
with
them
But
they
cautioned
her to speak to no one in the woods, because the place was full of witches
One evening when the girl went to prepare supper, she found that the fire had gone
out To save time, she went to a nearby cottage to get a light An old woman at the
cottage graciously gave her the light, but said that, in exchange, she would come
to the girl on the morrow and suck a bit of blood from her little finger


you have to do is stick your little finger through the keyhole, and I'll suck it
So the old woman came by every evening to suck the blood from her, while the girl
grew paler and paler Her brothers noticed it and asked her so many questions that
she admitted going to an old witch for a light and having to pay for it with her
blood
The witch arrived, knocked, and when the girl failed to stick her finger through
the keyhole, she poked her head through the cat door One of the brothers had his
hatchet
all
ready
and
chopped
off
her
head
Then
they
pitched
the
remains
into
a
ravine
One
day
on
the
way
to
the
fountain,
the
girl
met
another
old
woman,
who
was
selling
white bowls


So when
the brothers came home thirsty, they found twelve bowels
filled
with water
They
pitched
in
and
drank,
and
instantly
changed
into
a
herd
of
oxen
Only
the
twelfth,
whose
thirst
was
slight,
barely
touched
the
water
and
turned
into
a
lamb
The
sister
therefore found herself alone with eleven oxen and one lamb to feed every day
A prince out hunting went astray in the woods and, turning up at the girl's house,
fell in love with her He asked her to marry him, but she replied that she had to
think of her oxen brothers and couldn't possibly leave them The prince took her to
his palace along with all the brothers The girl became his princess bride, and the
eleven oxen and the lamb were put into a marble barn with gold mangers
But
the
witches
in
the
woods
did
not
give
up
One
day
the
princess
was
strolling
under
the grape arbor with her lambkin brother that she always carried with her, when an
old woman walked up to her





that
bunch
there,
they're
the
ripest,
said
the
old
woman,
pointing
to
a
bunch
above the cistern
To reach
it,
the
princess had to
stand on the rim of
the
cistern
The
old woman gave
her
a
push,
and
the
princess
fell
in
The
lamb
started
bleating,
and
bleated
all
around
the cistern, but nobody understood what it was bleating about, nor did they hear
the princess moaning
down in the
well
Meanwhile
the witch had taken the
princess's
shape
and
got
into
her
bed
When
the
prince
came
home,
he
asked,

are
you
doing
in bed?

that one out there that won't stop bleating

you
tell
me
some
time
ago,
asked
the
prince,

the
lamb
was
your
brother?
And you want to eat him now?
The
witch
had
blundered
and
was
at
a
loss
for
words
The
prince,
sensing
that
something
was
amiss,
went
into
the
garden
and
followed
the
lamb
that
was
bleating
so
pitifully
It approached the cistern, and the prince heard his wife calling

are
you
doing
at
the
bottom
of
the
cistern?
he
exclaimed

I
just
leave
you in bed?

The prince ordered his wife pulled up at once The witch was caught and burned at
the
stake
While
the
fire
burned,
the
oxen
and
also
the
lamb
slowly
turned
back
into
fine, strapping young men, and you'd have thought the castle had been invaded by
a band of giants They were all made princes, while I've stayed as poor a soul as
ever
(Monferrato)
NOTES:

The folktales about the sister who rescues her brother or brothers changed into
animals can be divided into two groups: the one where the seven sons are under a
curse (as in Basile, IV, 8, or in Grimm, 9 and 25), and the other where the sole
brother is transformed into a lamb (as in Grimm, 11, or in my no 178) The brothers
are most commonly transformed into birds (swans, ravens, doves), and the first
literary manifestation of the motif dates back to the twelfth century; the latest
is possibly Andersen's
Copyright: Italian Folktales Selected and Retold by Italo Calvino,
translated by George Martin,