广西北海 王蔚（著）俞大河 赵金基（译）

6.Greedy Witch and Pistachios贪巫婆和开心果

Good Witch is flying over Greedy Witch’s house in her flying basket when suddenly the flying basket feels tired，so they land near Greedy Witch’s yard.Good Witch picks a blade of grass from the yard.Greedy Witch happens to see this.She stares (瞪着) at Good Witch with her eyes widely open and says，“You have to pay for the damaged grass，you have to...”“All right，all right，”Good Witch replies，“I’ll give you one pistachio (开心果)for the damaged grass，OK?”“Just one? No way! Three at least! ”

好巫婆乘飞篮经过贪巫婆家上空，突然，飞篮觉得累了，她们就在贪巫婆的院子附近着落了。好巫婆随手从院子里摘了一根小草，这正好让贪巫婆瞧见了！她瞪着圆鼓鼓的大眼睛冲着好巫婆说：“你赔我小草，赔我——”“好吧好吧，”好巫婆说，“我赔你一颗开心果，行了吧？”“一颗开心果？不行！少说也得三颗！”

Good Witch has a pistachio tree in her yard.The tree bears real pistachios.If you eat one，you will immediately jump up with joy.“Fine，fine，three pistachios，three pistachios.”Then Good Witch gets into her flying basket and is about to go back to get them.But Greedy Witch also crawls (爬) into the basket，and she insists (坚持) on going with her.“Well，this old basket may not be able to carry such a heavy load like you.”says Good Witch.“No，I am not heavy at all!And I don’t bring anything.”Then Greedy Witch shows her empty hands.“I mean here—”Good Witch points at her heart.“Your heart should be empty.”“Oh，cut it out! ”Greedy Witch interrupted (打断)impatiently (不耐烦地).

好巫婆院里有一棵开心果树，结的是真正的开心果，吃下一颗，你就会立刻开心得跳起来。“好吧好吧，三颗就三颗吧。”好巫婆乘上飞篮，要回去取。可贪巫婆爬进飞篮，非要跟着去，好巫婆说，“我这破飞篮可吃不住重东西。”“我轻着呢，而且我手上空空的！”贪巫婆摊开两手。“我是说，这儿——”好巫婆指指心窝，“这儿也要轻……”“行啦行啦……”贪巫婆不耐烦地打断她。

The flying basket takes off slowly，but soon after it is up in the air，it flips (翻转)over.Good Witch loses her balance and is thrown out of the fly ing basket.She grasps (抓住) the handle (把) of the basket tightly (紧紧地).Meanwhile，Greedy Witch also falls out of the basket.In her desperation，she grasps Good Witch by the toe.However，it does not take long before she slips (滑) and drops onto the ground.Oh，poor Greedy Witch is now black and blue!

飞篮慢慢起飞了，只是，刚上了天，它就一个跟斗，在空中跌翻了身，好巫婆掉出篮去，紧紧抓住飞篮的把儿，贪巫婆也一头向下栽去，情急之中，她抓住了好巫婆的脚尖。可脚尖能抓住多久呀，紧接着她手一滑，就栽下了大地，摔得遍体鳞伤。

As soon as Good Witch lands on the ground，she asks，“Tell me honestly，what was filled your heart with just then?”She asks.“I was just thinking nothing but thousands of pistachios! ”“Hmm，that explains everything.See，how could my dear flying basket carry so greedy a heart like yours?”Then Good Witch goes back home after curing Greedy Witch with her herbs.

好巫婆一下地就问她，“老实告诉我，刚才你心里到底装了些什么？”“除了几千颗开心果我啥都没想。”“怪不得，这么重的贪心，飞篮哪里装得动？”好巫婆给贪巫婆上了点草药就回家了。

Still，Greedy Witch just can’t let the pistachios off.So，one day when Good Witch is not at home，Greedy Witch comes directly to the pistachio tree and digs it whole up.But the strange thing is，as soon as the tree is planted in Greedy Witch’s yard，it soon withers and dies.And the fruits tastes awful and this makes her feel very upset.So，spitting(吐) out the pistachios，she carries the withered tree on her shoulder and threws it onto Good Witch’s yard.

贪巫婆可不肯放过开心果。这天，贪巫婆趁好巫婆不在家，她把开心果树连根挖走了。没想到，树在贪巫婆院子里一栽下，就枯死了，那些果子难吃极了，这让贪巫婆一点也不开心。贪巫婆把开心果吐了一地，扛起枯树跑回去，把它扔回了好巫婆的院子里。

Picking up the dead tree，Good Witch replants it in her yard，and magically，it survives.Soon it becomes green and its branches are loaded with fruits.And as usual，as soon as the guests tastes the pistachios，they will jump up with joy.When Greedy Witch sees this，she also jumps up，not because of joy，but due to her fury (愤怒).

捡起枯死的树，好巫婆把它重新种在院子里。谁知，它马上活了过来，变得青枝绿叶，果实累累。像往常一样，好巫婆的客人们吃上一颗，都开心地跳起来。贪巫婆一见，她也跳了起来，不过，她是气得跳起来的。

Greedy Witch will probably never understand if a person’s mind is filled with greed(贪 心)，he or she will not，ever，find joy at all!

贪巫婆永远也不懂，一个太贪心的人是不会开心的。