"A fair day, my lad, "said the little old woman, "That's a heavy load you have to carry. What is in your basket?"
小伙子今天天气真好,老妇人说,你提的篮子太重了,里面装了什么?
"Nothing but some dirt from the road," answered the boy.
没什么,只是路上的一些土,男孩回答道。
"Dirt!" said the old woman. "You don't mean that?"
土!你不是那个意思吧?老妇人说道。
"Yes, I do mean it," answered the boy.
是的,我就是那个意思。男孩回答说。
"Oh, very well. You will find out when you get to your journey's end," said the old woman, and she kept on washing and singing.
嗯,那好吧,到了旅途终点,你就会知道那里面是什么了。老妇人说完接着洗衣服唱歌。
"She means something by those words," thought the boy. "But the pears are all right, for I haven't let her even look at them."
她这话中有话,男孩想。但是梨子没有问题,因为我并没有让她看到梨子。
So on he went until he came to the palace.
于是他继续赶路,一直走到了王宫。
As soon as he had told what his errand was, he was led before the king.
在说明了来意之后,他被领到国王面前。
"You have brought me some pears, have you?" said the king, smiling.
你给我带了一些梨子,是吗?国王笑着说。
"Yes, sir," answered the boy. "In my basket are some of the finest yellow pears in the world."
是的,国王陛下,我的篮子中放了世界上最好的黄梨。
The king was so pleased to hear this that he began to take off the covering of leaves.
男孩回答道。国王听到这儿很是高兴,他揭开叶子。
But he was very angry when he found nothing except dirt in the basket.
但当他发现篮子里只有土的时候,他非常生气。
The servants, who stood by, at once took the boy away and shut him up in a room by himself.
站在一旁的侍卫立刻带走了这个男孩,把他单独关到一间屋子里。
"It is all a trick of that old woman by the fountain," said the unhappy lad.
这是水源旁的老妇人耍的诡计,生气的孩子说。