评论
打印
An axe was brought at once, and the old tree was felled to loud cheers from the courtiers and the charlatan.
斧头立刻就被拿来了，老树被砍倒了，江湖骗子和朝臣们大声欢呼。
However, as they were making ready to return to the palace, the sound of loud cackling stopped them in their tracks.
可是，就在他们准备返回宫殿时，突然传来响亮的呱呱笑声让他们停住了脚步。
“Fools!” cried Babbitty's voice from the stump they had left behind.
“傻瓜！”刚才被砍掉的那棵树的树桩里传出了巴比蒂的喊叫声。
“No witch or wizard can be killed by being cut in half! Take the axe, if you do not believe me, and cut the Grand Sorcerer in two!”
“把巫师砍成两半是弄不死他们的！如果不信，就拿起斧头，把大魔法师砍成两半吧！”
The Captain of the Brigade of Witch-Hunters was eager to make the experiment, but as he raised the axe the charlatan fell to his knees, screaming for mercy and confessing all his wickedness.
女巫追捕小分队的队长急于做这个实验，但是他刚把斧头举起来，江湖骗子就跪倒在地，尖叫着恳求饶命，并坦白了自己的罪恶。
As he was dragged away to the dungeons, the tree stump cackled more loudly than ever.
正当他被拖向地牢时，树桩又呱呱大笑起来，比以前笑得还要响亮。
“By cutting a witch in half, you have unleashed a dreadful curse upon your kingdom!” it told the petrified King.
“把一个女巫砍成两半，你就给你的王国加了一道可怕的诅咒！”它对目瞪口呆的国王说，
“Henceforth, every stroke of harm that you inflict upon my fellow witches and wizards will feel like an axe stroke in your own side, until you will wish you could die of it!”
“从今往后，你加在我巫师同伴身上的每一丝伤害，都会像斧头一样砍在你自己的身上，直到让你生不如死！”
At that, the King fell to his knees too, and told the stump that he would issue a proclamation at once, protecting all the witches and wizards of the kingdom, and allowing them to practise their magic in peace.
听了这话，国王也跪了下去，对树桩说他立刻就发布一则通告，保护王国里所有的男女巫师，允许他们平平安安地练习魔法。
“Very good,” said the stump, “but you have not yet made amends to Babbitty!”
“很好，”树桩说，“但是你还没有对巴比蒂做出补偿呢！”
“Anything, anything at all!” cried the foolish King, wringing his hands before the stump.
“什么都行，什么都可以！”愚蠢的国王喊道，在树桩前拧着两只手。
“You will erect a statue of Babbitty upon me, in memory of your poor washerwoman, and to remind you for ever of your own foolishness!” said the stump.
“你要在我上面竖起一座巴比蒂的雕像，纪念你可怜的洗衣妇，从而让你永远不会忘记你的愚蠢行为！”树桩说。
The King agreed to it at once, and promised to engage the foremost sculptor in the land, and have the statue made of pure gold.
国王立刻答应了，并保证请来全国著名的雕刻家，用纯金打造那座雕像。
Then the shamed King and all the noblemen and women returned to the palace, leaving the tree stump cackling behind them.
然后，羞愧难当的国王和所有的王公贵族返回了宫殿，留下树桩在他们身后呱呱大笑。
When the grounds were deserted once more, there wriggled from a hole between the roots of the tree stump a stout and whiskery old rabbit with a wand clamped between her teeth.
等庭院里空无一人时，从树桩根部的一个洞里，钻出了一只胖乎乎的、长着胡须的老兔子，它的牙齿间咬着一根魔杖。
Babbitty hopped out of the grounds and far away, and ever after a golden statue of the washerwoman stood upon the tree stump, and no witch or wizard was ever persecuted in the kingdom again.
巴比蒂蹦蹦跳跳地离开庭院远去了，从那以后，一座洗衣妇的金雕像一直竖立在那个树桩上，王国里也再没有巫师遭到迫害。
